The TOK Essay

General information about the essay:

Your TOK essay counts for most of the marks. It it is worth 67% of your final TOK grade. You will get the choice between a set of prescribed essay titles. These essay titles are all, in some way, related to the Areas of Knowledge. They will formulated as knowledge questions. Compared with the essay questions of the previous specification, essay questions can (and probably will) be more specific because all the AOKs are compulsory. In addition, essay questions may refer to the elements or aspects of the knowledge frameworks.

To avoid possible disappointment, there are three very important things to keep in mind. Firstly, you should answer the question as it is. If you change the nature of the essay question or go off into your own direction, you risk losing a lot of marks. The examiner will assess the essay against the prescribed title. So, if you write something completely different, you may even get a 0. Regularly (and explicitly) bring your essay back to the essay question.

Secondly, you should make sure that your essay is about "how we know". This means that you should not write lots of facts and information in the style of an answer to an exam question of an IB DP subject. You should also avoid writing an essay in the style of your EE. Your TOK essay is a reflective, analytical essay about how we know.

Finally, you should write clearly. You may think you can impress the examiner with difficult words and complex grammar, because you feel that TOK is an intellectual subject. However, if what you write makes no sense, you won't get many marks. Re-read your work or ask a friend to see whether they understand what you mean.

The examiners will give you a global mark for your essay. In this sense, please keep the main criterion in mind: "Does the student provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title?" The best grades are awarded to students who maintain focus on the essay title and write a clear essay. In this sense, I recommend that you bring the essay regularly (and explicitly) back to the central question. The essay questions are based on the areas of knowledge. The areas of knowledge may somewhat overlap with the subjects you study at IBDP. This can be really beneficial. But, be careful! Many students really "get into" the chosen area of knowledge and give lengthy descriptions of (factual) knowledge from this area. However, this is not the focus of a TOK essay. A TOK essay is about how we know (instead of what we know): how we acquire, produce and pass on knowledge within these areas of knowledge. You should give examples to illustrate your points and these examples can come from subject lessons. Nevertheless, be careful that your essay does not become an essay you could submit for an exam in a subject lesson. If you are devoting too many words on the description of examples, for example, your essay will become descriptive rather than analytical. A descriptive essay, however interesting it may be, will score very low marks in TOK. The main focus is the reflection on knowledge rather than passing on knowledge.

As you can see from the mark scheme below, the best essays are coherent. This means that the examiner can follow what you are trying to say and that your argument flows well. In this sense, you should introduce your ideas well and structure your writing through connectives and paragraphs. More tips of how to structure your TOK essay can be found below. A main feature all very good TOK essays have in common, is that they include and analyse several perspectives. This makes the essay a lot more interesting. Your essay questions do not ask for a one sided answer, the whole point is that you can look at these questions from different angles. Please do this within your essay (and make it clear that you are doing this).

The icing on the cake of a very good essay is, arguably, the consideration of the implications of what you claim (or what the essay question invites you to consider). This is not always easy. Whenever you make a (mini-)conclusion, you should ask yourself the questions: "So what? What does this mean for (the quality, reliability etc of) knowledge in this particular area of knowledge? What does this imply for knowledge as a whole?

Because it is so important, I will repeat it once more: even if you manage to tackle all the elements required for top essays, but you have not answered the essay as it is, you won't get many points. Also, if you essay becomes unclear (however many possibly brilliant ideas could be hidden in them), the examiner will not be able to give you a high score, because incoherent arguments are meaningless. So, make sure that you understand what you are talking about and that others can understand what you are trying to say.