IB extended essay 2018: new rules of assessment

There is no secret that all students of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme are obliged to write an IB extended essay. Moreover, they have to follow all the requirements of an IB extended essay in order to receive high grades. What features of the above-mentioned essay should you know? Let's have a look.

What is it?

IB extended essay is a mandatory, in-depth study of a topic chosen by a student from the list of available subjects presented at Diploma Programme. Basically, it is a piece of academic writing. IB extended paper is purposed to promote individual research, creativity, and writing skills, which leads to a well-structured essay of up to 4,000 words.

The extended essay shows that you can conduct practical research and formulate the appropriate research question. In addition, you might develop your personal argumentation, communication skills, analyzing and thinking.

The process of writing an IB extended essay

Despite the fact that you are self-directed in writing, you are guided by an assigned supervisor, who helps you in the process of data collection and writing. Writing an IB extended essay consists of the following processes: the research process, writing and formal presentation, reflection process. It is obligatory to undertake three compulsory reflection sessions with your supervisor, including an individual interview. The last process is aimed at checking on plagiarism, reflecting on success and difficulties, reflecting on the knowledge gained.

What changes were made to IB extended essay assessment in 2018?

IB extended essay is usually assessed by examiners, using common criteria established by the IB Diploma Programme. There are basic assessment criteria: focus and method, knowledge and understanding, critical thinking, presentation, engagement. According to the scale of assessment, you may receive from 0 to 36.

In 2018, there were some changes made to an IB extended essay assessment. There is a list of amendments:

- Every research question has to be posed as a research question. You have to make judgments as if you are responding to the research questions.

- The use of endnotes, footnotes, and appendices are more clarified. To make it clear, endnotes and footnotes are not a significant part of the IB extended essay, and examiners should not read them.

- There are changes related to references to external sources: all your references to external sources, such as links to YouTube, and supplemental information presented in the form of CDs or DVDs, will not be accepted. Providing this type of information is a violation.

- The abstract of the IB extended essay is not a formal requirement anymore. Yay!

- External mentors are allowed to help you with writing. The guidance of the external mentor can be used in case there is a permission from the school. Your external mentor has to be provided with an official letter, which clarifies the permitted level of guidance.

- There are some special requirements for fonts, line spacing, and font size for the extended essay. It was added as a rule to show that an IB extended essay is one of the academic works.

- The "best-fit" approach is used to assess the extended essay this year. What does it mean? Compensation has to be made in case a piece of paper matches various aspects of a marked band at various levels. The mark given should be the one which most fairly shows the balance between achievement and mark band.

We hope that your IB extended essay will be perfect with the help of our tips on how to write it. Good luck!