The IB Extended Essay reflections are worth 17.6%, which is an equivalent of 6 out of the 35 marks of the EE assignment.
You will need to write 3 reflections in 500 words to show the authenticity of your work by demonstrating your thinking, decision making, and planning.
When your teacher looks at your EE reflections, they should see the approach you used to write the Extended Essay.
Your reflections should do more than just show a personal engagement. They should also demonstrate your intellectual approach to writing your Extended Essay.
In this lesson, you will learn how to write an IB EE reflection that scores the 6 marks. Since these 6 marks can be the difference between a C and an A, it’s important to pay close attention to the information below.
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How to Write the First, Second, and Third IB Extended Essay Reflections
The information below will help you to write comprehensive 500-word EE reflections that score 5 to 6 marks.
1. Demonstrate Your Thinking and Explain Your Research Process
Since your teacher expects you to demonstrate your thinking and explain your research process, it helps to reflect on more than just what you’ve done.
Start by reflecting on the decisions you made.
- How easy or difficult was it for you to make a research decision?
- Did you make any poor decisions in your research process?
- What decisions did you find difficult to make? How did you deal with these decision-making issues?
As you reflect on the above questions, you may want to discuss what you would have done differently (or better than you did) in your research process.
Because the IB EE guide encourages students to write the reflection in their own voice, feel free to write yours in your own words.
2. Write in a Natural Tone
Do you feel stuck on the kind of tone to use for your Extended Essay reflection? Or maybe you’re worried that what you’ve already written doesn’t sound too academic?
Fortunately, you don’t have to overthink this.
According to the IB EE Guide, the reflection focuses on the progress you make during planning, researching, and writing.
It shows the development of your essay, demonstrate the effectiveness of your research, and examine your ideas to determine whether changes are necessary.
Since the reflection focuses on your experience and shows the authenticity of your work, the guide encourages you to use your own voice to write the reflections. In other word, you can explain your journey in a natural voice.
3. Reflect on Your Mistakes
You can’t get your research and writing 100% right. As a student bound to make mistakes along the way, it’s important to reflect on what you did wrong and what lessons you’ve learned from those mistakes.
Teachers love this kind of reflection because it shows them that you can learn from your mistake and you’re willing to improve.
4. Demonstrate How You’ve Done Your Research
A wrong approach to writing an IB Extended Essay reflection is to make it look like it was easy to find relevant information for the EE.
You should show that you invested your time in research and state that you were careful when choosing your sources.
Your reflection should show that you have looked deeply into the information you used to answer your research question.
In addition to explaining your research process, you should reflect on how you planned your Extended Essay.
Below are a few questions that can help you get this right:
- How well did you plan your essay?
- Were you successful in planning the right aspects of your IB Extended Essay?
- Do you feel as if you over-planned or under-planned your work?
- How easy was the planning phase?
- What are the most critical challenges that you faced when creating a plan for your EE and how did you overcome these difficulties?
Also, your reflections should show how you would do things differently if you ever have to do a similar research next time.
5. Show that You Did More than Your Teacher Asked
Your teacher expects you to do exactly as they have instructed, but you stand a chance to earn more marks if you go the extra mile to demonstrate that you have taken a full lead on your research.
Going that extra mile not only shows that you have looked into the topic as asked but also shows why you think the topic is interesting and important to explore even far beyond what your teacher expect to see.
You can take the lead on the research by looking into related questions and further analyze how relevant they’re to your research question.
Doing so shows your teacher that you invested a lot of your time and effort to make your Extended Essay great.
Tips for Writing Extended Essay Reflections for the 6 Marks
If you look at Page 154 of the IB Extended Essay Guide, you’ll see that it gives you some ideas on what you can reflect on. You are free to reflect on:
- The approach and strategies you chose for the research, how they worked, and whether they were effective
- The most critical questions that emerged from your research
- The challenges you encountered in your research and the approach you used to overcome them
- Exactly what you would do differently if you were to do your research again
- How your EE research has developed your approach to learning in the areas of social skills, self-management, communication, thinking, and research.
- How you developed your conceptual understanding – or how your understanding changed based as you continued to develop your research.