"Curiosity is the engine of achievement." Ken Robinson
Your extended essay, whether interdisciplinary or subject-focused, should begin with an idea that is generated by your personal interest. Some ideas will suit exploration through the subject-focused pathway, while others will suit the interdisciplinary pathway if the ideas may be better explored through the combined lenses of two DP subjects. Imaginative interdisciplinary collaboration can open such topics to rich research.
You research and write your extended essay in an interdisciplinary way when you integrate knowledge, concepts, theories, perspectives or methods, or a combination of these, from two chosen DP subjects. In other words, elements of the two subjects are combined so that they work together effectively to help research an extended essay topic.
Ultimately, integration of two subjects can lead to fresh insights and create new and/or deeper understandings that would not be possible through research within one DP subject alone.
In an interdisciplinary extended essay, it is not necessary for you to achieve an evenly balanced combination of each of the two DP subjects. The relative balance will depend on the nature of the topic and the emphasis of the research question. However, an interdisciplinary extended essay should demonstrate clearly that integration of elements of the two subjects has specifically enabled an effective response to the research question.
Students who take the interdisciplinary pathway could be:
Responding to a question of personal interest in a more insightful way than would be possible through a single subject.
Exploring the biomechanics and physics of generating spin with a cricket ball: sports, exercise and health science combined with physics
Examining the automobile as literary symbol and motif: design technology combined with language and literature
Investigating government health policy from the perspectives of economic policy and human well-being: economics combined with social and cultural anthropology
Integrating concepts or methods to gain a deeper understanding of an issue or problem.
Investigating the concept of gender from both biological and social perspectives: biology combined with social and cultural anthropology
Applying mathematical modelling to finding solutions for social housing: mathematics combined with geography
Analysing the covers of women’s magazines from the perspectives of both language and marketing: business management combined with language and literature
Investigating enzyme activity using skills from two sciences: biology combined with chemistry
Investigating a complex issue of global concern that is better addressed using two DP subjects.
Investigating the potential for achieving global sustainability of using plastics: chemistry combined with geography, or psychology combined with business management
Exploring climate change modelling: mathematics combined with computer science
Examining both economic and social perspectives of development: economics combined with geography
Applying an insight, theory or method from one DP subject to the content of another DP subject to seek new perspectives and understandings.
Applying chaos theory to the Cuban Missile Crisis: physics combined with history
Exploring poetry with an understanding of cognitive neuroscience: language and literature combined with psychology
Investigating how literary works might influence political movements: history combined with language and literature
Investigating the need for game design to adapt to the dynamic nature of communities and societies: digital society combined with design technology
Exploring interesting questions at the boundaries of DP subjects
Exploring the ethics of nanotechnology: physics combined with philosophy
Examining the purposes of specific dress designs in graphic novels: design technology combined with language and literature
Exploring the psycholinguistic and cultural processes involved in learning languages: language acquisition combined with psychology
Analysing addiction to social media from social and biological perspectives: digital society combined with biology or psychology
Applying the idea of asymmetric information to investigate internet scams: economics combined with digital society
Exploring cognitive processes in the creation of abstract art: visual arts combined with psychology
The five frameworks shown in figure 6 are intended to help you position and shape your ideas for an interdisciplinary extended essay topic. These frameworks allow for inclusion of a broad, diverse range of ideas that could arise from your personal interests. They are designed to help you choose an appropriate context for the topic you wish to explore with an interdisciplinary approach.
The frameworks are depicted as overlapping in figure 6 because, while your topic should broadly fit within one framework, it could include aspects that relate to another one or more.
It should be noted that a topic does not need to connect with all the words that describe a framework. For example, in the framework “culture, identity, expression”, the focus might be on “identity” but not “culture” or “expression”.
The same topic could even be placed in an alternative framework, depending on the emphasis of the research question.
While the official registration with the IB of your interdisciplinary extended essay must place it in one of the frameworks, the connection with the framework is not directly assessed. The main purpose of the frameworks is to provide you with initial guidance for the inquiry process, but they will also assist the IB with coordinating the assessment of interdisciplinary essays.
The number of possible broad topic areas that could kick-start an interdisciplinary extended essay is limited only by your capacity to imagine ideas that you would like to research. Here are some initial suggestions for each of the five frameworks that may help you get started.
Power, equality, justice
Social or political issues—health, education, racism, gender, poverty, fairness, conflict; the body—commodified bodies, violent bodies, bodies as weapons of war.
Culture, identity, expression
Belief systems; politics of identity; political movements; disputed territories; sporting and other competitions; art and science; music; protests; icons; cultural heritage; the body—modifications; literature and science; psycholinguistics; gaming.
Movement, time, space
Migration; refugees; virtual communities; astronomy; travel; urbanism; social media; contested spaces; non-places or non-spaces; conflict; globalization; museums; questions of evolution.
Evidence, measurement, innovation
Art and science; literature and science; cross-scientific inquiry; mathematics in science; gaming; social media.
Sustainability, development, change
Sustainability—environmental, social, economic; development—economic, social; food; health; political issues; poverty.
Choosing a topic is arguably the most important stage of your extended essay journey because it sets you up for a confident start and drives everything else that follows. To begin with, it is important for you to “take your idea for a walk”, that is, to think through how it might develop as an interdisciplinary essay. If you have already identified an interest in a broad topic area, then responding to the following four questions will help you get started.
What aspect or issue within this broad topic area really interests me?
Why is an interdisciplinary approach appropriate for my topic?
Which framework best suits my topic?
Which two DP subjects can I use to investigate my topic successfully within that framework?
Once your extended essay topic is ready to take the interdisciplinary pathway—that is, an appropriate framework has been selected, and two DP subjects have been chosen—you then need to develop a research question. Your research question should:
be clearly stated and focused
be open to amendment or change if your research takes you in a different direction
invite a critical examination of the topic in respect of integrating knowledge, concepts, theories, perspectives or methods, or a combination of these, from two DP subjects
encourage analysis, evaluation and synthesis, rather than description, unsupported generalizations and value judgements.
It is also important for you to imagine being able to respond to your research question comfortably within the 4,000-word limit of an extended essay. For more detailed guidance, refer to the “Researching and writing the extended essay” section of this guide.