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Essays
Nature of the extended essay
The extended essay is an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from the list of approved Diploma Programme
subjectsnormally one of the students six chosen subjects for the IB diploma. It is intended to promote high-
level research and writing skills, intellectual discovery and creativity. It provides students with an opportunity to
engage in personal research in a topic of their own choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (a teacher in the
school). This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are
communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen. It is recommended that
completion of the written essay is followed by a short, concluding interview, or viva voce, with the supervisor.
Overview of EE in Economics:
An extended essay in economics provides students with an opportunity to undertake in-depth research in
economics in an area of personal interest to them. It allows students to develop research skills, to apply
economic theory to real-world situations, and to analyse and evaluate the outcomes of their research. The
outcome of the research should be a coherent and structured analytical essay that effectively addresses the
particular research question.
Choice of topic
Students should undertake an essay that uses the core principles of economics as a basis for researching a
particular topic. Students should use a combination of primary and secondary research as the basis for their
extended essay, and should apply the accepted theories, tools and techniques of the subject to the topic chosen.
Essays should not be historical. They should be related to economic information that is no more than three years
old. Essays that are too retrospective, for example, What was the impact of the South-East Asian crash on
Thailand during 19901995? almost invariably become descriptive.
Students should ensure that their research question can be answered using economic concepts and theories,
and that the question does not lean too heavily towards business and management.
The topic chosen should provide opportunities for some critical analysis of the data collected. Topics that depend
entirely on summarizing general secondary data should be avoided, as they are likely to lead to an essay that is
essentially narrative or descriptive in nature. However, the effective use of relevant secondary data to answer the
research question will be fully rewarded by the examiner. Restricting the scope of the essay will help to ensure a
clear focus, and will also provide opportunities for demonstrating detailed economic understanding and critical
analysis. Choosing a research question that is made up of more than one question is unlikely to result in a
successful essayfor example, Is the caf industry in Vienna an example of oligopoly and, if so, do the cafs
collude with each other? or What is the effect of interest rate policy on aggregate demand in Greece and what
should the government do to increase aggregate demand? In the first example, the answer to the first part of the
question must be affirmative in order to proceed with the essay. If not, the second part of the question cannot be
answered. In the second example, the scope of the essay is simply too wide.
You should base your extended essay upon a topic or subject that links with an area of the
I.B. Economics Syllabus.
1) Possible areas of study might include
a) Elasticity
b) Parallel markets
c) Market Failure
d) Theory of the Firm
Macroeconomic topics are possible, but in many cases are best avoided as it is more difficult
to obtain good primary data and 4000 words may not be sufficient to discuss a
macroeconomic research question in the required depth.
3) As well as thinking of an area of study you need to think of a possible context for your
essay (i.e. what is your essay going to be about). Some examples are given below:-
4) The first research question is unsuitable because although the information about fees is
accessible, HKIS are unlikely to release figures for the number of applicants they get
each year.
5) The second research question is unsuitable because it is too broad to be analysed
effectively within 4000 words and the end result may be a superficial consideration of
some of the issues.
6) The third research question could prove problematic in terms of collecting suitable primary
and secondary data. The event has not yet occurred, so much of the required data does
not exist and even if the question related to an event that had recently taken place the
question may be too broad in scope.
Data Collection
Important note on data collection: Primary data is difficult to collect and often
the results determine the structure of the essay. Students should start the
collection as early as possible.
1) The best extended essays are those based upon both primary and secondary data. This
is another reason why it is often better to choose a microeconomic topic as it is more
feasible to collect primary data.
2) An essay about hotel price discrimination would require you to collect price information
from various different hotels for different customers, different times of the year etc. Some
businesses are reluctant to release this type of sensitive information so you must choose
carefully when deciding upon your extended essay.
3) Primary data might include
4) Secondary data is also essential for any extended essay and will support your primary
research. The following information may prove useful:
5) It is important to remember that you must decide what data you will need and how you
intend to collect it.
