Extended Essay
The extended essay, including the world studies extended essay, offers the opportunity for IB students to investigate a topic of special interest, in the form of a 4,000-word piece of independent research. Students select an area of research from Diploma Programme subjects, or in the case of the interdisciplinary world studies essay from two subjects, and become acquainted with the independent research and writing skills expected at university. This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject or subjects chosen. It is intended to promote high-level research and writing skills, intellectual discovery and creativity. As an authentic learning experience, the extended essay provides students with an opportunity to engage in personal research on a topic of choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (cite IB website).
The extended essay is an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from the list of available Diploma Programme subjects for the session in question. This is normally one of the student’s six chosen subjects for those taking the IB diploma, or a subject that a course student has a background in. It is intended to promote academic research and writing skills, providing students with an opportunity to engage in personal research in a topic of their own choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (an appropriately qualified member of staff within the school). This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen. It is mandatory that all students undertake three reflection sessions with their supervisor, which includes a short, concluding interview, or viva voce, with their supervisor following the completion of the extended essay.
| Supervisor | Undertake three mandatory reflection sessions with the student. Ensure that students complete the Reflections on planning and progress form, and initial and date the form after each entry by the student. Provide a supervisory comment, which is used to contextualize the student’s reflections. |
| Student | Choose a subject from the available extended essay list. See Diploma Programme coordinator or extended essay coordinator for details. Ensure that the starting point for your essay is a subject that is available, or in the case of the world studies extended essay, an issue of global, contemporary significance within one of the six world studies themes. Observe the regulations with regard to the extended essay, including the IB’s ethical guidelines. Read and understand the subject-specific requirements for the subject in which you intend to complete your extended essay, including the interpretation of the assessment criteria. Meet all internal deadlines set by your school in relation to the extended essay. Understand concepts related to academic integrity, including plagiarism and collusion, for example, and ensure that you have acknowledged all sources of information and ideas in a consistent manner. Attend three mandatory reflection sessions with your supervisor, the last of which is the viva voce. Record your reflections on the Reflections on planning and progress form for submission as part of the assessment of criterion E (engagement). |
EE Reflections on Planning & Progress Form
| Choose a subject from the available extended essay list. See Diploma Programme coordinator or extended essay coordinator for details. Ensure that the starting point for your essay is a subject that is available, or in the case of the world studies extended essay, an issue of global, contemporary significance within one of the six world studies themes. Observe the regulations with regard to the extended essay, including the IB’s ethical guidelines. Read and understand the subject-specific requirements for the subject in which you intend to complete your extended essay, including the interpretation of the assessment criteria. Meet all internal deadlines set by your school in relation to the extended essay. Understand concepts related to academic integrity, including plagiarism and collusion, for example, and ensure that you have acknowledged all sources of information and ideas in a consistent manner. Attend three mandatory reflection sessions with your supervisor, the last of which is the viva voce. Record your reflections on the Reflections on planning and progress form for submission as part of the assessment of criterion E (engagement). |
EE Reflections on Planning & Progress Form
The below videos on various research skills are provided by OSLIS, or the Oregon School Library Information System.
For help with citing, MLA or APA, click here.
The extended essay, including the world studies extended essay, offers the opportunity for IB students to investigate a topic of special interest, in the form of a 4,000-word piece of independent research. Students select an area of research from Diploma Programme subjects, or in the case of the interdisciplinary world studies essay from two subjects, and become acquainted with the independent research and writing skills expected at university. This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject or subjects chosen. It is intended to promote high-level research and writing skills, intellectual discovery and creativity. As an authentic learning experience, the extended essay provides students with an opportunity to engage in personal research on a topic of choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (cite IB website).
The extended essay is an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from the list of available Diploma Programme subjects for the session in question. This is normally one of the student’s six chosen subjects for those taking the IB diploma, or a subject that a course student has a background in. It is intended to promote academic research and writing skills, providing students with an opportunity to engage in personal research in a topic of their own choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (an appropriately qualified member of staff within the school). This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen. It is mandatory that all students undertake three reflection sessions with their supervisor, which includes a short, concluding interview, or viva voce, with their supervisor following the completion of the extended essay.
Citing properly includes both in-text citations and a Works Cited or Reference page, depending on the whether you use MLA or APA citations. Review the following for guidelines or click on the appropriate slide show below for how to cite properly, as provided by Scribbr (scribb.com 2022).
MLA Citation Generator
APA Citation Generator
For more help, check out the following sites:
Purdue Online Writing Lab
MLA Format
APA Format
MLA Format
APA Format
How can I keep reading over the summer?
- With the KAS online catalog.
- With TumbleBooks, our online ebook and audio book subscription service.
- With this list of online and free resources.
- At your local public library.
See below for details on each of the above.
How do I use the KAS online catalog to find digital content?
- Don’t forget to log in! If you are already logged in to your KAS account with Google, you can click Login With Google. If not, you will need to enter your username and password.
- For students, your username is your KAS email account, up to the @ sign. In most cases: first initial, last name, last two digits of your graduation year. Your password is the barcode on your KAS ID.
- For parents with library accounts, your username is your email and your password is your cellphone number, unless otherwise directed.
- For parents without library accounts, you may use a generic account with the username of PKto2nd and the password of KASKAS. (You may request a library account with this form).
