Ian Nai / November 12, 2025
Hey friends! I’m Ian, and I graduated from the IB Diploma Programme in 2023. I scored a 33/34 on my Geography Extended Essay. It was a challenging but incredibly rewarding process, and I’ve written this guide to share everything I wish I’d known from the start.
My goal is simple: to help you decide if a Geography EE is right for you, and if it is, to make the process more manageable, and hopefully help you get that coveted A!
Before we dive into the how, it’s important to understand what the IB actually expects from a Geography EE.
What the IB Expects:
“An extended essay in geography provides the student with an opportunity to apply a range of geographic skills to complete an independent and in-depth research investigation using geographic concepts, methodologies, theories, and sources with a clear spatial emphasis.” (Geography Subject Guide)
Your extended essay is essentially a self-directed research paper. Although you’ll be assigned an EE supervisor, they are not your co-writer. The role of a supervisor is much like a tennis coach. During the game, the coach can support you, give you advice, and cheer you on. But they cannot play the match for you, nor can they enter the court. The outcome of the match is entirely dependent on you.
A player can have the best tennis coach in the world, but if they lack passion, refuses to train hard, or ignores their coach’s advice, is the poor result a reflection of the coach’s inability to coach, or a reflection of the poor work ethic and attitude of the player?
This is your EE. This is your tennis match. The outcome of the match rests entirely on you.
Like any match, your performance depends on the decision you make before you step into the court. The very first, and most important decision you will make is your topic.
Rule #1: Choose Something You Are Genuinely Interested In
I can’t stress this enough.
You are going to spend:
Hours trawling through research papers
Days collecting data at your field site
And countless moments when you will feel like giving up
Simon Sinek has this great quote which I love. He says,
“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
Your passion is what will carry you through your toughest moments. If you pick a topic just because you think it’ll “score well”, you’ll likely burn out or resent the process. But if your EE is something you want to explore, you are much less likely to procrastinate on it.
Rule #2: Your Topic MUST Be Spatial
Geography is an incredibly versatile discipline, which means that almost everything around you can be studied geographically. The challenge is remembering what makes an EE geographical in the first place.
To succeed, you must think like a geographer:
What makes Geography so special?
What sets it apart from all other disciplines?
What is the distinct viewpoint that Geography brings to the table?
At its core, Geography is a spatial science. What sets it apart from other disciplines is that it analyses phenomena through the lens of spatial analysis. This is why tools like GIS are absolutely critical as it ensures that you represent and analyse data spatially.
Because of Geography’s interdisciplinary nature, your research may at times overlap with other disciplines like sociology or economics. For example, my EE explored Singaporeans’ sense of place to park connectors. At first glance, the topic seems to resemble that of a sociology paper. However, maintaining the core perspective of Geography and analysing the topic through a spatial lens still allowed me to do well for my EE.
It’s easy to lose sight of Geography’s spatial perspective as you dive deeper into research. Never forget that you are writing a Geography EE. It is important not to encroach into the terrain of other disciplines and claim it to be yours.
Method 1: Start With Your Everyday Environment
Start by looking at the places you interact with frequently: your neighbourhood, the shopping mall across the street, nearby parks, libraries, or even the public transportation you take every day.
Then, link them to geographical concepts like:
sense of place
sphere of influence
gentrification
culture
quality of life
sustainability
layout of cities
transportation networks
age-friendliness
From here, you’ll form pairs of places and concepts that interest you. Don’t worry too much about crafting your exact research question. That can be refined later.
I personally recommend this method as it was how I decided on my own EE topic. It ensures that you are personally connected to the topic, which keeps you invested in it.
Back in 2022, I got into running and often ran along a specific park connector near my home. The more I frequented it, the more I felt a sense of connection to the park. This curiosity led me to explore ideas of topophilia, and eventually, the geographical concept I based my EE on: sense of place.
Method 2: Investigate Local Issues and Current Affairs
If nothing in your environment inspires you, another approach is to examine real world issues happening around you. These can lead to rich, meaningful EEs since they involve change, conflict or development.
Examples of EE topics (in the Singapore context) would include:
vertical farming and land pressure
smart city initiatives
age-friendly city planning
Such topics are both relevant and naturally geographical.
Method 3. Learn from Existing Examples
Lastly, it is never a bad idea to browse successful EE titles. Websites like Clastify showcase past examples and titles. Analysing them helps you understand what a strong, spatially-focused research question looks like, and helps you avoid topics that are too broad.
Your EE is a year-long academic project. As humans, we all have a tendency to procrastinate. Considering how enormous of a task an EE is, this is understandable.
When you look at something you really rather not do, it activates the areas of your brain associated with pain. Your brain in turn, looks for a way to stop that negative stimulation by switching your attention to something else, which results in procrastination.
This is why it is important that:
(1) you have a genuine interest in your topic, and
(2) you break down your EE into smaller tasks that you can tackle one by one to avoid feeling overwhelmed
Pitfall #1: Insufficient Data
Some students collect only qualitative or quantitative data. Others have an insufficient sample size which prevents them from exploring their hypotheses deeply or producing results representative of the entire population (if your data includes a survey or interview).
Pitfall #2: Weak Theoretical Framework
If you don’t understand your chosen concept, you’ll collect irrelevant data and produce an unfocused essay. A poor theoretical framework is a recipe for disaster. Solid readings and theory are your foundation to building a successful EE.
Pitfall #3: No Locational Data
Without locational data, you can’t represent your findings on a map. This gives you little to no opportunities for spatial analysis, which is essential in a Geography EE.
Pitfall #4: Shallow Analysis
Procrastination often leads to rushed analysis. Without time for reflection, your essay will lack insight and nuance, both of which are key attributes of high-scoring EEs.
All of these issues are easily preventable with proper planning and time management.
Many students procrastinate till Year 2 because they think they’ll have the same amount of free time as Year 1. This is absolutely false. You are going to be much much busier, and leaving your EE till then means having to work on it while juggling tests, IAs, TOK submissions, and for some, university applications.
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Trying to cram a year’s worth of work into a few weeks might be possible, but it will definitely cause you unnecessary stress and guarantees shallow analysis.
Pro Tip: If you hold leadership positions or have identified periods in a year where you are heavily involved in CAS activities, mark them on your calendar and plan EE work during quieter weeks. Protecting your time this way keeps you on track to complete your EE while juggling other commitments.
Once you’ve decided on your topic, your goal is to become an expert in your niche. Read widely, think critically, and take detailed notes. Your goal of reading and researching is to:
Understand your topic deeply: what it is, definitions, and related concepts. Use these new concepts that you find to dive deeper into literature.
Find methodologies that other researchers have used (in other contexts or in other countries) and see if you can adapt them to your own EE.
Find a theoretical framework to underpin your essay. This can be a set of substructures that can help to further explain the key Geography concept of your EE.
Use all this information to write a strong literature review.
The easiest way to start is by going to Google Scholar and searching your topic directly. If research papers or articles are paywalled, ask your school library if they institutional subscriptions for access to them.
It goes without saying that it is nearly impossible to cover all literature regarding your topic (unless your topic is really niche, which may be a cause of concern with regards to the scope of your EE). As such, it is important that we focus our attention on the readings that are most important.
Three Types of Readings (In Order of Importance)
You will broadly encounter three types of readings in decreasing order of importance:
Type #1: Readings that make an argument
These are the most valuable. They present theories and frameworks used by other researchers. These must be read in depth. Papers with a high number of citations are favoured, and should be analysed deeply.
Type #2: Readings that describe an event or case
These help you understand how theories have been applied in the real world. They’ll often contain data, examples, or context you can use to frame your own discussion. Some papers are useful in helping you understand the arguments presented by different researchers.
Type #3: Readings that provide general context
These are useful for background information but shouldn’t dominate your bibliography. Use them once you have settled on a theoretical framework, as it will help you develop a more nuanced approach to employing it.
Before you dive into each source, skim the abstract or summary. Categorise it under one of the three types above, so you know which readings to prioritise.
