Extended Essay: Second Formal Reflection

Preparation for the interim reflection session

Between the first and second reflection session, students can engage in informal conversations with other people, such as subject teachers, the extended essay coordinator, the librarian or their supervisor. They must also ensure that they are progressing with their research plan. 

In preparation for the interim reflection session, students should have:

• attempted to refine a focused and appropriate research question
• significantly deepened their research and recorded pertinent evidence, information or data in the Researcher’s reflection space
• reviewed and consolidated the methodologies they are using
• formulated arguments based on the evidence that they have collected
• added to the working bibliography for their research.

The interim reflection session

This session is a continuation of the dialogue between supervisor and student in which the student must demonstrate the progress they have made in their research. They must also be able to discuss any challenges they have encountered, offer their own potential solutions and seek advice as necessary. 

During this session the supervisor might discuss:

• a completed piece of sustained writing from the student in order to ensure that they understand the academic writing requirements, including referencing formats 
• whether an appropriate range of sources has been accessed and how the student is critically evaluating the origin of those sources 
• what the student now has to do in order to produce the full draft of their essay, and ways and means of breaking down the task into manageable steps.

By the end of the interim reflection session both student and supervisor should feel satisfied that there is: 

• a clear and refined research question
• a viable argument on which to base the essay
• a sufficient range of appropriate sources
• a clear vision for the final steps in the writing process.

Between the interim session and the completion of the extended essay, students should continue to see their supervisor as appropriate to their needs, although the third and final reflection session should not take place until after the extended essay has been completed and uploaded for submission. 

TIP

Following this interim session, the student is required to complete the second student comment section of the Reflections on planning and progress form and submit it to their supervisor who must then initial and date the form. Please refer to the section “Protocols for completing and submitting the Reflections on planning and progress form” for more information.