Guidelines+for+Preparing+an+Extended+Essay+in+History

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Structure of an Extended Essay
An extended essay is not required to be structured like a Historical Investigation. On the contrary, one of the writer's responsibilities as part of this assessment is to give his/her essay an appropriate structure. You have some flexibility as a writer to give it the structure you think it needs. However, you should probably steer close to the time-honored structure of historical essays. Look through successful essays in the Sample Essays page, linked below.

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This is the IBO publication describing and explaining this assessment. YOU SHOULD READ THIS.======
 * =====[[file:EE in History Guide sections.pdf]]=====

Here is a document that I have prepared, summarizing IB examiner recommendations about what to do, and what to avoid, in the preparation of an Extended Essay.
 * [|"Dos and Don’ts from the IB EE Report, 2015"]

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Here is a document that I have prepared, describing specific "do's and dont's", per step in the process of preparing a Historical Investigation. (Don't be put off by the name. "Historical Investigation" is what we call the long research paper within the IB History program, but "historical investigation" is also an appropriate description for any serious work in history.) Not everything here is applicable to an Extended Essay, but much is!======
 * [[file:HI Dos & Donts 120412.pdf]]

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//Step 1: Defining a "long list" of topics that could interest you//=====

I suggest you first brainstorm a variety of topics where you have some knowledge and some curiosity to know more, and develop a "long list" of up to twenty topics that might serve.

Also read this chapter about some interesting questions which often serve as central focuses of research works in history.
 * [[file:Thinking About History-Marius.pdf]]

The three main focuses of study in Extended Essays tend to be
 * EITHER Causes of an event / situation;
 * OR Consequences of an event / situation
 * OR Relevance of particular evidence about an event / situation (e.g. a painting, novel, film, biography).

The following resources may help you in your quest for a topic:
 * Online archives:
 * [|Stuff you Missed in History Class Podcast Archive]
 * [|BBC 'Witness' Podcast Archive]
 * [|BBC History Magazine Archive]
 * [|//History Today// Archive]. The archives of the best general interest history periodical in the English language, which is published in the UK. You will have to pay a bit over $10 for a week's access, but the range, depth and clarity of their treatment of topics is ideal for what we're doing.
 * Other resources:
 * MS/US Library Magazine collection
 * MS/US Library DVD collection

Note that the one prohibition with regard to a topic is the interdiction of any event within the past ten years. The reason for this is the lack of perspective allowed by any event that recent.

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//Step 2: Narrowing down to a "short list" of topics that could interest you//=====

Scope out the basic story and also the existing historiography of potential topics. Are there major historical controversies still lying unresolved? Particularly in relation to such areas of controversy, there may be narrow, feasible topics that could serve as central focus for a short, 4,000-word historical investigation, which is all our assignment allows.
 * Read encyclopedia articles about your "long list" topics to scope out the basic story and also the existing historiography. (Yes, Wikipedia could be useful at this stage.)
 * Search for your topic, and simultaneously, for "historiography" in Google or Wikipedia: This will sometimes take you to a page devoted entirely to the historiography of the given topic!
 * Try encyclopedia articles, in one of the many general or historical encyclopedias available in libraries.
 * Check out the archives of //History Today.// The entry page is [|here].

See which of your topics inspire you to develop a Guiding Question, a problem that your study can solve. Consult the "Framing a question" page of the "Key Steps" section, here.

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//Step 3: Defining an initial approach to a topic that interests you//=====

Test your main candidate topic (or two) by seeing if it/they can serve as the basis of full and coherent Historical Investigation Planning Worksheet. This is a 1-page worksheet that I have prepared which inventories and describes all the key elements necessary for a successful historical investigation, and requires you to give evidence that you have given due thought and sufficient effort to gather together enough sources, think through key questions, and define a feasible workplan to guide your development of the investigation. In the broad sense, an Extended Essay is also a historical investigation, and this worksheet serves very well to plan an Extended Essay.


