Top Tips for your Exhibiton Commentary

On ManageBac (MB) read the Quickstart Guide to the TOK Exhibition under the Workspace tab on your TOK Exhibition page

You will find the mark scheme for the TOK Exhibition here and on your workspace on MB. The overarching question to try and answer is:

 Does the Exhibition show us how TOK manifests itself in the real world? 

You need to pick three items, linked to one of the TOK Exhibition prompts and linked to either the core theme (Knowledge and the Knower) or one of the five optional themes (Knowledge and Language, Knowledge and Politics, Knowledge and Technology, Knowledge and Religion or Knowledge and Indigenous Cultures). 

You will need to produce a written commentary (950 words in total) which identifies each object in its real world context and justify the link between each object and the knowledge prompt you are using.

Use the mark scheme on Managebac to see what you think each of these pieces of work would have got:

Top Tips to get you started:

Type in double spaced, size 12 font. Include the prompt as a header/footer on your document. Include your final word count on your document

'Link to the prompt' is how that object answers the question.

'Justification of the object' means out of everything you could have possibly selected, why is the one you chose the best fit for answering the question and providing a discussion/insight/other perspectives

For each object you can begin with: "This object is interesting to the discussion of the prompt because..."

- Make sure you identify the objects real-world context

- Make sure you link to the selected IA prompt regularly and explicitly.

- Make sure to justify the contribution of the object to the exhibition

- Make sure any point you make is supported by evidence/examples. No unsupported assertions!

Try to refer to some of the 12 TOK Concepts: Perspective, Objectivity, Justification, Interpretation, Explanation, Evidence, Power, Responsibility, Truth, Values, Culture, Certainty.

Top Tips from M22 feedback:

• Write the word count at the top of the document. Aim for balance in the exhibition with commentaries of about 300 words for each object.

• Introductions and/or conclusions are not required. Is the intro/conclusion you are thinking of writing worth the words?

• Write the prompt at the top of the exhibition document exactly as it isin the guide. Include the number of the prompt too.

• Use one of the themes as a focused starting point for the exhibition.

• The image of the object must be clear and placed above its corresponding commentary. If references/citations are required, they should be included.

• Generic objects found on the internet or elsewhere will not lead to a successful exhibition.

• Links between object and prompt need to be explicit, and the links must be between the object and the prompt, not from one object to another.

• For the justification of the inclusion of an object, candidates need to say what it is that the object brings to the exhibition.

• Evidence must be explicit and can be from an external source or the candidate’s own experience.

• References back to the prompt need to be made as this is a TOK exploration.