This post will introduce the step-by-step tips for IB English extended essays, especially for those who have not yet decided what to do or not sure how to start or have planned to start their work during summer vacation. Basically anyone who would like to get some guidelines for EE!
Step 1: Choosing the right text(s): Have you selected the literature works for your EE?
If it were an English A HL essay, I would have recommended you to choose the work you studied at school that was most interesting or had a lot to analyse. However, for EE, the scope from which you can select works is much wider, so this simple advice may not be enough.
Perhaps the literary works you enjoyed reading the most may not be suitable for EE. For example, Tolkien or Rowling, which I really liked when I was young, actually are difficult to study academically which means the materials may not be an easy choice. What I think as the best is to find the works or authors that discuss specific social, cultural, political or gender issues that are worthy of academic discussion.
Also, another recommended way to select EE lit works is to select two works and compare/analyse them. Find common themes, motifs, etc. between the two works.
Step 2: Start Research!
The first thing to do when researching a literary work is, of course, to read the works you selected most thoroughly. What matters greatly here is to make sure to collect quotes while reading!!!! Make a compilation of them in a Word document. Of course, doing this during the reading process takes a long time, but it helps you understand the work and is a great help in the actual EE writing process.
The second type of research, of course, is to read research materials on the literary work(s) you selected and collect the parts you will refer to. Generally, It is common to refer to 4-5 secondary sources per work. Those can be great help in providing critical and analytical ideas about the work as well as understanding the academic interpretation of the works.
Step 3: Set Proper timeline! Do organise your schedule properly!
Roughly you will get a year to work on EE, which seems to be quite enough.
If you would like to work steadily step by step, you can start researching little by little from now and plan to complete about 65-70% of the research before or by the summer break. If you define yourself as a crammer who finds it more productive to work hard as the due date gets closer, you can start working on EE during or after summer break.
What I would like to emphasise is to focus on deciding the best version of RQ. During school term, be sure to confirm your RQ with the supervisor when you can actively via active communication. The rest can be done during vacation or at the beginning of next semester!
Step 4: Organise research sources!
Create a Google folder or a separate folder on your device to organise related documents. The first reason you should do this is that you need to read and quote numerous documents, and the second is because you need to organise all the sources you will use in one place so that you can accurately annotate them later.
Step: 5: Structure your EE properly!
Check the EE structure, and make yours accordingly.
Title page
Contents page
Introduction
Body of the EE
Conclusion
References and bibliography -- if MLA "Works Cited" if CSE "References"
In fact, when starting EE, determining the structure accurately will be a great help in planning when, how, and how much to write! This is because keeping to 4000 words is not as easy as you think, and if you don't have an outline, it's easy to get lost.
Step 6: Write your main contents! Now you really have to start writing EE!
Starting to write EE is not easy. If there are too many and diverse sources to research, EE documents can become really messy, so you will often find yourself feeling lost and having a hard time even getting started. Therefore, what I really recommend in this process is to write according to the outline above.
Step 7: Write your Introduction: Why is writing intro in step 7?
It may sound a but odd, but writing intro when the rest of the main contents are done is way easier.
The main focus of the purpose and grading criteria for writing the introduction is to summarise the importance of the student's research question and the reasons for choosing it and the background. Since you need to provide some important context and prove it by mentioning the sources used in the actual EE, only when the actual research and body paragraphs are completed to some extent can you easily write the introduction with sufficient data and organised thoughts.
For those who have just started EE, it's natural if you have no idea what to write in the intro. Then how about just starting researching and body writing? Once they are about 70% complete, the intro can be written in just 20-30 minutes with much less difficulty.
Step 8: Write Conclusion. How important is the conclusion?
The importance of the conclusion is much greater in EE than in other essays. In a typical essay, the conclusion simply functions as a summary of the key points of the overall essay or rephrasing of the thesis in the intro. In EE, things should be a little bit more serious and careful than this.
Checking the IBO's guidelines of writing a conclusion of approximately 300-350 words, you can see that it must contain conclusion and reflection on your research, rather than simply repeating the content.
Also, although you were unable to fully answer and develop the RQ due to various limitations, if you introduce research topics that may be worth further research in the future and summarise what you learned in the process of studying the research topics, you will be able to finish the conclusion in a way that will be well appreciated. At the same time, you can satisfy the evaluation criteria.
Step 9: Check your Citations and references!
At the beginning stage of EE writing, you decide the citation style you would like to use, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago. And keep updating them along with your research and writing. You may think that the more references you have, the better, but that is not necessarily true. The more academically convincing and relevant, that’s what is the better.
Step 10: Ask the right questions and Edit accordingly!
The feedback you shall receive from the supervisor is immensely important. After checking it several times and digesting it properly, you should edit the EE draft accordingly, and on top of that, do seek proactive comments and ask thorough questions, rather than simply saying ‘i’m not sure what to do..’ to the supervisor.
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