Extended Essay

Topic choice - the focus area must have more depth than an IA (which is a simple investigation into changing a variable and seeing the effect on another).

The required depth can be found in many ways bit some examples cold be:

• examining the effect of neglected factors (air resistance is a classic)

• examining secondary factors, or systems which have multiple variables that can be altered.

• showing the data deviates from simple models beyond a certain point.

Level of Physics - the essay should be written for an international peer audience, familiar with the Diploma Programme physics course. The essay can therefore refer to any physics from the course without proof or explanation, eg Newton’s laws.

Data tables and graphs - a representative sample of raw data collected in large amounts by the student must be included in the core of the essay in a data table including uncertainties and units. The rest of the raw data should be in the appendix. Too many graphs and data tables will detract from the overall quality of the communication and interrupt the development of the argument.

Notes to consider when planning first draft

You write one reflective statement of no more than 500 words, anything over 500 words is not read. The examiner is asking one question: how has the extended essay changed you as a learner? 

• Evaluation, not description. Don't tell the story of what you did. Judge it: what worked, what didn't, why, and what you would do differently. Give specific examples for each point.

• Growth and transfer. Show how your thinking, skills or habits changed, and where you are already using (or will use) what you learned beyond the EE. Give specific examples for each point.

Prompts:

1. How did your thinking change, and what did that change make you do?

• What did you believe or expect about your topic at the start? To what extent was that confirmed, complicated or overturned by your research? Did a question emerge that you were not expecting?

• How did that change in perspective affect a decision you made? (For example: narrowing your research question, changing method, dropping an argument, seeking a counter-view.)

2. Evaluate your research strategies

• Which strategy was most effective? Why did it work, and how do you know?

• Which strategy was least effective? What did it cost you, and when did you realise?

• If you started again, what would you change, and how would that lead to a better or different answer to your research question?

3. Evaluate your working practices

• Think about time management, organisation, note-taking, use of supervisor meetings, or how you handled setbacks.

• Which habit helped you most, and which held you back? Give a specific moment for each.

• What did you change during the process, and did the change work?

4. Which skills have you developed, and where will you use them?

• Name one or two skills you genuinely improved (for example: evaluating sources, designing an experiment, structuring an argument, academic honesty and referencing, working independently).

• Where are you already using this skill now: in another subject, an IA, TOK or CAS? Give a concrete example.

• Where will you use it next: at university, in a future career, in a different kind of problem?

5. What have you learned about yourself as a learner?

• What did the EE reveal about how you learn best, or what you find difficult?

• Was anything about yourself surprising?

• How will you act differently on your next large, independent project because of this?