Extended Essay Handbook for 2018/19

K. International School Tokyo

 Contents

The Nature and Purpose of the Essay 3

Subject Areas 4
Calendar 5
Student and Supervisor Role 6
Approaching the Essay 7
Choosing a Topic 8
The Annotated Bibliography 9
Constructing a Research Question 11
Assessment of the Extended Essay 12
Unpacking the Criteria 16
Writing a Thesis Statement 19
Researching your Essay 21
APA Referencing Guide 22
Arguing vs. Presenting 24
Formal Presentation of the EE 26
Reflections and the RPPF 27
The Researcher`s Reflection Space 29
Appendix
- Proposal form
- Extended Essay Contractual Agreement
- RPPF
2
 The Nature and Purpose of the Essay

The Extended Essay will be the first opportunity you have had as a student to show free will
over your choice of study! You need to relish this opportunity. IB do not provide this hurdle for
you to cross out of pure evil; this type of exercise is perfect priming for the type of work you
will face in university.
Outside of the rubric that the examiners will use to judge you, you need to demonstrate the
following skills and attributes to be successful in this process:
- Self-discipline
- The ability to synthesise ideas from a wealth of resources.
- Present a confident argument
- Show passion for your subject
- Discern between quality and untrustworthy sources
- Demonstrate the ability to reflect on the process.

The Diploma Core Points Matrix

The thing to remember about your EE, is that it is a self-directed ‘subject’. You should treat it as
seriously and with as much importance as your other subjects. As you can see from the above
Matrix, if you are awarded an ‘E’, you not be awarded the Diploma. If you do well, there is a
possibility of adding up to three points to your overall score. The choice is yours.
Your EE topic and your attainment in it will be of interest to prospective universities – make
sure this process is about YOU and who you are as a LEARNER.

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 Subject Areas

IB Subject Group Subject/Categories

Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature Category 1: Studies of literary works written
in English/Japanese

Category 2: Studies of literary works written

in English/Japanese combined with works
written in another language.

Category 3: Studies in language of works

written in English/Japanese.
Group 2 – Language Acquisition All supported by Language B subjects.

Category 1: A specific analysis of the

language (its use and structure), normally
related to cultural context of a specific text.

Category 2:
(a) A socio-cultural analysis of the impact
of a particular issue on the form or
use of the language.
(b) An essay of a general cultural nature,
based on specific cultural artefacts.

Category 3: An analysis of a literary type,

based on specific work(s) of literature written
in a target language.

Group 3: Individuals and Societies Economics

Geography
History
Group 4: Sciences Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Group 5: Mathematics Mathematics
Group 6: The Arts Visual Arts
Interdisciplinary Subjects Environmental Systems and Societies
Wold Studies – student choice; combination
of two disciplines.

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 The Extended Essay Calendar
Date Deadline

28 Sept Bootcamp: Introduction to the Extended Essay

Oct 19 Student Deadline: Approaching your Supervisor

Nov 9 Submit your proposals to the EE Coordinator

Nov 30 EE Coordinator deadline to accept your proposal.

Jan 31 Student deadline to submit annotated bibliography to supervisors and final RQ.

Feb 15 Initial 500-word submission – consult your supervisor for content-specific instructions.

Student deadline for first meeting with supervisor. Supervisor and student should discuss
Mar 8 introduction; detailed feedback to be given.

Mar 22 Student deadline: first 1500 words to be submitted to supervisor.

Student deadline: the first box on the RPPF form is to be filled and checked by the EE
Apr 12 supervisor. Student deadline for second meeting with supervisor – discussion of first draft
with detailed feedback and advice given.

Student deadline: the second box on the RPPF form is to be filled and checked by the EE
May 3 supervisor.

May 24 Student deadline for submitting 3000 words.

Student deadline for informal meeting – detailed advice and support for 3000 submission
Jun 10 should be given

Aug Student deadline for 4000-word draft.

Student deadline for interim meeting with supervisor – written feedback should be
Sep provided for students to improve for the final draft submission.