Key Questions to Guide Your Reading
As you go through your reading list, consider the following questions:
What is your topic/concept about?
How is it relevant or significant to geographers?
How could you measure or quantify it?
How have people studied/researched this concept?
Have people applied this concept in another locational context?
Gradually, you’ll notice recurring frameworks and methodologies. Shortlist a few, and select the one you think is most relevant for your EE.
As you research, start drafting your literature review and thinking about your three hypotheses or sub-components. Don’t worry too much about writing the perfect literature review because you will refine it as you edit later on. It is much easier to cut words when you have too many than to write more when you have too little!
How To Know When You’ve Finished Research
You’ll know you’re ready to move on when:
You can clearly explain your chosen concept
You’ve selected a theoretical framework to structure your argument
You have a methodology you can adopt for your own research
You are able to structure your literature review as such:
The key Geography concept (evolving definitions, related concepts etc.)
Substructures or dimensions of your Geography concept (how to plan on exploring your main Geography concept)
Presenting your theoretical framework that you chose
Crafting your three hypotheses
If you’ve done your preliminary readings, you should already have an idea of what data you need to answer your research question and support your hypotheses. You may choose to adopt established methods from your readings, or adapt them to your own context. If you’re feeling brainy, you could come up wiht your own, so long as you are able to justify your chosen methodology.
Aim to combine quantitative data with qualitative insights in order to paint a more comprehensive spatial picture of the data collected in your EE. Quantitative data provides measurable patterns, while qualitative insights can help to capture the nuances that quantitative data can miss, or might even help you to explain certain trends observed in the quantitative data you collected.
Some examples of data you can collect are:
Microclimates (temperature, humidity, rainfall)
Field sketches and photographs
Pedestrian counts
Bipolar surveys about the environment
Questionnaires
Respondent profile (age, sex, ethnicity etc.)
Perceptions and satisfaction ratings
Behavioural patterns (frequencey, reasons for visiting)
The Golden Rule: Aim to collect at least 3 types of data per hypothesis. This ensures you have enough material to write your analysis and generate discussion in your EE.
The goal of your sampling process is to create a subset of data that most accurately represents the perspectives of respondents in the wider context. You want to capture a microcosm of reality to draw meaningful conclusions. The samples chosen must reflect the diversity of spatial patterns and nuances within the study area.
Poor sampling can lead to biased findings that do not capture the full complexities of a place. To avoid this, use a sample size calculator to justify your chosen number of participants (if you are doing a questionnaire) to prove that your responses are representative of a larger population.
Take More Photos Than You Think You Need
I promise you, you’ll thank yourself later. Take photos of EVERYTHING, even if you’re unsure whether you’ll use them. The last thing you want is realising you need an image of something and having to return to your field site.
Observe Your Site Like A Geographer
Ask yourself questions like:
Why was this built here?
Why this and not something else?
How might different people experience this space differently?
Remember: the space you are in is shared by different people of different profiles and backgrounds. Each person has subjective experiences that influence their perceptions and behaviours in that space. Your data collection (especially your questionnaire if you have one) should capture these nuances of people’s relationship with the environment, which are what elevates EEs from good to great.
Pitfall #1: Collecting Out-of Scope Data
Students who do this will end up having to change the scope of their EE entirely later on in their EE journey.
Pitfall #2: Not Knowing What Data to Collect
This usually means you haven’t read enough. Go back to your literature review and take note of what data others have gathered.
Pitfall #3: Perfection Paralysis
This was my biggest struggle. I delayed data collection trying to get everything perfect, then had to rush the data collection process itself. Perfect is the enemy of good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough.
At every step of your methodology, you must be able to explain:
Why this method?
Why this location?
Why this sampling strategy?
If the choice of answers for your questionnaire consists of only binary or ternary answer options, justify why this is so. Why did you choose to have only 2 or 3 answering options, rather than using a likert scale to measure respondent’s opinion on a spectrum?
If you are using a likert scale for your questionnaire, justify why you are using a 5-point, 6-point, or even a 7-point likert scale, weighing the pros and cons of each and why you ultimately chose the one you decided on.
Consider the biases involved in your methodology, especially cognitive biases (confirmation bias, acquiescence bias, hindsight bias, social desirability bias etc.) for your questionnaire survey.
Support all your justifications with citations from research papers as well. These justifications show the examiner that your methodology was carefully crafted and you have approached your research critically. This is necessary to maximise your marks in Criterion C: Critical Thinking.
Before analysing your data, you should be clear on what your arguments are for each hypothesis, and how you intend to use the data you have collected to support the arguments being made.
Data analysis is where you’ll spend the bulk of your writing time, because achieving insightful, nuanced analysis in genuinely difficult. This is not something that can be achieved by cramming paragraphs in the hours leading up to your final submission. Deep analysis requires weeks, sometimes months, of your brain processing data in the background. Some insights only emerge after weeks of thinking and re-reading your data.
You can represent data either graphically, or spatially.
Examples of graphical representation methods include: bar charts, scatter plots, box-and-whisker, radar charts etc.
Examples of spatial representation methods include: choropleths maps, proportional symbol maps, heatmaps, flow line maps etc.
Your goal is to present information in a way that best reveals spatial patterns and relationships. As a rule of thumb, opt for spatial representation methods over graphical representation methods whenever possible, as this maximises the amount of spatial analysis you will have in your EE.
You should refrain from using overly complicated visuals in order to to fulfill rubric requirements (to showcase a diversity of data representation methods). Rather, your data representation methods should be chosen because they are the best way to represent your data.
Maps situate your investigation in a clear spatial context.
Every map must include:
A north arrow
A Scale
A Legend/key
Clear source citations
All maps must be clearly referenced, including any base maps that were not self-constructed. For example, a figure that includes a map created by ArcGIS and includes your own annotations may be captioned as such: (Source: ArcGIS, Author)
You may use scanned or downloaded maps in an unaltered form to provide locational context to the investigation. However, they provide little evidence of students’ map skills. The best approach is to adapt or create your own maps to show spatial meaning.
This can include:
Use software like ArcGIS to create original maps displaying your data
Draw sketch maps
Annotate and label diagrams
Construct original maps following cartographic conventions
Images or photographs should only be included if they’re essential to illustrating your research.
All images should be:
Properly oriented
Clearly sourced and cited
Annotated with explanations
Captioned clearly
The secret to insightful and nuanced analysis is simple:
Identify interesting trends, phenomena and anomalies, then explaining them rather than just describing them.
Anyone can list trends, but an A-grade EE explains why those trends exist. Go beyond “what” and explore the “so what?”
Here are five techniques I used in my own EE to achieve deep levels of geographic analysis.
Method #1: Cross-Analyse Multiple Datasets
This method involves bringing together two or more distinct sets of data to establish relationships or patterns.
For example, in my EE, I cross-analysed:
(1) Likert-scale responses which measured respondents’ self-reported levels of attachment (i.e. ranking the statement “I am very attached to this place” from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree).
(2) Respondent’s time since their first contact with the park connector.
By plotting average attachment levels against time since first contact, I discovered a strong positive correlation between both variables. This allowed me to draw the conclusion that an increase in a visitor’s time since first contact resulted in increased levels of attachment.
Method #2: Use Secondary Sources to Support Observed Trends
This method involves using existing research or data (secondary sources) to explain or validate the patterns found in primary data collected.
In my case, I observed that park connector usage increased dramatically during the pandemic. To explain this, I citied a newspaper article, which reported a "50% increase in visitorship across gardens, parks and nature reserves". I also referenced another article linking gym closures during the pandemic to increased popularity of outdoor exercise.
These secondary sources do not detract from your primary data, but instead validates them and shows you’re engaging with wider academic discourse.
Method #3: Identify Anomalies and Investigate Causes
This method involves spotting data points or patterns that deviate from the norm, then exploring potential explanations for the anomalies.
In my EE, I noticed some frequent visitors reported low attachment levels — an anomaly since frequent visits usually correlate with high attachment. Investigating further, I discovered these individuals visited the park connector out of necessity (e.g. for commuting or errands) rather than desire (e.g. for greenery or exercise). As such, I was able to draw an insightful conclusion that a user’s purpose of visit influenced their emotional attachment to the park connector.