 * I expect you to fill in and submit a Historical Investigation Planning Worksheet by the date defined in your assignment sheet. This is the worksheet to be filled in:
 * [[file:HI Plng Wksht 120402.pdf]]
 * Here is an exemplary filled-in form:
 * [[file:HI Plng Wksht 110520.xls]]

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//Step 4: Getting my feedback on your plan//=====

I will read your Planning Worksheet and ask you to discuss your plan briefly with me. I may ask that you make basic changes to your plan, or I may even recommend that you find another topic, if your work to date indicates to me that you are unlikely to develop a successful investigation on that basis. Or I may simply give you some suggestions about how to refine your plan. However, in any case, I do require that you obtain my approval to go ahead at this stage.

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//Step 5: Scoping the available sources//=====

You need to assemble an "adequate research base" for your investigation. This means that you must first learn what a good set of sources would be, and then gain access to an adequate subset of them.

It will probably help you to have an organized way to inventory and give a preliminary assessment of possible sources. I recommend you use the spreadsheet tool I describe in the "Research" page of the "Key Steps" section, here

//Step 6:// //Reading, taking notes and evaluating the sources you have//

You should at this point read, take notes, and start to outline the skeleton of your argument for the entire paper as this starts to take shape in your mind.

A good way to proceed is to start is by focusing on the tasks that, in the Historical Investigation, are called sections A-C: >>> >>
 * Plan of the investigation
 * As you learn more about your topic, tighten up your scope and refocus your research question on a more specifically defined topic
 * As you learn more about the available points of evidence, revise your "test" to match the nature of the evidence available. Example:
 * Your initial idea for a test is: "I will review the private diaries of the main decision-makers and compare their testimony to public announcements, and give greater credence to the former over the latter."
 * However, research reveals to you that the records feature few private diaries written by the main decision-makers, but many accounts by their personal assistants of private conversations with the decision-makers.
 * So you revise your test to: "I will review the accounts kept by close confidants of the main decision-makers and compare them to public announcements, and give greater credence to the former over the latter."
 * Summary of the evidence
 * Read and take good notes
 * Consider using apps and online services devised to assist the research process:
 * BibMe
 * A[|ctiveHistory's tool]
 * Evaluation of sources
 * Consult the "Source Evaluation" page of the "Key Steps" section, here.

Step 7: "Block out" the argument that begins to emerge as you research and reflect
 * This is about developing a logical line of thought, not necessarily about writing clear paragraphs. Outline your ideas if possible, don't craft fine paragraphs unless that already comes very easily to you.
 * Use an outlining program, like the outliner in MS Word, or a mindmapping app, like Inspiration (provided gratis in your MacBook)

Step 8: Write a first draft of your essay

Step 9: Edit your draft and produce a final draft

On the date identified in your detailed assignment, I expect the completed historical investigation.

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This is the IBO publication setting out the IBO assessment criteria, which are used to award your Extended Essay an IB score ("marks").======
 * =====[[file:EE Assessment Criteria 2009+.pdf]]=====

Here are the grade boundaries, which allow you to translate between the IB marks (between 1 and 36) and the IB grade award:
 * 0-7 E
 * 8-15 D
 * 16-22 C
 * 23-28 B
 * 29-36 A

This is my personal detailed evaluation rubric for a Historical Investigation. Although it is specifically tailored to that other, very distinctive IB assessment, it also lists the key points to take into account at each of the key steps involved in any serious work in history. From an IB standpoint, it can serve as an excellent check-list, to ensure that you have remembered to take care of all the essential points.
 * =====[[file:Hist. Inv. Rubric 0912.xls]]=====

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Here are the most recent IB HIstory Extended Essay Reports, which summarize what IB Examiners have found in recent Extended Essays submitted by candidates. This is a very valuable tool, full of warnings and recommendations!=====
 * [[file:EE Report from IBO, 2015.pdf]]