Computer Science EE: Definition, Topics Selection, and Criteria

September 2, 2022

computer science ee

If you’re looking for a complete guide on Computer Science EE, you’ve come to the right place.

The goal of an IB Extended Essay is to demonstrate a clear understanding of a topic within a subject within a limit of 4,000 words.

Often, the assignment requires a series of reflections with your supervisor, where you can get commentary and suggestions to improve your EE.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • What computer science extended essay is
  • How to choose a topic
  • How to write the EE
  • And the criteria used for evaluation

Let’s get started.

What’s Computer Science Extended Essay?

Computer science extended essay is an assignment that allows IB students to study a specific topic of computers and its ramifications for society and the globe.

The essay may investigate the most recent advances or future prospects in a field that is always breaking new limits and evolving swiftly.

There are several potential research fields, each with a variety of topics. They include:

  • Advancements in hardware and software development
  • A comparison of the effectiveness of algorithms aimed to accelerate data transfer or encrypt data
  • Network systems
  • Computer control systems

Computer Science Extended Essay Help

The Computer Science Extended Essay project can be quite involving.

Not only do you have to select a topic around a trending issue, but also you have to develop a research question and demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic.

Along the way, you will find some stages of the project too overwhelming to complete on time, especially if you lack a strong grip of computer science. Fortunately, our team is here to help.

Take advantage of our computer science Extended Essay help and benefit from the flexibility of professional writing help. Whether you need help with topic selection and writing or you already have topic to work on, you’ll find our writing service extremely helpful.

Note that we’ve made topic selection process easy by giving you more information below. So if you’re just looking for topic ideas first, you will find the rest of this guide helpful.

How to Choose a Topic for Your Computer Science EE

It is essential that the topic and its approach show a strong emphasis on computer science and delve deeply into it.

Also, it’s important to ensure your work goes beyond just a collection of journalistic perspectives on a certain issue.

It is not adequate to discuss new technological improvements and developments, you need to analyze and understand the ramifications of your findings.

An in-depth examination of trends and advancements in computing should incorporate components of computer science theory, which would indicate a high level of technical competence.

Don’t confuse computer science extended essay with Computer Science Internal Assessment. If the data under analysis doesn’t have a direct connection with computer science, you need to have the EE registered in a more pertinent topic.

The topic you choose may be from a magazine article, a website, one of the case studies released in conjunction with the computer science HL paper 3 exams, a discussion, or an idea that falls under one of the following areas:

  • Aspects of the present computer science curriculum covered in far more depth than in the course
  • Present facets of computers that may soon evolve or be subject to questioning
  • Prospective innovations that are now exploratory but are beginning to become feasible
  • Remedies for constraints seen in existing hardware or software
  • Comparisons of different computer systems that are now operational

Whichever the topic you choose, ensure it allows you to conduct a thorough analysis and present your own viewpoint.

The historical aspects of computing are not appropriate for this assignment. However, there may be occasions when it is necessary to summarize past events in order to provide context or as a basis for making predictions about the future.

You should also consider the availability of resources when selecting a topic.

We suggest that you refrain from investigating complex computing topics for which you have limited access to materials necessary to write the essay. 

How to Discuss Your Computer Science EE Topic

An extended essay in computer science requires you to use your creativity to demonstrate independent and personal investigation in different context.

While an EE may refer to a programming exercise, such as a student-designed compiler for a new programming language, the focus should be on the design, development, and analysis of the compiler as well as on language design.

You’re welcome to present program snippets in the body of the EE to support the design and discussion, but the program code can go only in the appendix.

If you’re going to work on a future-oriented computer science topic, you should ground the subject in good theory and the projections of renowned computer science authority. Also, you’ll need to draw personal conclusions based on the theories you include in the essay.

As you work on your computer science extended essay, ensure you verify the credibility of their sources. However, don’t depend too much on these source to compile this information rather than analyze it.

