Extended Essay Timeline & Information

C. Black – June 15, 2012

Sophomore year

Presentations in English classes go over the primary elements of the Diploma Program including the Extended Essay.

Junior year

  • Fall (October/November) – regular monthly meeting with full IB students organized by Brian Smith begin. The Extended Essay is introduced as a 4,000 word personal research project that is the culmination of the IB Diploma process. Students begin to explore a few areas of interest. Brian provides a list of trained mentors to students – also available on the IB wiki. Students are instructed to get a notebook/binder to serve as their EE log or diary. In this notebook, students will write down notes whenever they get an idea for their essay and/or collect articles and information relating to their research.
  • Winter (January) – at the monthly meeting, Brian goes over the parameters of the Extended Essay in detail. Students look over sample essays from previous years. Students choose a definitive topic to research, develop a research question and begin gathering sources.
  • February – end of the school year -Candie sets up a rotating schedule for the whole group of full diploma students to meet with Brian every 2-3 weeks (so that they don’t miss the same class more than once). Students discuss the progress made on their rough drafts with Brian and detail it in their EE logs.
  • Spring (May) - Candie sets us a “Mentor Meet & Greet” to be held after school in the library. Students and prospective mentors mingle and discuss the research projects in order to find a good fit. A little later in the month students choose a mentor. [Note: Brian would like this to be moved to February or March ideally.]
  • June – the Extended Essay Boot Camp is scheduled in the last week in June for all full diploma incoming seniors. [Note: this process has to be coordinated with Brian Smith and MiryamMatulic-Keller, who posts it on EINET and for which Candie and Brian must send a “letter of interest” to Miryam’s secretary.] The boot camp is generally held for three days (day 1 and 2 9-1; teachers work 8-2; day 3 9-11). (See attached agenda.)

Summer – students continue to work on their drafts.

Senior year

  • Fall (end of September) – rough drafts (5,000 to 6,000) words are due to Brian who checks them for progress. [Note: students will receive an incomplete for the 1st quarter of their ToK grade until they submit a suitable draft of the Extended Essay. Candie communicates to Catherine Carroll-Edwards those students who are to be assigned an incomplete on their report cards.] Candie sends out reminder to mentors about 4-hour student meeting requirement/expectation. During Candie’s monthly meeting with students (separate from their Extended Essay meetings with Brian), she encourages students to proactively set up 4 meetings with their mentors.
  • September – December – students meet regularly (once a month) with mentors to review their progress. Mentors should read the Extended Essay draft in its entirety only once prior to the final copy being handed in. A full reading of the near-final draft should be done by November.
  • November – Brian sends out Extended Essay regulations to all mentor teachers.
  • December – February – students refine their drafts in order to produce a final copy by February.
  • January – students each give a 4-slide presentation on their Extended Essay topic at the IB Diploma night. [Note: Candie sets this date up every year, reserves the room & refreshments, recruits graduated IB students, sends out invitations, and communicates the date to the district.]
  • April (??) – mentor evaluation and predicted grade deadline. Final Extended Essay deadline – formatted essays are printed and shipped/electronically submitted to IBO. [Get actual date from John.] Keep copies in file for future years (both hardcopy and electronic). Schedule a “Bon voyage EE party” with all full diploma students. Consider having students create a “poster session” that could be used at Open House or the IB information night.
  • Spring (May) – Candie requests a time slot during a Board of Education meeting. 3 juniors will present their ideas for their Extended Essays.

Extended Essay Camp 2012 Agenda

June 25-27, 2012

Candie will send a reminder to all students prior to the camp to bring all Extended Essay materials (EE logs, articles, materials, research question, rough draft)

Monday, June 25th (teachers: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m., students 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

Eastridge Library – Snack provided by Brian

8:00 -9:00 Candie & Brian set up the space, review materials and tasks for the day.

9:00 – 10:45

  • Welcome & introductions
  • As a large group, students share their questions, intros, sources, and mentor meetings so far.
  • Brian reminds students to avoid plagiarism
  • Individual work time - students make a research plan, begin developing an outline, and gather more sources
  • Briand gives a brief presentation on how to use the library’s databases as well as the writing resources available on OWL (the online writing lab) and the Dartmouth Writing Lab.

Break

11:00-1:00

  • Students continue to write their rough drafts; individual meetings with Candie & Brian to review progress (students need to determine a theoretical base for analysis if not already determined – Candie will bring the course outlines for each topic).
  • Students continue reading source material and taking notes/developing outline.
  • Students submit refined question, introductions, and outlines by the end of the date (both electronically to and a printed hardcopy).
  • Wrap up – as a large group, students share with each other the progress they made today as well as communicate any needs they have for the next day.

1:00-2:00 – Candie & Brian debrief on the day’s progress and prepare for the next day.

Tuesday, June 26th (teachers: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m., students 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

Eastridge Library – Snack provided by Candie

8:00 -9:00 Candie & Brian set up the space, review materials and tasks for the day. Candie will copy all questions/introductions into a packet for each of the students for the peer review the following day. She will also print the document to the SMART Notebook software to project.

9:00 – 10:45

  • Brian introduces the grading rubric for the question and introduction. Students share their questions and introductions in a peer review process (individual work time using grading rubric).
  • As a large group, students give each other feedback and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each question/introduction as the student being reviewed takes notes in their EE log.
  • Brian will review with student the three options for citing research: footnotes, endnotes and text citations. Candie gives a brief presentation on how to use the footnote function of Microsoft Word in order to begin citing sources as well as reminding students to keep a running bibliography of all works used.

Break

11:00-1:00

  • Students use time for individual guided writing towards a solid rough draft.

1:00-2:00 – Candie & Brian debrief on the day’s progress and prepare for the next day.

Wednesday, June 27th (9:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.)

Eastridge Library

9:00 – 11:00

  • Students work individually to complete their rough draft.
  • Candie will go over the expectations for a summer progress plan.
  • Brian will review the dates for Extended Essay work during the 2012-2013 school year including the expectation that students will give a brief presentation on their Extended Essay at an IB Diploma Night in January.