Economic Theory
Important note on Economic Theory: The EE should not include a section of
textbook like theory. Only relevant theory, applied to the question is suitable.
1) You must choose an extended essay topic that allows you to incorporate economic theory.
2) If research question e) from Stage 2 were to be considered then the following economic
theory could be applied.
3) You should consider in detail all relevant theory as your essay requires a good theoretical
basis in order to achieve a top grade.
4) A well prepared candidate will also draw some of the diagrams that will be used in the
essay in order to get as much feedback as possible from his/her supervisor.
Assessment Criteria
(taken from IBO EE Guide 2013 + May 2012 examiners report)
34
The topic is communicated.
56
The topic is communicated accurately and effectively.
Five-year rule
If the topic relates to a specific event, issue or policy, it should date from
within the past five years. It should not concern a future or hypothetical
event.
If the topic or research question is deemed inappropriate for the subject in
which the essay is registered, no more than four marks can be awarded
for this criterion. This applies to economics essays that breach the 5-year
rule.
Note from examiners: Successful candidates chose research questions that were
sufficiently narrow and based on a topic for which there was sufficient information
available.
essays on a historical topic; there is no hard and fast rule on this, but students should confine
their topics to something that has taken place in the recent past.
essays on a future event; these are problematic as the conclusions are largely hypothetical or
speculative.
essays on the performance of the whole economy; the global financial crisis has generated a
flurry of research questions, including ones on the whole of individual economies. These are
rarely successful. They tend to be descriptive, lacking in analysis, and summaries of
secondary sources.
essays on the effect of a major event, without specifying what it is that is being examined, i.e.
the effect on what.
Candidates should be encouraged to find things that have actually happened or to look at actual
changes in economic policy and analyse these changes using economic theory.
Economics specific details on research: The range of resources available will be influenced by various
factors, but above all by the topic. At the very least, there should be some evidence that appropriate economic
sources have been consulted.
Wherever possible, primary sources should be used, with secondary sources as evidential support. Statistical
data collected from books or the internet (for example, from national statistical agencies, the IMF, the ILO, the
World Bank, the WTO) may be very valuable and can be effectively used to answer the question.
If surveys are carried out, the questions must reflect appropriate and sensible economic analysis. For example,
any conclusions about the elasticity of demand for a good would be highly suspect if a survey asked about the
hypothetical change in a quantity demanded based on a hypothetical change in price. Good planning may be
demonstrated by the use of appropriate information to support a well-structured argument. The essay should not
include theory or information that is not used to answer the research question directly. For example, it would not
be appropriate to include large sections of textbook economic theory without showing how and why the theory
can be applied to the particular research question.
Note from examiners: It is worth noting that primary research is not compulsory. It would appear that
some centres feel that it is obligatory for candidates to carry out surveys and questionnaires. This is
not the case. Frequently, essays that are based on such surveys are mainly descriptive; candidates
do their surveys, and simply describe their results without meaningfully applying any theory.
Alternatively, candidates make nave conclusions based on surveys with too small a sample, or too
homogeneous a sample. For example, conclusions based on a survey of the students friends, or
parents friends would be too narrow unless the research question specifically referred to that
particular demographic.
Candidates sometimes frame their survey questions using economic terminology. Any conclusions
based on the opinions of people who have no knowledge of economics are likely to be far-fetched.
For example, Do you think that the market is in oligopoly? or What are the biggest externalities of
the road construction? are poor questions to ask people who have no knowledge of economics.
Students continue to inappropriately generate conclusions about elasticity based on data that they
have gathered through surveys. Where surveys ask questions such as How much would you buy if
the price increased by 10%, 20%, 30%? produce hypothetical and unreliable conclusions. Elasticity
theory should only be used if prices actually do change.
Where students have conducted surveys, they often provide descriptions/analysis of all of the
questions, where only a few generated information that was relevant to the research question.
In cases where primary research is not obvious, students should be encouraged to contact (email is
the easiest way to start) an economist, an economics professor, a journalist or a government official
for information.
