DP2 - Interim Reflection Session
This is the most important tool you have in your revision! Your supervisors are giving you feedback that is aligned to the assessment criteria (and the subject-specific guidance) for the EE. If they indicate that something should change, that usually means it should change. They know the EE rubric better than you do.
After getting formal feedback on your draft, you may not seek feedback on another draft; getting that feedback counts as misconduct and supervisors have been instructed not to give it again.
In most cases, you should be fairly close to the finish line when you receive your supervisor's feedback. If the EE is a roughly 40-hour process from beginning to end, it's pretty normal for there to be around 35(ish) hours that lead up to the completion of the first draft. Time needed to go from the draft to the final version tends to be between 2 hours (on the low end) to 6 hours, with maybe another hour or two needed for "clean-up" -- fixing citations, making sure your title page, table of contents, and works cited pages are perfect.
A title page is an IB requirement; it is not optional.
Your title page MUST have...
Your research question! (Be careful: make sure the research question is the same when you put it on your title page, in your introduction, and in your conclusion.)
You should indicate your subject on the title page (technically this isn't 100% necessary, since your EE gets categorized when it is uploaded into IB's system, but everybody does it anyway.) If you are writing a Chinese or English essay, you must indicate which Category of Language essay you have completed. Likewise, for a World Studies essay, you need to include the Global Theme.
An accurate word count: do not just write "4000." Do not guess. The electronic grading program they use provides an estimated word count for the examiner, and if you just make up a number it will cast doubt on your entire EE. (Furthermore, when I put it through TurnItIn, that program will give me a word count, so...)
Your title page MAY have...
A title. This is optional. Some students create a title, others don't. There is no pressure to do it or not to do it.
Your title page may NOT have...
Any. Identifying. Information. Nothing that indicates your name, the school you attend, your supervisor's name, etc.
Why the end? Because you don't want to constantly change your page numbers as things shift around...
Your Table of Contents MUST include...
Your introduction
The start of your essay's body
Your conclusion
Your works cited page/section
You are free to break the body of your essay down into sections in whatever way that fits your essay. Those sections should also be represented in your table of contents.
Make sure that your table of contents puts the sections of your essay in the order that they appear. Some people miss this, which amazes me.
And yes, your table of contents must include the page numbers where each section begins. Yes, the examiner will check that as a natural part of reading the essay. If your page numbers are off, expect to lose 1 point on Criteria C (even if everything else is flawless -- it's such a careless error, they'll dock you a point.)
If you're making a Works Cited page, you should only include the WORKS that you have CITED in your essay. If you quote 5 sources, but have a list of 15 in your Works Cited, we have a problem.
Pick a specific style of citation / formatting and STICK WITH IT.
Make sure your sources are listed in alphabetical order.
Make sure your works cited page is listed in your table of contents :)
Everything you write in the essay itself, including quotations you use.
Any footnote or endnote that is not a citation (so, if you use a footnote to explain a term, that would be considered part of the word count.)
In-text citations or footnotes (footnotes that serve as citations.)
Your title page & table of contents.
Your works cited / bibliography.
Equations, calculations, or formulae.
Tables of data, including their caption and citation.
Section Headings.
Anything placed in an Appendix (note that there is no guarantee that an examiner will read an appendix -- they will most likely just take a quick look.)
A few of you are still lacking a formal conclusion section. Here are a few (non-subject specific) tips...
Directly respond to your research question! Put the question IN the conclusion and discuss your findings.
Discuss multiple interpretations, if this is something your evidence supports.
Support or disprove your core thesis / main idea, depending on what your evidence suggests.
Evaluate your methodology - limitations of your methods, or your experiment set-up?
Mention new questions that spring up as a result of your work.
Synthesize your key points.
Try to avoid bringing up brand new material for the first time (that would be a bit of a surprise, no?)
Skip a conclusion. Your essay needs a resolution! Even a conclusion that is partial or incomplete, if that is what the data supports, is better than no conclusion at all.
Do not address a research question that is different from the one on your title page or introduction... that would be tres weird, as the French would say.