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Deciding what to write about is a crucial step in the extended essay process. It is a
with your supervisor. There are many topics that for one reason or another are not
to be successful." (Sophie)
suitable and the choice that you arrive at needs to have the potential to lead to a
decision that should be taken after a period of consideration and only after consulting
successful extended essay. You are most likely to make the right choice by presenting
your ideas and considering alternatives in an open-minded and objective discussion with
your supervisor.
A number of factors can contribute to the success of an extended essay. These include
relevance, availability of resources, accessibility to treatment within the word limit and
so on. Most important is your own level of interest and enthusiasm for the topic. If you
are not interested it will be very difficult to sustain your motivation when you encounter
difficulties. You may find it hard to keep going. The best way to ensure that this does not
happen to you is to choose a topic in which you have a genuine interest. So how do you
find a topic that will fuel your enthusiasm and have the potential to keep you motivated
and engaged throughout the process?
These are just a few examples of where inspiration and interest can arise. Most of us do not
spend our days constantly thinking about the things we would like to research if we had
the time. So do not despair if none of these sources of inspiration seem to apply to you.
~ ........ ...............
,
successful?
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Decide on
a subject in
which to write
the essay.
topic within
th is su bject.
Explore some
possible
have already some idea of the subject in which you would like to
research
questions
relati ng to th is
topic.
Discuss these
with your
supervisor.
have no idea.
The last of these is not necessarily the worst starting point. In any
case you will need to consult with your supervisor and discuss
the likely path to success from wherever it is that you are starting
out. Even if you have a clear idea of what it is you would like to
write about it is still a good idea to consider and discuss other
alternatives with your supervisor; not only will this help you to
Decide on the
focus your ideas but your supervisor will provide extra motivation.
most suitable
research
question.
_
The research question must be about a topic that interests
you, it must be possible to get your hands on the kind of
information that you need to answer it and it must be
possible to answer it within the word limit.
approaches.
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-- - - - - -- - - - - -- - - -- -
History
The History of films
When an examiner sees this, their heart will sink. The student
will probably have written a "history" (an account) of how the
film industry developed and although a lot of research may
have gone into writing the essay, it will be descriptive and not
analytical. Think of it this way, what kind of conclusion could
there be to an essay with this title? Instead, the student could
have, for example, investigated Sergei Eisenstein's work in the
USSR and asked about his ideological links to the regime and
how this influenced his film-making. In this way, there could
be a link to films but also to a topic that it is historical.
English A1
A comparison of brother-to-brother relationships in
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Biology
Does classical music, rock music or silence in any way
influence memory?
This is a trivial question for a number of reasons. Because of
the way it is posed it can be answered with a single word or a
short statement ("yes", "no", "perhaps"). More importantly the
question is not based on a biological theory or idea and falls
more easily within the realm of psychology. The number of
variables involved will be huge and it will be nearly impossible
to identify, let alone control, all of them. The result will be that
it will be possible to interpret whatever data are collected in
any way you like. This is trivial science.
Instead the student could identify one or two specific types
of music or better, well-defined sounds, and look at trying to
investigate their effect on a clearly biological process such as
the germination or growth of a specific plant. Even this may
well prove to be difficult.
Psychology
The number of teens in America that is considered to be
obese has tripled in the last 30 years! What has changed
in America in the past 30 years that has caused this big an
increase in the total number of teens who are obese? How
do these changes cause numerous psychological issues in
teens in America? Is there a solution to this deadly crisis?
Although some areas of interest are outlined within the title
there is not a single focused research question here but rather
a number of questions; if all questions were to be answered
the paper would exceed the word limit.
Economics
How effective has the Monetary Policy Committee been in
controlling UK inflation?
This question is essentially too superficial, and is likely to result
in a descriptive summary of secondary sources. Essentially, the
answer to the question will be either that the MPC has been
effective at controlling inflation, or it hasn't, almost like a yes/
no question. The scope of the essay is really too large, and
does not lend itself to a 4,OOO-word analysis.
Visual arts
appear below.
History
topic is along the same vein as "What is art?" where the scope
lacks a specific focus. The title does not allow for a concise
or specific exploration into typography, calligraphy or even
Physics
English A1
English B
Biology
Is Harry Potter on effective way to get children to read?
This research question does not lend itself to a systematic
opinion .
Mathematics
Psychology
English B
influence.
is investigated.
Mathematics
Economics
How is the changing role of women being reflected in
advertising and how does this affect demand?
This is a double-barrelled question which does not clearly
focus on a topic to which economic theory may be applied. The
Having a good research question will also help you to reach the
Visual arts
You will also find it easier to show a good knowledge and clear
understanding of a limited topic. The following outlines well
focused research questions that will allow you to illustrate fully
History
particular artist. Think about the theme that you are interested
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English A1
Economics
Biology
Visual arts
Psychology
Psychology: Can romantic love be explained by biological
factors alone?
This research question is sharply focused and the variables
under investigation are clear. The research question is
focused on the variable "romantic love" and whether this
phenomenon can be explained by biological factors alone.