Sadly, it is still common to read essays where no economic textbook or only one basic textbook has
been used. Such essays tend to be less successful. Given that the extended essay is a research task,
one would expect candidates to consult a wider range of economics literature than one basic
textbook.
Effective planning may be illustrated by a good structure to the essay. Weaker essays tend not to be
broken into sub-sections.
Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding
General outline: This
criterion assesses the extent to which the research relates to
the subject area/discipline used to explore the research question, or in the case
of the world studies extended essay, the issue addressed and the two
disciplinary perspectives applied, and additionally the way in which this
knowledge and understanding is demonstrated through the use of appropriate
terminology and concepts.
The biggest lapses in terminology continue to occur in the use of elasticity language where candidates
continue to use expressions such as cigarettes are inelastic , rather than demand for cigarettes is
inelastic or a small change in price leads to a big change in quantity demanded rather than a
given change in price leads to a proportionately larger change in quantity demanded . Another
common error which should be avoided involves confusing demand and quantity demanded .
Analysis is limited.
Discussion/evaluation is limited.
Analysis is adequate.
Discussion/evaluation is adequate.
Analysis is good.
The research is analysed in a way that is clearly relevant
to the research question; the inclusion of less relevant
research rarely detracts from the quality of the overall
analysis.
Discussion/evaluation is good.
Analysis is excellent.
Discussion/evaluation is excellent.
Five-year rule
Failure to follow the five-year rule will limit the grade in this criterion to a
maximum of 6.
If the topic or research question is deemed inappropriate for the subject in
which the essay is registered, no more than three marks can be awarded
for this criterion. This applies to economics essays that breach the 5-year
rule.
Examiners comments on knowledge and understanding: Successful essays demonstrate
that the candidates have thoroughly investigated their topic and meaningfully integrated
relevant economic theory.
In weaker essays, there was either not enough economic theory to support the argument, or careless
mistakes were made in the use of economic theory, with inaccurate diagrams and/or terminology.
Too many candidates are including economic concepts that may be related to the main economic
theory, but that are not pertinent to their particular question. Students should not include any theory
that isnt relevant to their particular question and that is not supported by their research findings. The
most commonly mis-used theory is the kinked demand curve theory. All too often, students who do a
market structure essay will stick this theory in when there is absolutely no evidence that it is
applicable. The inclusion of such theory reveals a lack of knowledge and understanding.
Good essays stayed on track, breaking the argument into sections and consistently referring back to
the research question.
Weaker essays included large sections of information that were not used to actually address the
research question. It is not appropriate to include sections of discrete economic theory that are not
integrated with the information from the case study.
Examiners comments on evaluation: It is a pleasure to read so many excellent essays with a high
level of analytical and evaluative skills. This was most likely to be evident in essays where a good
research question was asked, and appropriate research carried out.
To substantiate an earlier point, if students carried out superficial research that did not lend itself to
economic analysis, it was very difficult for them to score highly on this criterion since both analytical
and evaluative skills were lacking. Students often seemed unaware of the assumptions inherent in the
economic models that they were using, missing an opportunity to carry out some meaningful analysis.
Where candidates indiscriminately included economic theory that was not directly related to their
research question, they showed a lack of appropriate analysis. There continue to be too many
instances where students identify relevant economic theory and include it in the essay, but they do not
apply it in the context of their own research question.
Weaker essays contained graphs, tables or charts that included much information that was not
analysed. Candidates would refer to the data, but leave the examiner to carry out the analysis, rather
than use the information in the data to support the argument. No graph, chart, diagram or table should
ever appear without a reference to it in the text with some analysis of its economic significance.
It is unfortunate when students do not make their diagrams appropriate to the actual markets they are
examining. Generic labels such as price and quantity should be turned into appropriate labels for
the market, such as price of haircuts ( per cut) and quantity of haircuts (100s per week). It is also
important that actual numbers be gathered, wherever possible. When surveys/questionnaires have
been done, then the essay must include an explanation of this research (how many respondents?
