HI-01A

In this section, I will cover various aspects of the Historical Investigation, defined not in the general sense of a generic historical investigation, the process of carrying out a historical inquiry, but rather as the IB-defined, 2,000-word assessment.
 * This Opening Page serves as the directory to the rest, and answers the questions: "What is the Historical Investigation?", "What is its significance?" and "What is the actual assignment I need to fulfill?"
 * The "Preparing a Historical Investigation" page answers the questions: "What steps should I take to prepare my historical investigation?" and
 * The "Evaluating a Historical Investigation" page answers the questions: "What are the criteria for a successful historical investigation?", "How will my historical investigation be graded?" and "How should I interpret my historical investigation feedback, and grade(s)?"
 * The "Model Historical Investigations" page answers the question: "What do good model historical investigations look like?"

=What is the Historical Investigation?=

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One culminating assessment of WFS History studies is the historical investigation, which gives students a chance to apply all the principal skills we develop to come up with their own best solution to a topic of historical controversy rich with political and ethical implications. Students select and formulate their own research question, and then proceed to answer it in a structured paper of no more than 2,000 words. As this is not just an in-class project, students are free to produce their best work within the several weeks that they can work on it. This is a student's best chance to demonstrate his or her expanding skills and knowledge!======

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Within the IB program the Historical Investigation serves as the "Internal Assessment" for History. (This means it is primarily assessed by the student's classroom teacher–although then a sample of submitted papers are then also read and assessed by outside IB examiners, who may change the initial grades. The May exams, by contrast, are entirely assessed by examiners from other schools in the IB system.) The Internal Assessment counts as 20% of an HL student's total IB History score, and 25% of a SL student's total score.======
 * SL candidates in History must complete this requirement during their single year of studies–i.e., during the 20th Century World History Topics course.
 * ======By school policy, for HL candidates in History, this IB requirement must be completed in the spring of the junior year of the two-year IB program of studies; students do NOT have a second chance to write a different historical investigation in 20th Century World History.======

=What is the actual Historical Investigation assignment ?=

Assignment Specification, 2013-14:

 * This is [|the assignment for SL students in the 20th Century World History class]:
 * This is [|the assignment for HL students in the History of Europe and the Middle East class]: