Anatomie of an Extended Essay

All Diploma IB students are required to write an extended essay. This is a long and gruelling chore which has been compared to giving birth since both last 9 months. However, when you give birth you have something to show for it at the end and you will experience much less stress, anxiety, sickness and head-aches while you are pregnant. Bellow you'll see the suggested time line for the extended essay and the actual time line.

Recomended Time Line

June 14, 1999: Topic Selected. Advisor's approval received.
June 16, 1999: Extended Essay proposal completed and on file.
July and August: Reading and research of reference materials.
Sept. 9, 1999: First fall meeting with advisor to discuss progress and difficulties encountered over the summer. Submission of the preliminary bibliography. Final version of the topic and research question submitted.
Oct. 8, 1999: Final proposal for experimental design if a group 4 (Sciences) topic is chosen.
Nov. 9, 1999: Suggested date for completion of document research and experimental work.
Dec. 13, 1999: Submission of first (working) draft to supervisor.
Jan. 8, 2000: Submission of second draft to supervisor. This draft should be very close to the final form of the essay. Only minor alterations should be required.
Feb. 10, 2000: Final Copy of essay given to advisor.
Feb. 17, 2000: Teacher's review of the essay submitted.
Feb. 22, 2000: Essay sent to examiner for evaluation.


Alright, alright. Now that everyone has done laughing over that, let's take a look at what really took place:

June 14, 1999: Student begins to consider ideas for the extended essay.
Final day of school: Advisor is selected and random idea which student has no idea of doing is put on file.
July and August: Relaxation and a break from the stresses of IB. Extended Essay is thought about twice and just as soon dismissed since Judge Judy is coming on.
Sept. 9, 1999: Reminder to do extended essay from Mr.Kelly. Realizing that there is still "lots of time" before essay is due, student dismisses idea of working on essay.
Oct. 8, 1999: Reminder to do extended essay from Mr.Kelly. Realizing that there is still "plenty of time" before essay is due, student dismisses idea of working on essay.
Nov. 9, 1999: Reminder to do extended essay from Mr.Kelly. Realizing that there is still "some time" before essay is due, student dismisses idea of working on essay.
Dec. 13, 1999: Student finally picks topic and takes some books out from library.
Jan. 8, 2000: Student begins to research extended essay topic.
Jan.14, 2000: After months of carefully avoiding advisor, student finally runs into him and assures advisor that there is still "time" before the essay is due and that they will write a draft during semester break. Student contains laughter until advisor leaves.
Feb. 10, 2000: Student beginds to write extended essay. Takes a break when Judge Judy comes on.
Feb. 14-16, 2000: Panick sets in as student takes "extended essay days" off of school to try and get a coherent draft done. Student is sure to spend at least an hour a day working on essay after sleeping in to noon.
Feb. 17-20, 2000: Seeing that the essay is due on Tuesday and seeing that he or she only has 572 words written, the student begins to consider working on the essay. Over these four days, that word count in doubled. Feb. 21, 2000: Final 3000 words are added to essay. Proofreading is done and footnotes are added. Bibliography, Table of Contents and Abstract are written.
Feb. 22, 2000: Essay sent to examiner for evaluation.


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