Welcome to the extended essay and the challenge that lies ahead for you. If you manage your time effectively, select a topic that interests and inspires you, and conduct your research with a critical and creative mind, you will certainly succeed.
The extended essay is the most inquiry-based activity that you will be involved in, and will require that you direct the course of your learning – that is why it is such an open-ended task. The extended essay is intended to encourage you to examine significant issues and areas of research that you personally care about in an in-depth and meaningful way. Through your research, you can learn not only about the topic of your research, methodology, and critical thinking, but you can also learn important transferable skills such as time management, perseverance, resilience, and decision-making.
As a research task, the extended essay provides you with the ideal opportunity to be able to demonstrate and develop your research skills. You are able to engage in a wide variety of research depending on your choice of research topic and subject area. You will be required to undertake a literature review which demonstrates your knowledge and understanding in context, and this requires you to be able to make informed choices about the relevancy, reliability and validity of secondary source material. Additionally, you must choose research methods and techniques appropriate and relevant to the research question posed and the subject for which they are submitting their essay.
In addition to the appropriateness and relevance of your research methodology, the extended essay requires you to engage with your research in an analytical and evaluative way. Further to this, the skill of reflection, particularly in relation to the process of conducting research, is highly valued. The mandatory reflection sessions and engagement assessment criterion place a high value on the benefits structured reflection can have on your learning and progress. In this regard, you will be asked to create a Researcher’s reflection space where you are encouraged to reflect using a variety of different techniques, including written reflections, video diaries, blogs or MindMaps®, for example.
As a substantial independent task, you will need to identify and develop the necessary self-management skills to be successful with your extended essay. While support and guidance can be given from your supervisor, part of the learning experience is for you to navigate your way through the extended essay independently.