By exploring these outliers, you are able to show nuanced understanding about your topic.
Method #4: Use Multivariable Spatial Analysis
This is a variant of cross-analysis where multiple datasets are analysed within their geographic context, visualised on maps.
In my EE, I used a colour-coded proportional circles map to illustrate how many respondents lived in different housing estates. As such, I was able to represent more than one set of data on the map: number of respondents, and the housing estate they are from. This map allowed me to pick out hidden trends and analyse then, which helped me achieve deeper analysis and score highly on Criterion C.
Method #5: Creating An Index
This method involves combining multiple related variables or data points into a single numerical score to represent a complex, multi-faceted concept.
In my EE, I created a Sense of Place Index, which was a tripartite model consisting of three dimensions: Place Attachment, Place Identity, and Place Dependence.
Combining these three dimensions into a single sense of place score allowed me to map the overall sense of place of respondents on a heat map, which spatially represented and quantified the subjective and abstract concept of sense of place.
The use of indexes may not be applicable for every EE. However, they typically score well as they show interest and initiative from the student.
Statistical tests determine if there is enough evidence in sample data to conclude that an observation is statistically significant and not due to random chance.
Different types of data (interval, ordinal, nominal, ratio, parametric, non-parametric) require different types of statistical tests (descriptive, inferential). Common ones include:
Pearson’s correlation coefficient
Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient
ANOVA
Mann-Whitney U Test
Chi-square test
I personally found The Island Geographer’s statistics resource incredibly useful for exploring and understanding different statistical tests I could use in my EE.
Use the statistical test that you deem to be most appropriate for your data set. The use of significance tests should also be used to verify the validity of statistical results. Whatever you use, always remember to justify it. Explain why it’s the best fit for your data type and how it validates your findings.
Since this is a Geography EE, any examiner under Group 3 can be marking your EE. This could be a history or psychology teacher with no Geography background. As such, you should explain in detail all geographical terms or other technical jargon that a lay person would not be familiar with.
An often overlooked aspect of your EE is the psychological aspect of it. You want to make it as easy (and enjoyable) for the examiner to read your EE. Imagine the number of EEs they have to mark everyday! Write clearly, concisely and present your arguments systematically. Ensure that your EE is not a wikipedia-like collection of information that does not provide your own analytical perspective. That would be a surefire way to score poorly on your EE.
Be mindful of the tone of your writing. Always write in third person instead of first person to maintain the professionalism of an academic piece. Remember that you EE is an research paper, not a composition!
Title page
Subject of EE
EE Topic
Research Question
Word Count
Table of Contents
Avoid an excessive number of subsections, which ironically makes the EE less organised and difficult for the examiner to read
All pages should be numbered
Introduction
Outline the personal and/or global significance of the topic.
Discuss why it was chosen for investigation and its broader importance.
Provide a concise overview of the topic, including details on the concept under study
Characterise the location of your research by including annotated maps
Literature review
Present your research and readings
Explain applicable theoretical models
Discuss the definitions and geographic concepts relating to the area of research
Methodology
Justify your data collection sites, sampling strategy, data collection method and other relevant aspects of your study.
Describe the conditions of your data collection—like date, time and location—anything that might be relevant for the results. Methodically outline your data collection process.
List all equipment used in your data collection.
If you created an index to evaluate a given aspect e.g. sustainability, quality of life etc., you must explain in detail through annotations, how it works, its components and the meaning of the obtained values. Include citations if these indexes were adopted from another research paper.
Use technical jargon in your writing like "systematic sampling" rather than simply stating “I interviewed every 5th person”. Doing so shows the examiner that you are familiar with and understand geographical terminology.
Data Analysis
I've presented a comprehensive list of data analysis techniques in Part 5. Nevertheless, here are some additional pointers for presenting your analysis.
Always introduce images with context before presenting them.