Student deadline: the second box on the RPPF should be filled and checked by the EE
Sep Coordinator.

Final deadline: 4000 words to be submitted to the EE Coordinator – one electronic and one
Oct paper copy.

Nov Viva Voce Completion Deadline – Supervisor to submit comments/grade to EE Coordinator.

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 The Student and The Supervisor

Understanding the parameters of the academic partnership you will have with your supervisor
is very important in this process. Their role is to guide and support you in the topic selection,
research, planning and execution of your essay. They will not make choices for you, edit your
essays or find sources for you. The whole point of the process is for you to assert your
independence; your supervisor will be there for you to ‘check-in’ with and provide advice for
you to assist your progression.
The EE Coordinator will:
- Work with your supervisors to make sure you are meeting all deadlines.
- Help you if you are struggling with time management skills.
- Teach you the skills you need to write a good academic essay.
- Ensure your reflections are written and completed to a good standard.
- Chase you around the school should you dare to miss a deadline.
Your EE Supervisor will:
- Give specific verbal feedback at least twice
- Give written feedback on the full essay once.
- Set meetings in line with internal deadlines.
- Ensure that you meet your own deadlines as well as set internal deadlines.
You will:
- Abide by the EE Contract that you signed at the beginning of the process.
- Set regular meetings with your supervisor – this is your responsibility.
- Fill in your Researchers Reflection Space on a regular basis. See page 26.
- Meet all deadlines set by your supervisor.
- Submit your work by the deadline, if not earlier.
- Take notes during meetings and respond to all feedback given.
- Give your EE Supervisor adequate notice if you need their advice or want to schedule a
meeting – they will not drop everything at your beck and call.

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 Choosing a Topic
Writing a 4000-word essay on a topic can only be made interesting and engaging if you are
careful about the subject, topic and research question you choose.
Consider the following questions when you are making your decisions.
Question 1: Which Subjects have you really enjoyed? Make a ‘top 3’ list.
Question 2: Which topics or theme areas in these subjects have intrigued you the most?
As you can see from the proposal form in Appendix I, you should make two or three other options
in case your first choice is not possible

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Your choice of topic can be informed by your DP circle subjects, although you should not
overlap with any other area of study you have undertaken during the DP programme.
Experience suggests that students do best if they select a topic related to one of their HL
subjects; in doing so, you are choosing a subject that you have studied to more depths of
complexity.
Points to consider when you are choosing your topic:
- Make sure it is something you are genuinely interested in – who wants to research
something boring/obvious?!
- Make sure it is an enquiry – this should be phrased as a question and should be allow for
genuine exploration of the topic.
- Your enquiry should elicit genuine investigation - work with a question that you
genuinely want to know the answer to.
- Certain topics appear very frequently; while this does not mean you cannot be
successful, it means there is more chance that your paper can become subject to
comparisons with others who have done the same topic. To be impressive, be as original
as possible.
- There should be no barriers to your investigation before you begin; you need to have a
range of suitable sources before you begin, e.g. local geographical investigations need to
be accessible, if you are conducting interviews you need to check permission and
availability.
- Never be seen with ‘Wikipedia’ or ‘GoodReads’ at the bottom of your essay – it’s not a
good look.

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 The Annotated Bibliography
You have chosen a subject, you have a rough idea of some the questions you might aim to
answer, you have a topic choice – what to do now?!
The best Extended Essays are ones that make effective use of research; where your argument
has been formed and shaped by your research. One of the biggest mistakes students make is
beginning the process with very rigid ideas for an argument, then finding there is no research to
support the direction of the argument. Criterion B is assessing how well you have made use of
the works you have cited in your reference list; if you essay lacks research, or there is little
reference to works in the body of your argument, you will lose significant marks not only in this
criterion, but the perception of your engagement with the research process may also suffer.
At the beginning of the process, you will not be asked to write, you will not be asked to
generate a research question. It is your duty to conduct a comprehensive bank of research over
the first 8 weeks of the process. Both your supervisor and the EE Coordinator will be monitoring
how efficiently you are working towards the two-month deadline.
In your Researcher’s Reflection Space, you are going to develop an annotated bibliography to
reflect the journals, books, articles and publications you have read surrounding your topic.
Here is a model of an annotated bibliography written for a Group 3 Psychology EE:
____________________________________________________________________________
Barbaro, N., Pham, M.N., Shakkelford, T.K., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2016). Insecure romantic attachment
dimensions and frequency of mate retention behaviours. Personal Relationships, 23. 605-618.

