The Extended Essay is one of the most important parts of an International Baccalaureate education. The lessons it teaches in formal writing, research, preparation and hard work will be invaluable as you move forward into university or college. But while you're doing it, it can often seem the most daunting task in the world. It's much longer than any other single piece of work you're likely to attempt during your time at school, there is a huge list of criteria which must be adhered to in order to secure a high A, and it often requires genuinely original research. In other words, it is really really hard. But success in the EE is crucial to securing all 3 bonus points (which should be the goal of every IB student). And so this gives rise to the question: how is it possible to do a really good job on your EE when you have so much else going on in the background?

Last year, I scored 36/36 in my Latin EE - this is how I did it.

1) Pick your supervisor carefully.

Too many people, in my opinion, don't take enough care when selecting their supervisor. Your supervisor will be your primary point of contact for all things EE, and it is really important that they are up to the task. Your supervisor shouldn't write your EE for you, but they can often be instrumental in the formation of a preliminary research question, as well as providing little pushes back in the right direction when appropriate. Obviously, there aren't enough perfect supervisors to go around, so you might have to settle for less than your first choice. Here are some general guidelines, however. Supervisors should be:

Experienced (have they supervised high A EEs before?)

Knowledgeable in your subject (do they know enough to eliminate bad RQs?)

Your teacher in one of your subjects (this way you can't avoid them if you're not meeting internal deadlines)

Accurate and meticulous when marking (HINT: you don't want a teacher who tells you your draft is the best thing ever written. You want a teacher who tells you that you're on par for a low B, SO YOU CAN FIX IT)

Not swamped with other students (the more students a teacher is supervising, the less he or she can focus on your work)

These criteria aren't the be-all and end-all (not everyone can start with experience, for example), but these are the kinds of things you want to look for.

2) Do your research BEFORE you choose a research question.

This might seem a bit straight at first glance, but you'll see why in a minute. For my EE, I knew that I wanted to write about Cicero's metaphors for Roman government. This was not my research question, but my TOPIC. I then read every single one of Cicero's speeches, over a 2 month period (~30 minutes a day), and wrote down everything I noticed related to my topic. I then realised that I could refine my question further, and only THEN, once I had a research question that was suited to my research, did I start writing my EE paragraphs. This ensured that I didn't waste any time by starting to write before I had chosen an appropriate research question (you can only argue what you have evidence to support). It's better to adapt your research question and argument to your evidence rather than trying to cram evidence into a research question it doesn't really fit.

3) Start early

This one might seem basic, but I've seen so many people tripped up by it that I feel I have to say something. Starting early in EE terms means at least six months in advance - and, if your EE is research heavy, like mine - maybe even earlier. You do not want to be working heavily on your EE around the due date, because IAs are often due at the same time and you'll do a bad job on both.

4) Read your work out loud

This is often the best way to edit your own work - when you hear what you've been writing, you can often realise how terrible everything sounds (at least on the first draft). Another related tip is to consider your argument while you're speaking out loud - does what you're saying sound convincing? If you can't convince yourself of your argument when you're reading your essay out loud, then it's unlikely to convince your marker.

5) Actually argue something

This is the most common mistake in EE writing, and essay writing more generally. Essays are a very specific text type - they are NOT a form of creative writing, they are NOT a form of recount and they are NOT a form of procedure. What they are is an argument for a thesis, which is basically an overall answer to the question. One of the best visual representations I can suggest for structuring your essay to be an argument rather than a story is that your essay should look like a crystal: a point at the top (your thesis), then multiple sub-arguments hanging off the crystal, before compressing to a point at the other end (your conclusion). This way, all the paragraphs of your essay, and all the sentences within those paragraphs, should be supportive of your overall thesis. One of my biggest rules in essay writing is no useless sentences. This means that if one of your sentences contributes nothing to your overall argument (in some form or another), then IT SHOULD NOT BE IN YOUR ESSAY.

6) Write more than you need

My first draft of my EE was 10,000 words long. This may sound like I did way too much work, but actually it ended up being the perfect amount. Having too much material let me pick and choose, so that I only selected the best bits of my essay for the final copy. It is always, always better to be cutting back because you have too much good material than to be desperately searching for useless sentences to add to bring you closer to the word limit. From here, you can modify your research question so that only your most powerful or original content is in the final essay. The best EEs are the ones from which good content has to be cut so that the great content can properly shine. Your research question should not be static - I changed mine 10+ times while writing my EE.

7) Place your work in an academic context

Often, people think that the best way of using other articles in your field is simply by following this format: As [name of historian says], the Mongols were the most fearsome warriors of the 13th and 14th Century. You're not contributing anything new to the academic discussion, just regurgitating what someone else has said. 4,000 words is enough opportunity to create something genuinely novel and original - you should use articles other people have written to show the marker that you have not only appreciated the centuries of study that have been invested in your field, but also that you have situated your work within that context - you should know where your argument stands in relations to others, and more importantly, you should be able to show exactly why you have placed it where you have (where your evidence comes in).

Above all, take pride in your work. Be meticulous, persistent and creative. Do as much as you can in the time that you have. There is no-one (NO-ONE) who cannot achieve a strong mark in their EE if they play to their strengths, and follow the tips above. Keep checking this blog for more updates in the future (including revisions to this blog post). There are plenty of example EEs on the website, and for anyone who wants to ask questions/general enquiries, please contact admin@ibsolved.com

Alex Connolly: Co-Founder and Tutor at IB Solved