* Adapted from the general Extended Essay Report and commonly taught specific subject Extended Essay Reports
EE Assessment Trends
(Specific to Research Question, Research Plan, and the Collect/Credit Steps)
Essays are approximately 4000 words in length (15ish pages)
Research Question
Plan
Collect and Credit (Investigation)
Strong Essays
Weak Essays
Strong Essays
Weak Essays
The Goldilocks
Question
An analysis
question
Student is
studying the
topic/area
Personal
Interest
Student can
answer – “Why
have I chosen
this topic”
Too Broad
Broad topic
leads to an
overambitious
essay
Too Narrow
Personal
Opinion
Question
Research
planning
mentioned in
numerous E.E.
reports as
leading to
stronger
overall essays.
Students can
identify an
approach,
work on an
outline
throughout
the process,
plan “types”
of sources in
advance, etc.
COLLECT:
Range of sources
High number of sources
Science – data collected
by the student w/
secondary sources
Print sources
Important Authors
Science – highly cited
papers used
High quality interviews
connected to argument
Primary research
supported by extensive
reading
CREDIT:
Appropriate referencing
system
All sources referenced
consistently
In-text reference/
citation and final
bibliography, source list,
etc.
COLLECT:
School Textbooks
Dubious Internet Sites
Unselective sources
Limited range of sources
Too much reliance on
Internet
Wikipedia overuse
Wikipedia use with no
cross-referencing
Lang A1 – Spark Notes
Internet-based essays
Elementary/non-
correlative
questionnaires
Lack of primary source
Only 1 or 2 secondary
sources
Out of subject questions
CREDIT:
All sources not cited
Just typing URLs
Not citing non-
traditional sources
(paintings, interviews,
etc.)
Referencing a study/
repot in writing – then
not on bibliography/
works cited
“If a student makes use of internet-based sources, she should do so critically and circumspectly in full awareness of
potential unreliability.”
“Sources should be evaluated and their reliability assessed”
“Research question and subject must be aligned.”