Bonding styles have a significant impact on how individuals perceive their partner`s propensity for
infidelity. Authors of this study evidenced that anxious-attachment individuals are hypervigilant to
rejection and perform increased mate-retention strategies, while avoidant-bonders perform less at the
expense of appearing disinterested. Retention behaviours are defined as benefit provision `eager to
please` control traits, or cost-inflicting manoeuvres in the form of guilt-inducement or overt threats.

Researchers recognised the risk that they manipulated attachment orientation by requesting participants
provide specific examples of attachment-bonding, perhaps eliciting reflection bias. The study did not
account for the idea that partners can induce attachment styles in each other, making individual effects
difficult to detect. This study reinforces the importance of adequate nurturing during formative years, as
maladaptive attachment can have lifelong consequences.

Danel, D.P., Siennicka, A., Kinga, G., Fedurek, P., Nowak-Schepanszka, N., Janowska, E.A., Pawlowski,
B., & Leandowski, Z. (2017). Female perception of a partner’s mate value discrepancy and controlling
behaviour in romantic relationships. Acta Ethol, 20. 1-8.

Danel et al explore the concept of intuitive mate value recognition (MV) and the behaviour that may
manifest if a relationship value discrepancy is found. Mate retention can take the form of subtle control,

9
although violence and aggression are a common consequence. The study finds that controlling behaviour
performed by both partners peaks when a woman`s MV is higher than her male partner`s; it is counter
normative for females to be satisfied with a mate who provides less than she does, while male control is
a behavioural adaptation that prevents cuckolding.

The authors asserted that women tend to evaluate their own MV as lower than their mates; negatively
biased self-reflection has obvious consequences for the reliability of self-reported data. This study
reiterates how traditional gender role expectations can continue to inform strict marriage ideals.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

You will write each entry in your annotated bibliography as an APA citation of the work you have read,
followed by the following evaluative descriptors:

- What was the key argument of the work you read?

- What did you learn from this piece of research?
- How has the research supported your viewpoint?
- How does the research differ from your original viewpoint?
- What were the strengths and limitations of the research?

It is recommended that each Annotated Bibliography entry you make is around 300 words; it is a
requirement that you make at least ten entries.

Keeping a Research Bank:

It would be helpful to download and highlight key articles, as well as keep a journal of things you might
like to cite in the body of your essay. If you keep everything together, it is much easier to go back and
review your research bank to formulate a strong question and ensuing arguments. Every time you read
something you think is useful, write it down, write where you got it from. The more notes you have, the
better your essay will be.

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 Constructing an Effective Research Question

Your research question will help to focus your ideas and specify your argument; it must be
formulated as a question and encapsulate all the areas you intend to address in your response.
Common errors with research question are that they are too broad, vague or disingenuous. To
make sure your research question is well-formulated, you should apply limiting factors; these
can take the form of a specific time period, place, culture, person, study, theory or event. 4000
words may seem like, but it is not enough to explore more than once concept in sufficient
depth.
See the table below for examples of how to apply limiting factors (green text) to general terms
(red text).

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When you approach a supervisor, you should have a topic and some ideas in mind for how you
want to contract your question.
Before approaching a supervisor, consider the following:

1. Are your ideas topics of interest; will you enjoy studying them?
2. Is this an area of strength for you, academically?
3. Read the subject-specific version of the Extended Essay Guide 2018 – it will give you
some great ideas for topics (don’t copy!) and how to structure a research question.
4. Undertake further reading around your topic, you may discover you had
misconceptions, or it is too broad or complicated – make sure that you have the right
scope and perspective on your topic before you begin.
5. Begin developing a research plan – use a mind-map and organise the topics you need to
explore and things you may want to write about related to your chosen concept – you
can show this to your supervisor when you approach them.
6. Fill in the Research Proposal Form found in Appendix 1 and take it to your supervisor to
be signed off.

