Reading Chapter 5 of the Oxford EE Guide to gain valuable insight cannot be understated if you are trying to learn about writing an excellent Extended Essay.
The Oxford Guide gives a clear path for writing effective paragraphs - follow the formula:
Thesis → Development → Evidence → Balance → Analysis
From the EE Guide:
The main task is writing the body of the essay, which should be presented in the form of a reasoned argument. The form of this varies with the subject of the essay but as the argument develops it should be clear to the reader what relevant evidence has been discovered, where/how it has been discovered and how it supports the argument. In some subjects, for example, the sciences, sub-headings within the main body of the essay will help the reader to understand the argument (and will also help the student to keep on track). In structuring their extended essay, students must take into consideration the expected conventions of the subject in which their extended essay is registered.
Once the main body of the essay is complete, it is possible to finalize the introduction (which tells the reader what to expect) and the conclusion (which says what has been achieved, including notes of any limitations and any questions that have not been resolved).
Any information that is important to the argument must not be included in appendices or footnotes/endnotes. The examiner will not read notes or appendices, so an essay that is not complete in itself will be compromised across the assessment criteria.
Your extended essay is an exercise in developing and defending ideas. Although the heart of your essay is the single idea that you want to explore or defend, most of your paper will be devoted to the reasons why your reader should believe that your research question is valid. This analysis and explanation of your claim is called an academic argument.
Before writing your essay it is essential that you plan the structure of your academic argument.
In effect, the argument of your essay is an answer to the question:
Constructing an Argument
Your preliminary reading and literature review should provide you with a general sense of a potential argument. At this stage you need to express as precisely as you can what your argument is. It is useful to identify four main points to explore that will support your argument. You should also think about and categorize the evidence that will be useful to support each main point in your argument.
As you continue researching, the reading material and primary sources that you analyze will help you to decide if your argument is on the right track. Your sources may suggest new arguments or help you to refine your original one.
Body – Roughly 2400 words
The EE is focused on presenting an argument and the body of the essay needs to clearly build this argument arc.
When it comes to writing an essay there is no one approach that all students should follow in terms of both style and structure. This is even more the case when considering the myriad of subjects one can write an Extended Essay in, each with its own agreed upon approaches. For example, an essay in a natural science may benefit from more subheadings or chapters while a literature essay may be suited to a free flowing approach.
Having said that, however, when writing a formal essay a minimum expectation exists that generally adheres to the following core model:
For the purposes of the Extended Essay, there are slightly different expectations to those that students are generally accustomed to when writing these three sections. The following sections will help students navigate these expectations while also providing some exemplar models that can be used to help structure their work.
Planning your essay is an essential step towards writing a successful EE. It will enable you to
One way to think about how to develop an argument is to remember what made you believe or consider your research question in the first place. Since you thought it was a sufficiently reasonable or interesting claim to consider, you probably had a reason for thinking so. If that reason was compelling enough for you, it might also be compelling enough for your reader.