For example, you could say:
“The following maps illustrate the spatial distribution of the data collection sites” rather than dumping the image of the data collection sites without explanation, as it fails to provide the examiner with context for your image.
Your analysis needs to be presented in the form of a reasoned argument
As the argument develops, it should be clear to the examiner what relevant evidence has been discovered, where and how it has been discovered and how it supports the argument. Your sub-headings within the main body of the essay will be especially useful in helping the examiner to understand the development or flow of the argument you are presenting.
Conclusion
Do not include any new information in the conclusion. Your conclusion is meant to summarise your findings from your EE. You may reiterate the conclusions drawn after each of your hypotheses, and subsequently provide an overall conclusion to your research question. The important thing is to directly answer the research question of your EE.
Evaluation
Evaluate your entire investigation, from the theoretical framework you adopted to the type of data you collected, and your methodology for collecting it.
Some questions to consider:
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the entire study?
What implication did these strengths and weaknesses have on the results you obtained and the conclusions you drew?
You may also show your awareness of possible biases or other factors that may have reduced the reliability and accuracy of your results obtained.
Extension
Propose methods to address the limitations of the study and briefly discuss their impacts, as well as potential insightful extensions to the study. Could the study be scaled up, replicated elsewhere, or explored over a longer time frame?
For example:
A longer data collection period could reveal seasonal variations
Future research could compare park connectors across Singapore
This shows that you are continuously reflecting and iterating on ideas within your EE.
Bibliography
Your bibliography must be complete and detailed, arranged alphabetically.
The IBO takes a serious view of academic dishonesty, so this is one area where you should not cut corners. An insufficient or incomplete bibliography will be suspected of malpractice. If there is one image or one map with no reference, missing references in the bibliography (but stated in text or footnotes), or lack of reference in the text when the ideas presented are obviously not the student’s (geographical context and theory for example), the essay might be raised for further investigation and flagged by the IB for academic dishonesty. Always double check everything!
Appendix
The appendices will serve as a place for additional tables of data or other supporting materials. Do not include crucial information in the appendix of your EE as the examiner is not obligated to read your appendix.
The biggest trap students fall into when writing the draft is over-editing too soon.
Your goal for your first draft is to complete it, no matter how messy or clumsily it was put together. Once the essay skeleton is visible, it becomes much easier to refine and polish your writing.
Write Chronologically
Some students prefer to write in chronological order, from introduction to conclusion, so their ideas build naturally. This helps them to maintain their flow of thought when writing, and ensures that the piece comes together cohesively.
Write in Chunks
Others (like me) prefer writing whatever I feel ready to tackle that day. On some days, my mind will be full of methodology ideas. Other days, I’ll be in the mood to analyse. Writing out of order keeps your momentum alive. Most importantly, breaking down writing into smaller chunks made a 4000 word essay much easier to tackle.
Explain Like I’m Five
If a section feels too dense or confusing, imagine explaining it to a five-year-old. If you can’t simplify it, you probably don’t understand it deeply enough yet. This method forces clarity and helps cut unnecessary jargon.
Revise in Layers
First write, then edit. Don’t try to do both simultaneously. And don’t try to fix everything at once. Tackle your EE in stages:
Does each section build logically into a coherent argument?
Are transitions between sections smooth?
Are sentences concise and readable?
Are there any grammatical errors? Are there better words that can be used?
As you edit, constantly refer to a Geography EE rubric (which I’ve linked below) to ensure your writing is relevant to the research question.
I found Jordan Peterson’s Essay Writing Guide to be a tremendous resource which fundamentally changed the way I approach writing.
YOU’RE ALMOST THERE! Your final challenge is to ensure that your EE falls under the 4000 word limit. Writing concisely is incredibly important as it allows you to maximise information density. Here are some strategies that helped me:
Strategy #1: Eliminate Repeated Points
When writing, you may find yourself circling the same idea multiple times, just worded in a differently. Choose the clearest version and delete the rest.
Strategy #2: Ensure Relevance
Constantly ask yourself: Is this relevant to my research question? Most students include unnecessary information in their literature review as it was information they researched on, but not directly relevant to the research question. Ruthlessly cutting words here would bring your word count down significantly.
