This page helps you evaluate whether your chosen subjects form a suitable and academically coherent basis for an interdisciplinary extended essay. Your selection should be deliberate. Both subjects must make a meaningful, necessary contribution to answering your research question.
Your pairing must come from the subjects you are studying in the Diploma Programme.
Examples include:
Biology and Economics
Global Politics and Literature
Psychology and Business Management
Visual Arts and History
Physics and Design Technology
Avoid selecting vague areas such as “technology” or “culture”. These are not IB subjects.
Your chosen subjects should offer different perspectives, concepts, theories or methods, which together create a more complete understanding of the issue.
Ask yourself:
What does Subject A allow me to analyse?
What does Subject B allow me to analyse?
What would be missing if I removed one subject?
If removing one subject does not weaken the investigation, the topic is not interdisciplinary.
Some topics appear interdisciplinary on the surface but can be addressed fully through one subject. In such cases, the subject focused pathway is more appropriate.
Each subject has its own ways of generating and evaluating knowledge. You should be able to identify the methods you will use from each discipline.
Examples:
Biology: experimental design, data analysis, biological mechanisms
Economics: models, diagrams, theoretical frameworks
Global Politics: qualitative analysis, case studies, political theories
Geography: spatial analysis, fieldwork, geographic models
Literature: close reading, textual analysis
Psychology: analysis of secondary research, psychological theories
Design Technology: product analysis, user testing, design models
If you cannot identify specific disciplinary methods from each subject, the pairing is not suitable.
Some subjects have restrictions that affect interdisciplinary viability. For example:
Psychology does not permit collection of primary data
Language and Literature essays require literary or linguistic analysis
Visual Arts must include analysis of artwork, not only sociocultural commentary
Sciences must involve scientific reasoning and analysis, not general discussion
Your topic must comply fully with both subject guides.
Look for Natural Pairings
These combinations work well because the subjects provide distinct disciplinary perspectives and different analytical methods, allowing for genuine integration rather than parallel treatment.
What NOT to do
The following subjects cannot be chosen for the interdisciplinary pathway under any circumstances. This rule is stated directly in the EE Guide:
Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS)
Literature and Performance
These are cross-disciplinary subjects and must only be used in the subject-focused pathway, not the interdisciplinary pathway.
(Guide reference: “It is not permitted to choose these subjects in the interdisciplinary pathway…”