Session by Tom Penny

1. Extended Essay presentation for parents.
Parents information session
18th and 19th February 2016.
Tom Penny
DP Coordinator

2. Nature of the
Programme
•Based on a circular model
(similar philosophical basis to
PYP and MYP)
•Extended Essay,Theory of
Knowledge and Creativity
Activity Service are integral to
programme.
• 6 required subject areas

3. What is the Extended Essay?
It is an independent research project to create an academic essay.
• Better in a higher level subject
• ISS must be able to provide a supervisor so all DP subjects are available plus
“Human Rights” and “Science,Technology and Society” which are cross-
curricular
4000 words-maximum!
Process and product
Builds on and links to the Gr10 Personal Project (MYP) and Gr5 Exhibition
(PYP) with more emphasis on ACADEMIC research
Completed within the timeframe of January 2016 until November 2016

4. Timeframe and support
Date Event
26.1.16 Launch of EE and introduction
16.2.16 Subject specific guidance for students
17.2.16-
25.2.16
Assistance in library with Research Proposals
and Annotated Bibliography
26.2.16 Research Proposals and Annotated
Bibliography submitted onVeracross.
13.3.16 Notification of Research Proposals accepted
or need further revision. Allocation of
research supervisors for those accepted.
20.3.16 Second research proposals submitted for
those that needed revision.
14.3.16-
24.3.16
Meeting with supervisor to finalise decisions
and start the research process.

5. Responsibility of the student
• Read and understand provided booklet of guidelines,textbook,and all details
(such as criteria) relevant to the chosen subject. (See EE site)
• Abide by the dates outlined in the EE handbook (See EE site)
• Lead the meetings with their supervisor - students must ask for guidance
and advice in these meetings and prepare for them to maximise the
effectivenessof their supervisor’s time
• Commit to at least 40 hours of work on the Extended Essay,starting in
January 2016 and finish by November 2016
• Choose a subject,topic and devise a research question that fits with one of
the subjects we can supervise at school
• Do independent work collecting data from primary and secondary sources,
analysing the data and writing a 4000 word essay that reports on the
research process and findings.
• Understand and abide by the school policy about academic honesty.

6. Responsibility of the supervisor
• Encourage and support each student allocated to him/her.
• Provide advice regarding (a) the research process,(b) writing an extended academic
text in appropriate structure, style and format and (c) interpretation of subject-
specific criteria.
• Monitor and record progress
• Respond accordingly when responsibilities are not met by student.
• Maintain communication with DP coordinator and parents, including formal reporting.
• Ensure that the research and the essay are the student’s own work. i.e.that academic
honesty is maintained.
• Complete IB moderation and accountability processes.
• Spend approximately 3-5 hours assisting each student.
• Provide advice regarding the content of the essay.
• Ensure that subject specific language (terminology) is used appropriately in the essay.

7. Responsibilities of the DP Coordinator and School
•Ensure that students determine the subject for their extended essay from the
approved extended essay subjects before choosing the topic.
•Ensure that each student has an appropriately qualified supervisor,who is a
teacher within the school.
•Provide supervisors and students with the general and subject-specific
information,and guidelines for the extended essay.
•Provide supervisors with recent extended essay subject reports and ensure that
supervisors are familiar with the IBO documentAcademic Honesty.
•Explain to students the importance of the extended essay in the overall context
of the Diploma Programme.
•Set internal deadlines for the stages of producing the extended essay,including
provision for a concluding interview (viva voce).
•Provide appropriate support and training for DP teachers for them to formally
integrate the EE into the curriculum.

8. Resources
• EE handbook for guidance
• EE site
https://sites.google.com/a/isswiki.de/extendedessay/
• Exemplar essays on the EE site- all were awarded A and B
grades. Look at the style and structure not the content.
• Learning Commons team (Mr Lawrence and Mrs Junginger)
for help with research and citation.
• Learning commons- has many resources and databases at
http://isslibraries.isswiki.de/
• Supervisor- subject specific questions and research
• All students have a landesbibliothek card from earlier this year
so can access http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/ which has an
excellent academic research sites such as JSTOR

9. The students’ first steps….
Facing the right direction makes a
big difference! Consider topics
students have been introduced to in
lesssons- specialise in that!
Getting the student to think,
research,develop and cite!
Parent acknowledgement
A focused and researchable
question which is narrow enough to
stay under 4000 wordsAND broad
enough to find resources for an
effective analysis
Consider a range of methods to
showcase research skills

10. What can parents do?
• Read the EE handbook to better
understand the process
• Read exemplar essays to gain an idea of
structure and style
• Read the student’s draft and final
version of the essay
• Provide GENERAL feedback
• “you need to spellcheck”
• “Your argument doesn’t follow
logically”
• “You need to reword your
paragraphs”
• “You need to check your style-is it
formal?”
• “Check your formatting”
• “Check your citations”

11. What parents cannot do
• Don’t write it for them!
• Suggest specific changes
• you should use these terms…
• Your sentence should be like this…
• Your paragraphs should be in this order…
• You should use these sources for your essay like
this…

12. What would be the consequences
• Supervisor recognises what is the student’s work
and what isn’t
• Supervisor suspects collusion (too much help
given) and reports malpractice to DP
Coordinator as possible breach of Academic
Honesty
• Student isn’t sure of their topic in the VivaVoce
• Potential failing condition for the IB Diploma

13. How can parents help their children?
• Remember the process and product is that of the student
• Read the EE handbook and exemplar essays with the
student
• Assist the student to use the deadline to plan ahead
rather than react to it just before!
• Encourage the student to meet with the supervisor and
for student to plan the meeting and what they want to get
out of it
• Allow student to come to you for help-ask them what
they want advice on. Let them drive the process

14. Further support and guidance
Date Event
March-May On-going meetings between supervisor and student. These are at
student’s request (advised amount of time is 4 hours)
30th May-3rd
June
Progress report meeting with supervisor where student provides
written evidence of work to date. Identify key areas to focus on
before the the summer vacation
6th-10th June Support meetings as needed in Barcelona with teachers on the trip.
End of June Parents notified of progress to date ahead of vacation
25th and 26th
August
Two EE work days on return to Grade 12 (check in process to
identify those making sufficient progress and those who need
intervention to support them)
29th August-9th
September
Compulsory meeting with supervisor
4th October First draft submitted-early submission welcome.Supervisor will
return EE with feedback by 14th October
Final submission 14th November 2016.
VivaVoce style presentations 23-25th November - please come!