The Extended Essay

Course outline

Central to the aims and philosophy of the IB, and the element perhaps most valued by the universities, is the research project, called the Extended Essay.

Soon after your entry into the Diploma Programme you will choose a subject which you would like to pursue to a deeper level. This does not have to be one of the six academic subjects which you have chosen to study, but does need to be something about which you feel passionately and can write in depth. Once you have chosen your subject, you receive a supervisor and work together with her/him to narrow down your topic to one that can be handled thoroughly in 4000 words.

Over a period of approximately twelve months, ending at the very start of Year 13, you work through the various stages of research and creation: developing your thesis, making notes and learning how to reference properly, gathering evidence, revising your thesis in the light of the evidence, drafting your essay, discussing the draft with your supervisor and then writing a final essay.

At the very end, you will also have a viva (an oral examination) with your supervisor. When you have finished, you will be prepared for any research work that a university might present to you, either as an undergraduate or a postgraduate, and you are therefore extremely well-equipped for the next stage in your education.

Examples of Extended Essays written by IB students at the Royal High School are:

• English - To what extent do Thomas Hardy (in Tess of the d’Urbervilles) and Angela

Carter (in Nights at the Circus) explore the conventional portrayal of late Victorian woman? • Human Rights in France - Une analyse des droits de l’homme relatives á l’interdiction du port du voile intégral en France. • Biology - Is the diving reflex in humans an evolutionary relic or a physiological adaption?

• History - To what extent were the Western allies justified in their reaction to the erection of the Berlin wall?

• World Studies - How did street art in black South African communities help to change and transform disadvantaged communities during apartheid?

• Chemistry - How do the storage conditions of kiwi fruit affect their vitamin C content?

• Physics - What is the relationship between wind-induced oscillation and the dimensions of a suspended bridge?

• Visual Arts - How does Diane Arbus expose the extraordinary amongst the everyday and the familiar in the bizarre?

• Film - How much are the films of Pedro Almodovar a triumph of style over substance?