Where? When? etc) along with a summary of the relevant results. However, there is no need to
provide a pie chart to show the answers to every single question if they are not relevant to the
research question.
Criterion D: Presentation
General outline: This criterion assesses the extent to which the presentation follows the standard format
expected for academic writing and the extent to which this aids effective communication.
12 Presentation is acceptable.
34 Presentation is good.
Economics Specific Details: This criterion relates to the extent to which the essay
conforms to accepted academic standards in relation to how research papers
should be presented. It also relates to how well these elements support the
reading, understanding and evaluation of the essay.
Students may provide a section and subsection structure to their essays,
with appropriate informative headings. Subheadings should not distract
from the overall structure of the essay or argument presented.
Any graphs, charts, images or tables from literature sources included in
essays must be carefully selected and labelled. They should only be used
if they are directly relevant to the research question, contribute towards
the understanding of the argument and are of a good graphic quality.
Large tables of raw data collected by the student are best included in an
appendix, where they should be carefully labelled. Too many graphs,
charts and tables distract from the overall quality of the communication.
Only processed data that is central to the argument of the essay should
be included in the body of the essay, as close as possible to its first
reference.
Any tables should enhance a written explanation and should not
themselves include significant bodies of text; if this is the case then these
words must be included in the word count. Students must take care in
their use of appendices as examiners are not required to read them. All
information with direct relevance to the analysis, discussion and
evaluation of the essay must be contained in the main body of the essay.
Any material that is not original must be carefully acknowledged, with
specific attention paid to the acknowledgment and referencing of quotes
and ideas. This acknowledgment and referencing is applicable to
audiovisual material, text, graphs and data published in print and
electronic sources. If the referencing does not meet the minimum
standard as indicated in the guide (name of author, date of publication,
title of source and page numbers as applicable), and is not consistently
applied, work will be considered as a case of possible academic
misconduct.
A bibliography is essential and has to be presented in a standard format.
Title page, table of contents, page numbers, etc must contribute to the
quality of presentation.
The essay must not exceed 4,000 words of narrative. Graphs, figures,
calculations, diagrams, formulas and equations are not included in the
word count. Students should be aware that examiners will not read
beyond the 4,000-word limit, nor assess any material presented
thereafter.
Note from examiners on introduction: The descriptors for this criterion are very specific, and it is
disappointing that candidates do not get full marks for their introductions. Good essays clearly link the
research topic to economic theory, and outline the context of the research question. Weaker essays
have introductions that are rambling and too personal. In the weaker essays, there is little indication of
the economic theory that is to be used and the candidates fail to convince the reader that the topic is
significant or worthy of investigation
Note from examiners on conclusions: Almost all students presented a conclusion and it helps
when this is laid out separately under a heading. The best conclusions summarised the main points of
the essay, providing a final succinct answer to the research question. The conclusion is also an
important place to present a final evaluation of the work done, and to recognise limitations. However,
there does not need to be a separate section titled Evaluation and Limitations .
Students commonly add new information in their conclusions, or begin a new line of argument. This is
not appropriate.
Note from examiners on formal presentation: The full range of marks was awarded here to a large
number of candidates who had clearly paid close attention to the requirements of a formal essay.
The largest weaknesses were in inadequately sourcing the information that had been gathered or in
poorly presenting the sources used in the bibliography. This is particularly the case with the citing of
Internet-based resources where candidates often cited only the website, leaving out important
information such as the full address of the article, the title of the information, the author (where known)
and the last date accessed.
It is evident that some students are simply not familiar with any formal procedures for using
references and presenting a bibliography. The IB does not advocate the use of any particular system
over another, but it is necessary for students to adopt one consistent style, and be aware of the need
to provide full bibliographic information for all sources.
A common weakness was to include items in the bibliography that had not been cited in the body of
the essay. The bibliography is only to include any source that was referenced at some point in the
essay. Other weaknesses, though less common, were poor presentation of diagrams and/or the
absence of any of the required elements (e.g. table of contents, page numbers).