This theoretical proposition has been put forward by
evolutionary psychologists and this research question clearly
shows that this theory is going to be investigated in the essay.
Physics
Modeling seiches: Investigating the relationship between
the length of a rectangular enclosed body of water and the
period of the standing wave produced
The question successfully anticipates the clear focus of the
essay. The variables are clearly prescribed and allow for a
simple but rich investigation. The topic will allow for some
background research and then to focus on the experiment to
carry out.
English B
How was Affirmative Action an effective tool in the battle
against racism toward AfrO-Americans in the US?
This research question treats a policy or law as a cultural
object or artifact. The potential for argument is clear and
this should allow the student to show evidence of the policy's
effectiveness in achieving its goal of reducing prejudice in
the workplace. The essay should refer to specific documents
or legislation that defines the policy as its "effectiveness" is
determined.
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Mathematics
An examination of the role of prime numbers and
.:mn
is also clear.
see
ever before. This applies not just to text but also to audio and
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them
Finding resources
When researching information for your topic you will probably try
to use as wide a range of resources as possible. There are three
mains sources of published information: books, journals and the
internet. When starting to research it is often a good idea to make
a list of key words from your topic (and closely related topics)
and to use these as the basis for performing library and internet
searches. If you find a piece of work (book, journal article or web
page) that you think is useful and relevant, make a note of the
author and look for other works by this same person (perform an
"author search"). This may reveal some other useful materials. It
can also be helpful to look at the bibliography of the sources you
have selected and examine the titles (and dates of pUblication) of
the works listed there. There may be other works listed that could
be useful for your own research.
Looking for journal articles can be a bit more challenging than
finding a book but the rewards are worth the extra effort. There
are two important reasons for using journal articles. Firstly,
because they are published regularly, they are up to date, in
other words they contain the most recent findings in the fi eld
of research. Secondly, because each article is relatively short
(compared to a book) they tend to be more specific. This has
the disadvantage that you need to search carefully in order to
find something that relates directly to your topic. A good way
to quickly assess the suitability of a journal article is to read the
abstract and scan the illustrations. You can then try and judge
whether the article will be worth reading or not. There are many
sources of journal articles on the internet. Many of these only give
you access to the title and abstract and require a subscription
in order for you to view the full article. One way around this is
to make note of any useful-looking articles that you find and
go to your school library to ask if they have the journal in their
collection. You might even be lucky enough to have access to a
local public or university library. Make use of these for getting the
full text of journal articles.
In other cases you may find that the website does not give you
access to the full-text version of the most recent issue of the
journal but that in fact you can read the back issl,les. So if you
find an article it is useful to go to the home page of the journal in
which it is published to check out access. Nowadays it is often the
case that journals specialize in particular types of information so
it is likely that the same journal will have published other related
articles to any you have already found.
Selecting resources
It is important to be selective and critical about th e resources
that you use. Don't just accept the first "search" that your browser
throws up when you do a web search, just as you would not use
the first book that you pick up at random from a library shelf.
You need to look critically and evaluate whether the information
contained in the source is useful, relevant and reliable. Remember,
your bibliography should only contain those items that are cited
in the text (that is, those that are given as in-text references) so
you need to avoid the temptation of putting down a long list of
every source you looked at including those that you did not use in
the end. Evaluating resources means not just selecting those that
you will use from an original list and rejecting others, but also
referring to th e reliability of the sources that you end up using
(citing) in your essay.
Ask yourself the following questions every time you consult a
resource.
Is this resource relevant?
In what way is the information in this resource related to my
research question?
How can I build this information into my argument?
Is this resource reliable and what evidence do I have for
believing that the contents are reliable?
Evaluating resources
How do 1 know whether a resource is reliable?
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Finding out about the author and date of publication for a web
based resource may involve a bit more work. It is often useful to
examine the information contained in the URL as this can give
some information about what kind of organization is behind the
document you are using. If you are using personal or commercial
websites you may need to be more critical regarding the reliability
and/or objectivity of the information they contain. It may also
be helpful to look at the home page of the site in order to find
out more about the organization. Check to see if the website is
updated regularly or at least has information about when and
how often it is updated. If you have doubts about the quality or
reliability of the information you have accessed, talk to a librarian
or to your supervisor and get some advice before incorporating it
into your essay.
Next try to find out whether the author or organization has
published other works and whether these might be of interest
to your own research. A person or organization who publishes
numerous related works is likely to be more informed and
therefore more reliable. It is also useful and informative to see
whether this person or organization has been cited by other
authors. This means that they are considered to be reliable. For
web-based resources, finding websites that link to the one you
are using suggests that this is a reliable source of information. If
you find an author or organization that has published widely on
a range of related topics and is cited by or linked to, other authors
or sites, then you have an additional argument for claiming that
this is a reliable resource.
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sources?
conducting interviews
carrying out surveys
administering questionnaires
performing experiments
doing fieldwork
reading books
listening to music
watching a performance
looking at pictures
studying maps
reading documents
performing calculations.
essay?
research question
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