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13
14
 Assessment of the Essay

The following criteria is used to assess your Extended Essay. The total mark is 34.

Although the grade boundaries tend to change every year, use the following as a rough guide as
to how the grade-point correlation:

A – 27-34
B – 21-26
C – 14-40
D – 7-13
E – 0-6

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 Unpacking the Criteria

The following is intended to help you understand each criterion in terms of what should be
included in the extended essay to achieve the highest level.

Each criterion is organized at three levels of information. Firstly, the mark band, which relates
to the mark range available; secondly, the strand, which relates to what is being assessed; and,
thirdly, the indicators, which are the demonstration of the strands within a mark band. For
example:

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17
18
 Writing a Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement comprises the most important sentence that will be in your entire essay.
It answers the question, encapsulates your viewpoint and presents a confident voice to the
examiner. Below are some tips to ensure you have all the ingredients you need to make a
success of your initial argument:

All thesis statements should have a WHAT, a WHY and a HOW.

WHAT - What claim are you making about your topic?

WHY – Give context to explain your viewpoint, or the reason your topic is important.

HOW – List three ways in which your ideas are true – these three arguments will become the
main sections of your essay.

For example:

Group 1 – Group 1 – Category 1.

What are the attitudes reflected in Carol Ann Duffy’s work that have lead critics to label her as a
feminist?

In Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry collection, The World’s Wife, she uses dramatic monologue ot give a
voice to female figures of the past who have been largely ignored. Duffy adopted this style in
the midst of 1980s Great Britain and the emerging feminist movement; By using first person
poetic narrative, readers can gain a new perspective on historical events that have been
dominated by the male perspective. This essay will explore how theme, structure and poetic
device empower women in the poems The Devil’s Wife, Elvis’ Twin Sister and Pope Joan.

Group 6 – Visual Arts

Can Luke Tuymans be classified as a political painter? The British School of Warsaw.

Tuymans always tries to give his paintings meaning further than what he is representing. To
reach this he often provokes recognition or an emotional shock by communicating with our
collective memory. As a consequence, a precise reading of Tuymans’ paintings will be
impossible and every attempt will prove subjective. It is important to stress this, as later on, this
essay will attempt to analyse the political content of different paintings.

19
Which type of paper are you writing? This will inform the argument you want to make in your
thesis statement.

- An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates
the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.
- An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
- An argumentative paper makes a claim about something and justifies this claim with
specific evidence. This claim could be an opinion, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect
statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the
audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

ALL thesis statements:

- Your thesis statement should be specific – it should cover only what you intend to
discuss in the paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

- The thesis statement should normally appear at the end of your introduction.

- Your topic may change as your write (and this is ok!), so you may need to revise your
thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

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 Researching your Essay

The Extended Essay is a research essay – this means it is your responsibility to outline what you
have learned from your investigation and how it has altered your thinking process. You are
being assessed not only on your ability to think and criticise, but how you are able to use the
opinion of others to inform your own.

You should expect to have at least 10 different sources in your bibliography – in APA style, only
include references of things that you have directly cited or quoted from. Researching is an
active process and should be conducted throughout, not as an afterthought.

Use the following steps as a guide to stay on track throughout the process:

1) Know what you will need:

Every time you assert your viewpoint in an essay, it has to be supported by evidence which must come
from reputable sources. When you are planning your paragraph structure at the beginning of our essay,
plan the pieces of evidence that you will need and if writing an analytical essay where it would be best to
support your viewpoint with a secondary source.