Strategy #3: Remove filler words
Common culprits like “this” or “that”
Unnecessary adverbs and adjectives
Redundant phrases
These edits would reduce a minimal number of words, but hopefully just enough to get it under the 4000 word limit!
If you are reading this before writing your EE, don’t obsess over word count initially. It is far easier to cut than to add words later.
Your EE will be marked according to this rubric, so it is important to understand what the examiner is looking out for when they mark. When assessing a student’s work, examiners will read the level descriptors from the highest markband down until they reach a descriptor that most appropriately describes the level of the work being assessed.
I highly recommend reading through JK Geography’s breakdown of the Assessment Criteria. But here are the key takeaways from the IB examiner reports:
EEs are Insufficiently Spatial
The most common reason good topics score poorly is that they were not sufficiently spatial. This is THE MOST RECURRING comment from the IB for Geography EEs. The object of study MUST be able to be mapped and for patterns to be determined. A locational map alone does not make an essay spatial. It merely shows the locational context of an EE. The spatial dimension implies much more than just locations. Maps should be personalised with the data gathered, and spatial analysis techniques that involve the spread and interpretation of variables over an area (using either primary or secondary data) should be utilised for data analysis. The best essays focused on a spatially driven argument. Even if you have a good topic (e.g. sustainability), you may still do poorly if no spatial component of it was analysed. Other essays were not sufficiently geographical because candidates were not able to accurately represent their data on a map.
Issues with Scope
The scope of your EE must be sufficiently broad to write 4000 words, but cannot be too wide as it will have implications on criterion A, which often has repercussions for criteria B and C. Even if you EE is an excellent piece of research, an examiner might mark you down across multiple criteria simply because your scope is too wide. The best way to navigate this is to ensure that the scope of your EE is tight whilst ensuring that you have sufficient data to draw conclusions for each hypothesis. Research questions must be focused enough to be easily deciphered through spatial analysis methods. Someone who looks at your data representation methods should be able to have an idea of what your research question is about.
Inadequate Geographic Context
The geographic context, which includes both academic context (the theory) and the locational context (the specific area of your data collection), must be adequately developed.
Academic Context: Use 5W1H thinking to unpack the key geographical concepts of your EE in your literature review.
Locational Context: Explain the background of the area of data collection, including the specific sites.
Statistically Insignificant Sample Size
It is imperative that the sample size of data collected is statistically significant to represent the entire object of study (e.g. you cannot do only 50 surveys for a population of millions of people). EEs with a data set comparable to that of an IA will score poorly.
Unnecessary Mark Loss
"Unnecessary marks were lost in overly descriptive essays (criterion C), essays that did not involve a spatial element, poor quality sources, poor layout and use of graphic materials (criterion D), lack of focus on research question (criterion A) and direct response to it and simplistic descriptive reflections." - May 2018 Extended Essay Report
Reflections and Viva Voce
You’ll write three reflections throughout the process. Some student’s give little thought to them, not realising that the reflection is worth 6 marks out of 34! That’s almost 18% of your EE grade — almost enough to bring an EE from an C to an A, so take it seriously.
The Viva Voce is a short interview held with your supervisor for them to better understand your challenges, what you’ve learned, and how you grew as a person through the EE process. This also helps your supervisor complete their commentary form, which can positively influence your marks.
When I look back, my Geography EE was so much more than a research paper. Despite all the hard work, it was one of the most rewarding chapters of my IB experience. Nothing beats the feeling of finally submitting your final draft of your EE and not looking back. Months later, you’ll wonder how you did it in the first place.
The EE process has never been about flawless execution. You will inevitably encounter failure at some level. What matters is your persistence and ability to reflect on your mistakes, and ultimately come out a better person because of it.
Amidst the chaos of an EE, don't forget to enjoy the journey! Don’t be discouraged when you get writer’s block or when things don’t go as planned. This is all trial and error. You won’t get it right the first time. I didn’t either, and that’s okay. It's all a part of the journey of becoming a genuine researcher!
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — Winnie the Pooh
You’ve got this!