- Digital reading options in our online catalog can be found by scrolling down to E-Books, Audio Books, or Lightbox Books.
- Click See All on the right hand side above the row to see all options.
- Limit the number of results by clicking the filter icon in the top right hand corner.
You can filter any way you choose, but I suggest filtering by Reading Level or Interest Level to pull the most appropriate results.
- To read or listen to the title, click on the book image.
- Once a title specific pop-up appears, click OPEN or PLAY within the pop-up to read or listen to the title.
How do I use TumbleBooks?
Click here to see a slideshow on how to use the subscription service, TumbleBooks.
What are these free and online resources?
More Digital Reading Options is a collection of websites, NOT paid for or hosted by KAS, but online and free to use. You may have to create your own personal account for access.
How can I use the Public Library?
For more options, Kaohsiung has an amazing Public Library system! Click here for more information.
Elementary students visit the library with their classroom teacher on a weekly basis. This browsing and checkout period is teacher-led, library supported. Independent reading is an important part of a student’s reading growth, and book selection is actively supported by the student’s teacher for reading level, interest, and developmental appropriateness.
At KAS, we believe that the ability to self-select books for independent reading is an essential part of creating life-long readers. A life-long reader knows how to successfully browse, preview, and select what to read for pleasure.
Whether it be listening to a read aloud in the classroom to reading with their older/younger Reading Buddy, students are being given access to books in many ways during the day. Library browsing and checkout time is one of the only regularly scheduled times they have to direct their own reading development. By allowing children to browse freely with a few guidelines, we nurture excitement for books and reading in each child.
Please do not be discouraged when they bring home the same book or type of book repeatedly! They are selecting these books because they offer them a relaxing, enjoyable, and non-demanding reading experience. Having this type of reading experience only encourages their reading and motivates them to read and/or visit the library more. At KAS, we are constantly exposing them to new titles and series; they will eventually move past the usuals.
If parents wish to instruct their children to check out or not to check out certain books, they should understand that such instructions are not tracked or policed by our Library.
Ms. Kristi, KAS Librarian, joined the school faculty in 2020. She was previously an Elementary Librarian at an international school in Thailand and a Reference & Instructional Librarian at a university in the United States. She has her Masters in Library Science from the University of Oklahoma. She can be found talking about books in the stacks.
Ms. Regine, KAS Librarian Assistant, has been at KAS since 2000. She started as a Teaching Assistant in an Elementary classroom before moving to work in the library. She is originally from Tahiti and can be found conversing in French with the students.
Please let us know how we can help you!
Help us read around the world!
The library has a large collection of books in Mandarin, but our options in other languages can be lacking. Donate a book in your language to the library!
The KAS Library is happy to accept other donations as well, but they must follow our selection criteria found in the KAS Collection Development Policy. The following are simplified guidelines:
Books should be in good condition.
Books should be current.
Books should be relevant to our students.
Thank you for thinking of us!
Learning for Justice seeks to uphold the mission of the Southern Poverty Law Center: to be a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people.
StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.
TTribune consists of daily news sites for kids, tweens, and teens.
Horrible Histories is a British children’s live-action historical and musical sketch comedy television series, based on the bestselling book series of the same name by Terry Deary.
Science Journal for Kids aims to make scientific research discoveries more accessible to the general audience and particularly to children.
Everything the Library of Congress offers digitally, from various topics, interesting collections, and primary sources.
The Lab is a free, interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and sharing in the Smithsonian’s expansive community of knowledge and learning.
arXiv is a free distribution service and an open-access archive for 2,016,360 scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics.
Driven by cognitive science research, ReadWorks creates world-class content, teacher guidance, and integrated tools that improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement.
Explora Educator’s Edition provides lessons plans, curriculum standards, and other professional development resources.
ES Online Databases: BrainPop, Explora Primary, FactCite, PebbleGo, Research Rocket, WorldBook.
Newsela is an instructional content tool that allows teachers to find articles with appropriate reading levels for their students.
storyvoice
EDpuzzle is a teaching tool used to place interactive content into pre-existing videos from a variety of sources, such as TED or YouTube, or into videos you have made.
Take part in the world’s first live interactive read-aloud show where authors, classrooms and families read, imagine and learn together.
Flipgrid is a website and app that allows teachers to facilitate video discussions. Students are organized into groups and then given access to discussion topics.
Vooks is a library of storybooks brought to life with beautiful animation, read-aloud narration, engaging music and sound, and read-along text. Free for teachers.
Driven by cognitive science research, ReadWorks creates world-class content, teacher guidance, and integrated tools that improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement.
ELA and Math curriculum and curriculum support for teachers; ELA covers KG – 12th grade and math covers 3rd grade through Algebra 2.
Click here for more options through our IT office.
HS Online Databases: Access World News, EBSCO, all GALE databases, History Reference, JSTOR, Science Reference, & WorldBook.
Explora Educator’s Edition provides lessons plans, curriculum standards, and other professional development resources.
EDpuzzle is a teaching tool used to place interactive content into pre-existing videos from a variety of sources, such as TED or YouTube, or into videos you have made.
Flipgrid is a website and app that allows teachers to facilitate video discussions. Students are organized into groups and then given access to discussion topics.
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