2) Know where you will find it:

There are a wealth of resources online you can draw upon to find exactly what you need:

- Google Scholar
- Google Books
- Public library of Science – (PLOS)
- The Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN)
- EconBiz – for Business and Economic journals.
- CORE – multidisciplinary aggregator of open access research.
- ScienceOpen – 28,000 articles published in all areas of science.
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) – multidisciplinary database.
- EtHOS – access a range of 400,000 doctoral thesis on a range of topics.

3) Keep track of everything!

If you read something that is useful and decide to take not, make sure you write down all the APA source-
relevant data that you need. If you have a wealth of information, but cannot remember where you got it,
you will not be able to use it.

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The APA Referencing Guide

22
23
 Arguing vs. Presenting

One of the main failings of research essays is that they present information, without argument,
reflection of criticism. This is a research essay you must make sure that your essay is reflective
of the research process – you must be critical of your sources and come to a definitive
conclusion that answers the question you have devised. Most of all, your essay should have a
clear explorative voice.

Use the following tips to ensure you achieve a voice within your essay.

- Offer an analysis, interpretation or evaluation of a specific viewpoint.

- Every time you cite a source, comment on its meaning, relevance or significance.
- Ensure you refer to at least one secondary source in each paragraph.
- Make sure you end each paragraph b giving a personal, reflective comment about the
argument you have just presented.
- Where possible, present counter-arguments and show how reliable/valid they are in
relation to your argument.
- Use confident, definitive statements for topic sentences that demonstrate a level of
certainty about your argument.
- Show in your conclusion how your viewpoint has changed from the beginning to the end
of the research process.

Consider the differences between the following two essay paragraphs:

How does Carol Ann Duffy empower females in her poetry by giving a voice to fictional and non fictional
characters from history? English LL – Group 1. This
interpretation is
This topic ‘Anne Hathaway’ empowers women by portraying them as the inspiration of a man’s
unsupported
sentence would success. Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Anne Hathaway’ is expressed through the poetic and
be more voice of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife. In the epigraph, an extract from unconvincing.
successful if it
was supported
Shakespeare’s will, ‘Item I gyve unto my wief my second best bed.’ Typically, the
by a secondary belief is that Shakespeare did not love his wife and he was discontented in his marital
source. life. Many historians have concluded that Shakespeare left his wife only the ‘second No primary
best bed’ as to slander her for their loveless marriage. However, Duffy’s ‘Anne evidence here.
Hathaway’ is a rebuttal, challenging the original negative opinions and notions of
Shakespeare’s wife and their marriage. Carol Ann Duffy portrays the ‘second best bed’
as a momentum of their love and sexual ventures together. In ‘Anne Hathaway’ No critical
Shakespeare’s wife is described as his muse, ‘My lovers words were shooting stars commentary of
which fell to the earth as kisses on these lips,’ indicating that the ‘second best bed’ was evidence used.
the home of his inspiration that encouraged his success. The poem suggests that behind
Unsupported every man’s triumph is a woman’s support that is habitually unnoticed.
generalization.

24
 How can the nature of human language acquisition be defined in terms of an
innate human language acquisition device? – Psychology – Group 4.

Confident assertion To consider the plausibility of an innate language learning device, one
of candidate must assess the extent to which language learning processes are typical
opinion.
across the species. Chomsky (1986, cited in Harley, 2014) developed his
theory of Universal Grammar, asserting that all languages share some Background research
attributes, categories and parameters. UG is perhaps a less extreme into theoretical
perspectives.
theory than the acquisition device, given that most conceptions of it are
as a genetically encoded state of knowledge, which requires external
stimulation to give rise to cognition (Boeckx & Leivada, 2014). All
languages make the distinction between noun and verb, which can be
considered universal principles; however, whether this is an innate
Critical analysis of property of the brain that recognises grammar, or simply being in a
evidence. world full of objects, some of which move; this argument seems
somewhat circulatory. In contrast to empiricists who believe that
language is acquired by imitation, children show the ability to apply Introduction of a
grammatical rules, albeit incorrectly, especially in the early stages of the counter argument.
language learning process. Children are able to appropriate meaning
without using perfectly-mirrored adult grammatical constructions;
whether this is a consequence of an innate syntactical ability, is difficult
to assert.

