Use of the Research Reflection Space is essential as it will allow you to more clearly articulate and understand your decision-making process. It supports learning, thinking, critical analysis and evaluation, and contributes not only to the development of a successful extended essay but also to skills and competencies for pathways beyond the Diploma Programme.
The RRS is a personal learning environment that can be either a physical or virtual support tool. It is a space in which students are able to record reflections on what they are reading, writing and thinking. The use of the RRS will help you to prepare for your reflection sessions with your supervisors and inform the discussions that take place. In preparing for your reflection sessions you should use your RRS to:
• record your thoughts, line of thinking,
• respond to artefacts, such as photos, newspaper clippings, twitter feeds, blogs, and so on
• respond to prompts and questions that may arise in your subject area, TOK class or other aspects of the Diploma Programme
• create mind maps
• record emerging questions
The idea of the RRS is not new and many students already keep research journals in the planning, researching and writing phases of their work on the extended essay.
Using a RRS will provide benefits in terms of the management of your workload and help you to retain focus on your extended essay as other time constraints take over.
You are encouraged to include in your RRS
• Examples of initial topic exploration
• Possible sources of information and the validity and reliability of these sources
• The type of methodology you will use
• Preliminary research questions
• Your personal reactions to the issues.
From the IB Guide:
The Researcher's Reflection Space (RRS) is a personal learning environment that can be either a physical or virtual support tool - like a research or process journal You use it to record reflections on what you are reading, writing and thinking. The use of the RRS will help you prepare for your reflection sessions with your supervisor and inform the discussions that take place.
In preparing for your reflection sessions you could use your RRS to:
You may already be keeping a research journal on the planning, researching and writing phases of your work on the extended essay - that's your RRS! Having a RRS will provide you benefits in terms of the management of your workload and focus on your extended essay.
Excerpt from the IB EE Guide (first exams 2018) explaining what the Research'er Reflection Space (RRS) is, the role it plays in the researching and writing the extended essay, and how students can use it to help prepare for the three reflection sessions with their supervisors.
There are many different ways students can use their RSS to help with planning and writing their essays. Here are some excellent examples of RRS entries from West Sound Academy in Washington State in the US: