Why Does the Diploma Programme Include the Extended Essay?
The Extended Essay is an opportunity for originality and intellectual independence. As students progress through senior school they may have been given the opportunity to develop their own research questions within a topic. In this way, their independence as a reader and critic has developed.
The Extended Essay builds on this foundation; it grows out of the student's own interest in a topic that becomes the focus of their study. They analyse sources with a growing sense of developing critical thinking skills in order to form a solid academic argument. The 4000 words of the Extended Essay enable students to sustain their analysis and interpretation over a greater range of material.
The preparation and writing of the Extended Essay encourages the student to take responsibility, with the support of a supervisor, for their own learning. The whole process fosters personal independent study, time management, and the clear presentation of the results of their research.
In many ways writing an Extended Essay is about doing rather than writing about what others have done.
In summary, the Extended Essay requires students to:
- Undertake an extensive programme of reading and research
- Demonstrate intellectual independence and originality by choosing their own subject of study and define its nature and scope
- Engage in sustained analysis, interpretation and comparison of a substantial body of data and resources
- Present the results of their research in a clearly written, academically argued and accurately referenced form
This process improves subject expertise and is good preparation for further study and research at university level.
For these reasons, the Extended Essay can be seen as a culmination of students schooling. They not only demonstrate the intellectual, research and presentation skills that have been developed throughout their school years, but they also create something which is uniquely their own.
Ms Loreen Kerrigan
Extended Essay Coordinator