Criterion E: Engagement
General outline: This criterion assesses the extent to which the essay uses the material collected to present
ideas in a logical and coherent manner, and develops a reasoned argument in relation to the research question.
Where the research question does not lend itself to a systematic investigation in the subject in which the essay is
registered, the maximum level that can be awarded for this criterion is 2.
Engagement is limited.
12
Reflections on decision-making and
planning are mostly descriptive.
34 Engagement is good.
56 Engagement is excellent.
the Approaches to learning skills they have acquired and how they
have developed as a learner
Title page has the word count clearly presented on the page
Essay does not exceed 4,000 words (word count includes the introduction, the main body of the
essay and the conclusion - nothing else)
Contents page has a clear heading, and refers to specific page numbers
Introduction has a clear heading, includes the research question (in bold) and explains the
context and significance of the topic
Conclusion has a clear heading, specifically addresses the research question and is consistent
with the evidence presented in main body of the essay
Bibliography includes all full references in alphabetical order (for every full reference in the
bibliography there must be a corresponding in-text citation)
If necessary, appendices have been included at the very end of the essay, and this section has
been given a clear heading
You will need to complete three formal reflections on discussions with your
supervisor;
Reflection 1 the first formal reflection session should focus on your initial ideas
and how you plan to undertake your research
This initial reflection session should be a dialogue between the student and the
supervisor based on the students initial explorations. It is recommended that the
student sends their supervisor an outline of their research proposal ahead of the
meeting in order to give the supervisor the opportunity to review their work. This will
ensure that the reflection session is focused and productive.
Topics of discussion that should arise during this session include:
a dialogue about possible approaches and any potential problems that might
arise
a discussion of strategies for developing the students ideas for the essay and
expanding the research so that the essay starts to take form
probing and challenging questions that will help the student focus their
thinking; this should lead to the development of the students working
research question
an outline of the next steps that the student should undertake in order to
refine their question; this should take the form of a research and writing
timeline.
whether an appropriate range of sources has been accessed and how the
student is critically evaluating the origin of those sources
what the student now has to do in order to produce the full draft of their essay,
and ways and means of breaking down the task into manageable steps.
By the end of the interim reflection session both student and supervisor
should feel satisfied that there is:
Between the interim session and the completion of the extended essay,
students should continue to see their supervisor as appropriate to their needs,
although the third and final reflection session should not take place until after
the extended essay has been completed and uploaded for submission.
Reflection 3 - the final session will be in the form of a viva voce once you have
completed and handed in your EE.
The viva voce is a short interview between the student and the supervisor,
and is the mandatory conclusion to the extended essay process. Students
who do not attend the viva voce will be disadvantaged under criterion E
(engagement) as the Reflections on planning and progress form will be
incomplete.
The viva voce is conducted once the student has uploaded the final version of
their extended essay to the IB for assessment. 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 the student has learned
from the process.
The viva voce should last 2030 minutes. This is included in the
recommended amount of time a supervisor should spend with the student.
In conducting the viva voce and writing their comments on the Reflections on
planning and progress form, supervisors should bear in mind the following.
The form is an assessed part of the extended essay. The form must include:
comments made by the supervisor that are reflective of the discussions
undertaken with the student during their supervision/reflection sessions; the
students comments; and the supervisors overall impression of the students
engagement with the research process.
Examiners want to know that students understand any material (which must
be properly referenced) that they have included in their essays. If the way the
material is used in context in the essay does not clearly establish this, the
supervisor can check the students understanding in the viva voce and
comment on this on the Reflections on planning and progress form.
The comment made by the supervisor should not attempt to do the examiners
job. It should refer to things, largely process-related, that may not be obvious
in the essay itself.
Unless there are particular problems, the viva voce should begin and end
positively. Completion of a major piece of work such as the extended essay is
a great achievement for students.
The reflections will all be recorded in ManageBac. You need to go to your EE
worksheet, and click on the tab Planning and Progress Form