Related Readings

10+ Computer Science Extended Essay Topics 

  1. Risks of Ecommerce Technology and Management Strategies
  2. Methods for Efficiently Managing Data Mining in Public Computer Systems
  3. Artificial Intelligence Diagnostic Systems as Doctor Replacements
  4. Can computers truly comprehend natural and human language?
  5. Why is it essential for software developers to create solutions with increased usability?
  6. What role does computer science play in the global protection of endangered species?
  7. Is private information at danger when users utilize digital security products over the Internet?
  8. How does cloud computing effect the development of the hardware and software infrastructures of businesses?
  9. How has computer-assisted education altered the manner in which middle and high school students learn?
  10. How has natural language processing altered the scanning, comprehension, and indexing of massive amounts of historical documents?
  11. What are the most important emerging computer science technologies?
  12. What are the primary obstacles in retrieving information and evaluating 3D models?
  13. How does censorship effect the creation of open-source software products by developers?

Computer Science EE Assessment Criteria

Before we look at the assessment criteria, it’s important to note that an EE in computer science isn’t an extension of an Internal Assessment in the same subject. 

With this respect, you may not use any data created as part of your computer science IA for the EE.

While the IA may focus on any component of computer science, the EE must not focus on building computer programs, although an assessment of an existing program is acceptable.

With that said, here’s the assessment criteria used to evaluate all computer science extended essay assignments: 

Criterion A: Concentration and Technique

Your topic should clearly describe the field of inquiry, with computer science serving as the essay's primary foundation.

You should avoid subjects that focus largely on the social side of information technology, which would be more appropriate for the ITGS course.

Also, the research question must be narrow (or specific) enough to allow for considerable, in-depth investigation within the 4,000-word restriction.

You should avoid selecting future subjects, as they typically result in opinion-based essays with scant factual support. Also, you need to avoid a journalistic approach since it tends to result in a cursory examination of computer science.

This criterion also requires that you express the research issue in the form of a question at the beginning of the essay. You must elaborate on why the topic and research question are suitable for an Extended Essay.

Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding

The criterion requires that you demonstrate a clear comprehension of the computer science EE topic that you selected.

You may have to include clarifications or simplified interpretations of any technical knowledge collected from your sources, while tying this information back to the original research topic.

As you write, employ computer science-appropriate technical vocabulary in a manner that indicates your comprehension of the issue under investigation.

With respect to demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of the topic, it’s important to avoid making your writings excessively technical and keep in mind that the reader may not necessarily be an expert in the issue under investigation.

Criterion C: Critical Thinking

Planning is essential for the construction of an argument that flows logically throughout the essay. Therefore, you must pick sources that is directly pertinent to the research issue and resist the urge to employ an excessive number of sources.

You must analyze the research issue not only in terms of what is pertinent and essential to support the primary argument, but also in terms of the sources' credibility. This is particularly true for Internet-based sources.

Still on critical thinking, you should strive to develop conclusions throughout the essay, not only at the end.

Any study of tables of results or graphs must go beyond merely putting the data into words. It must seek to explicate the underlying causes behind the produced outcomes.

Your conclusions should do more than summarize the essay. They should also give a justifiable solution to the original research topic by tying together the many threads.

You should indicate whether others could conduct additional research to investigate unanswered questions or to broaden the scope of the essay.

Criterion D: Presentation

This criterion addresses the extent to which the essay complies to acknowledged academic norms about the format of the research.

To get a higher score, you should organize your essays into sections and sub-sections with relevant informational subheadings.

If you’re employing graphs, pictures, tables, charts, and illustrations, label them with care.

In addition, you should only include these if they are directly relevant to the research issue, aid in the comprehension of the argument, and are of high visual quality.

This criterion requires that only processed data relevant to the argument should appear in the body of the essay, as near as feasible to its initial mention.

Tables should supplement textual explanations but should not contain substantial amounts of text. If they do, then you must count these words towards the total number of words.

Criterion E: Engagement

This criterion evaluates your dedication to the topic as well as the research methods used.

The examiner will use it at the conclusion of the essay evaluation after evaluating your Reflections on Planning and Progress Form (RPPF).

For an effective engagement, you should reflect on their decision-making and planning processes during the essay writing process.

You must illustrate how and why you chose a topic, as well as the approaches and strategies that you employed while working on it.

Furthermore, the criterion looks at the extent to which you have demonstrated the logic for decisions taken throughout the planning process, as well as the skills and knowledge acquired along the way.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

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