Adult: Where is the bug?

Child: The bug is deaded.

The child in the above example shows conceptual knowledge of past Formal
tense, recognition of the regular verb ending ‘ed’ and while logical, is
incorrect use of English. This application of grammar in not an imitation
Candidate has
of the manner in which adults use language. It has been shown children
argued against the
can learn patterns and rules in non-sensical languages (Harley, 2014); position and
Consideration of perhaps errors such as these are a misappropriation of a learned pattern supported her idea
other which needs further practice and carer-reinforcement to reach accuracy. with an example for
explanations. secondary reading.
While the recognition of such structures may be innate, honing their
accuracy relies on external stimulus.

Answers the
question
definitively.

25
 Presentation of the Extended Essay

Title Page
- This should include the title, the subject area being studies and the word count.
- Do not put a page number here.

Contents Page
- This must include any chapter headings you have used; all pages must be numbered.

Introduction
- Your introduction should explain why this topic is worthy of study.
- Information regarding the contextual background should be brief, but clear.
- Precise stating of research question.
- The key thesis/argument you wish to present in response to your research question.

The Body
- You should split the section of your essay using different subheadings.
- Remember you are not presenting information, you are constructing an argument.
- Each paragraph should contain an element that reinforces your thesis, which is
supported by evidence.
- The end of each paragraph should evaluate the point you have made and give a
personal interpretation of the evidence which answers the question.

The Conclusion
- Sums up your argument and explain show you have answered the question.
- Reflect on how your thinking has changed throughout the process.
- Finalise new conclusions you have reached.
- Stress the global/academic importance of your exploration.

Reference List
- APA style – see page 19 if you are unsure how to organise your reference list.
- A range of sources should be present; books, journals, articles and websites.

** Appendix – include illustrations, diagrams and pictures only if you refer to them directly.

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 The RPPF

The Initial Meeting should be based on your initial explorations. You should send your research
proposal ahead of this meeting. This will ensure your reflection session is focused and
productive.

You should discuss:

• the requirements and assessment criteria for the subject

• ethical and legal implications, if applicable
• possible approaches and any potential problems that might arise
• strategies for developing ideas and expanding the research so that the essay starts to take form
• use probing and challenging questions that will help you focus your thinking; this should lead to
the development of your working research question
• outline of the next steps that you should undertake in order to refine their question; this should
take the form of a research and writing timeline.

The first section of the form should be filled out at this point. Your supervisor must initial it to confirm it
is finalised and before it can be submitted it to the EE Coordinator.

The Interim Meeting should consist of a continuation of the dialogue you have been having
with your supervisor thus far. You must prepare and present your progress with the research
process. You must be able to discuss any problems you have encountered, offer solutions to
these issues and ask any pressing questions you may have.

You should discuss:

- a section of your writing for areas of strength and weakness

- whether the range of sources you have cited are sufficient and appropriately varied
- discuss what you need to do in order to produce a full draft of the essay and what steps you can
take to break down the process into manageable chunks.

By the end of the interim reflection session both you and your supervisor should feel satisfied that there
is:

• a clear and refined research question

• a viable argument on which to base the essay
• a sufficient range of appropriate sources
• a clear vision for the final steps in the writing process.

The second section of the RPPF form should be filled out at this point. Your supervisor must initial it to
confirm it is finalised and before it can be submitted it to the EE Coordinator.

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Final Reflection Session – Viva Voce:

The viva voce is a short interview between you and your supervisor and is the mandatory
conclusion to the extended essay process.
The viva voce is conducted once you have submitted the final version of the essay to the EE
Coordinator. At this point in the process no further changes can be made to the essay. The viva
voce is a celebration of the completion of the essay and a reflection on what you have learned
from the process.
The viva voce should last 20–30 minutes and is a way for you to end the process positively, by
showing gratitude to your supervisor.

