Extended Essay at ISWA

Policy and Procedures

Policy

Supervision (1,1a) All Diploma faculty shall be responsible for supervising at least one extended essay, each year (1.1b) No faculty shall be required to supervise more than three extended essays. (1.1c) Whilst efforts shall be made to match students against faculty with experience, teachers may be required to supervise extended essays from outside of their specific subject domains. (1.1d) ISWA will make provision for employing supervisors in instances where the number of candidates is excessive of where the engagement of a specialist stands to significantly improve the student’s chances of success. (1.1 e) all faculty will undertake no less than six supervision meetings of no less than a half an hour’s duration. (1.1f) All supervisors will provide students with a full written evaluation at meeting six, one that provides written feedback against each of the stated criteria.

Engagement

(1.2a) The selection of subject for research, supervisory teachers, and thesis Statements are the responsibility of the candidate (1.2b) All candidates are responsible for keeping a log of their meetings with supervisors. This must be kept, with drafts, planning, research notes and reflections, in a section of the student’s electronic portfolio. (1.2c) All candidates must be furnished with copies of all criteria for their essay subject area (1.2d) It is the responsibility of all supervisors to establish that their candidates have a working understanding of the criteria that they will be gauged against. (1.2e) All hand work for the essay must be undertaken in an extended essay journal. (1.2f) Whilst supervisors are free to provide written that enables students to rework essays, they may not undertake this process themselves.(1.2g) In keeping with the ISWA Academic Policy for Diploma. Any student that is judged to be at risk by his or her supervisor, at any stage in the process will submit themselves to after school and/ or weekend detention until they are deemed to have brought their essay back to a suitable level, and or standard.

Evaluation

(1.3a) All candidates must have been provided with opportunities to reflect on the growth of their essay, these opportunities should be written and oral (1.3b) Faculty should employ criteria individually over the course of the essay, so as to enable students to develop a complete understanding of these whilst they are engaged in the process. (1.3c) All students must provide the supervisor with a cumulative body of evidence that assures that the material provided is either original or it is appropriately referenced (1.3d) Essay supervisors are responsible for ensuring that the work completed by students is their own.

Procedure

The Supervision of extended essays at ISWA shall be undertaken over the course of no less than six meetings across a twelve month period.

Meeting One - Selecting a Thesis.

The Task

At this point the student is required to present to their supervisor three areas of study for consideration. Each selection must be accompanied by:

(a) a proposed thesis statement
(b) an account of the pros and cons associated with that particular title and
(c) a brief account of how the student proposes to set about researching that particular thesis.

These essay proposals need to be submitted to the supervisor no less than three days before the initial meeting.

The Objective

The objective of this meeting is for the supervisor to help the student decide on one title and to help them to re-define the thesis statement that will drive their research.

Meeting Two - Defining Research Parameters

The Task

Defining Research Parameters - Prior to this meeting, the student shall provide the supervisor with two key stages in the development of the essay. Firstly they shall provide a mind map that sets out  "all" of the ideas that "could" be covered in this essay. Secondly, the student Will provide a fishbone plan that represents the ideas that the student feels to be the most valuable. These must be organized in order with similar ideas placed together.

The Objective

The objective for this meeting is to review the ideas that have been nominated. The supervisor may contribute additional ideas that he or she feels may compliment the logic of the argument that the student has in place.

The student and the supervisor should then review areas of research that need to be undertaken and possibly areas where support material may be found. Both candidate and supervisor must then agree on a time limit for the completion of whatever field research is necessary. The third meeting should not be undertaken until this stage is completed.

Meeting Three- Essay Plan Review

The Task

The candidate must provide the teacher with a full plan of the essay that he/she will write. This must be written in a box plan format and must state
(a) fully-phrased opening statements
(b) specific references (drawn from the research stage) that will be used to illustrate the argument.

The Objective

The supervisor will provide the candidate with written and verbal feedback on the plan that has been submitted. He focus of this formative evaluation should be primarily on the logical coherence of the proposed discussion as well as the depth and specificity of the supporting information.

Meeting Four- Essay Plan Review Number Two

The Task

The candidate will then submit a revised version of the essay plan. This stage is undertaken regardless of the quality of the student’s initial plan. In addition to the plan, the student will submit two paragraphs from the essay

The Objective

The Supervisor will use the student’s development journal to establish the extent to which his/ her advice has been applied to the second generation of the plan, and will make suggestions regarding further changes that may need to be made. The supervisor should use the submitted paragraphs as a point for discussing stylistic elements of the essay in progress and to forecast against issues that may pervade the rest of the essay.

Meeting Five- The Finished Draft

The Task

The student will submit to their supervisor a full draft of the essay, replete with references and a bibliography. In addition to this they will submit a checklist for each of the criteria concerned, stating what they believe they need to do in order to fully satisfy that criteria.

The Objective

The supervisor should provide the candidate with both written and verbal feedback for each of the criteria listed. The candidate and the supervisor will then agree on a list of goals to be satisfied before the essay is submitted for a second reading.

Meeting Six- The Final Reading

The Task

The candidate will submit two copies of a second version of the essay. This must be accompanied by a recording of the candidate’s reading of their own essay.

The Objective

By this stage in the process, the focus of the discussion should rest primarily on matters of expression and presentation. To facilitate this, both the candidate and the supervisor will listen to the recording, making notes on their individual versions of the essay. At this point the supervisor should provide the candidate with their version of the essay and the criteria specific observations that they have prepared fro the student. At this point, the supervisor and the candidate agree on a date for the final submission of three copies of the essay.

Conclusion

There is no need for the supervisor and the candidate to meet, after this point. The supervisor, having received three copies of the completed essay, will submit two of these to the Program Coordinator for submission. The supervisor uses the third copy to arrive at a predicted grade, which they then submit to the Program Coordinator along with their supervisor’s report. The supervisor keeps the third version of the essay as part of their on-going Extended Essay file.

Click here to download the extended essay meeting template.