• The form is an assessed part of the extended essay and will include the comments you have
made throughout.
• An incomplete form resulting from supervisors not holding reflection sessions, or not attending
them, could lead to criterion E (engagement) being compromised.
• In assessing criterion E (engagement), examiners will take into account any information given on
the form about unusual intellectual inventiveness. This is especially the case if you are able to
demonstrate what has been learned as a result of this process or the skills developed.
• Examiners want to know that you understand any material (which must be properly referenced)
that you have included in your essay. If the way the material in the essay does not clearly
establish this, the supervisor can check your understanding in the viva voce and comment on
this on the Reflections on planning and progress form.
• If there appear to be major shortcomings in citations or referencing, your supervisor will
investigate thoroughly. No essay will be authenticated if your supervisor believes you may be
guilty of plagiarism or some other form of academic misconduct.

Tip
Following this final session, you are required to complete the last student comment section of
the Reflections on planning and progress form, sign and date it and submit it to your supervisor,
who must then add their own comments, sign and date the form. Note that the maximum total
word limit for the three reflections on the RPPF is 500.
A blank or unsubmitted RPPF will score a 0 for criterion E.

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 The Researcher`s Reflection Space

To ensure you make the most of the Extended Essay process, you need to keep track of
successes, challenges and things you have learned about yourself and your ability; keeping a
journal will ensure you have a wealth of evidence to show your RPPF examiner that you have
made the most of the process.

After every meeting you have with your supervisor, formal or informal, you must complete your
`Researcher`s Reflection Space` that is shared between you, your supervisor and the EE
Coordinator. Of course, this space is supposed to be of benefit to you, so you will not be given
specific instructions about when to use it and what to write in it, but do make note of the
information on RPPF included in the previous section and understand what details will be
helpful to you when you come to write the reflections.

However, it is a requirement that you minute the meetings, both formal and informal, that you
have with your supervisor.

Your Researcher`s Reflection Space will be on SharePoint, the link to which will be sent to you
at the beginning of the process. Below is an example of an entry stream that a student made
after meetings with their supervisor:

12/4

- I need to add more criticism of primary sources and find secondary sources to support my
point.
- My reference list needs more variety.
- Conclusive sentences need to link to the thesis more clearly.

30/5

- Chapters need to be rearranged as chronological order is weakening my argument.

- Move graph from the Appendix to P7, as it is directly referenced within the text.
- The contextual introductory paragraph needs more detail.
- Add more definitive points of view in the conclusion.

You should be recording in your RRS every time:

- After a formal meeting with your supervisor.
- After every informal meeting
- When any major changes to your strategy have taken place; listing why you made them.
- Give details of any obstacles you overcame, how you did it and what you learned.

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Appendix 1:
EXTENDED ESSAY PROPOSAL FORM

NAME:
DATE:

The subject I would like to do my EE in is:

First Choice of Supervisor:

________________________________________________________
My Reserve Choice of Supervisor is:
_________________________________________________________

Describe the scope of your investigation in less than 75 words:

Explain your reasons for choosing this topic:

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Jot down some of the main arguments you want to make, or the ideas you want to explore.

31
Tentative Ideas for Research Questions:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

FOR SUPERVISOR USE ONLY:

Comments:

Accepted:
Not Accepted:

N.B Students: your EE Process will begin as soon as you have submitted this document to the EE Coordinator.

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Appendix 2:

Extended Essay Contractual Agreement

In signing this document, I must adhere to the following conditions:

As an extended Essay student, I will:

- Set regular meetings with my supervisor – this is my responsibility.

- Fill in my Researchers Reflection Space on a regular basis.

- Meet all deadlines set by my supervisor.

- Submit my work by the deadline, if not earlier.

- I will not deviate from my proposal without advice or consent from my supervisor.

- Take notes during meetings and respond to all feedback given.

- I will give my EE Supervisor adequate notice if I need their advice or want to schedule a
meeting.

- I will show gratitude and respect for the support my supervisor gives me.

- I will abide by the EE Contract throughout the process.

Signed: ___________________________________ Date: _______________________

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