Seven Tips and Techniques to Ace the International Baccalaureate (IB) Extended Essay

Contributed by three economics teachers, specially for JC Economics Essays

If you are an International Baccalaureate (IB) student preparing to craft your Extended Essay (EE), this post is just for you. 

In this JC Economics Essays article, this essay will share the tips, techniques, and tricks to get you get an A grade.  

Just to recap, the IB Extended Essay (often referred to as the EE) is a 4,000 word structured mini-thesis you write under the supervision of an advisor, an IB teacher at your school, which counts towards your IB Diploma.

For the Extended Essay, you choose a research question and this topic needs to be approved. You can do a standard economics research paper, conduct an economic experiment, or solve a economic problem. Usually, the IB Extended Essay includes a cover page, a one-page synopsis of your Extended Essay, a contents page, the 4,000-word essay itself, and a bibliography.

Here are seven effective tips and techniques that you will need to write a Grade A Extended Essay!

First, Write About Something You Find Interesting

The Extended Essay requirement of the Diploma Programme is actually one of the enjoyable and challenging parts of the course. Students write a mini-thesis on an original topic, based on a subject of their choice. 

What have you found interesting in your economics studies, and what makes you curious to find out more? 

What makes you think, and what makes you puzzled and intellectually curious? 

Ask yourself these questions.

Second, Choose a Specific Topic Involving Your Home Country

Singapore economics students often successfully pick Extended Essay topics related to Singapore, or a country they call home. 

Taking Singapore for example, Singapore has plenty of original topics relating to government intervention in the free market and the larger macroeconomy.

Some of the possible research questions from economics students include:

To what extent has the recent economic recession affected demerit good consumption in Singapore?

Is the cinema industry in Singapore recession-proof?

To what extent has price changes in COE affected the demand for private transport in Singapore?

How affordable are the Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats compared to private condominiums in Singapore?

How effective are Singapore’s road congestion policies such as the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) policies in reducing traffic congestion?

Some of these economics research questions for the Extended Essay are good – focused on Singapore, specific and narrow; but some of the other research questions are too broad. 

A good research question is essential to a good Extended Essay. You need to write something specific. Because any economics research question must be answered within the 4,000 word limit, the research question needs to be limited in scope and reach.

The economics content has to be manageable, too. Limiting the number of economic concepts covered is important. A good economics essay will explain one concept in sufficient depth and link to other related economic concepts. For example, an explanation of market failure could link to elasticity concepts but should not examine effects on economic growth.

Third, Choose an Advisor Familiar With Your Extended Essay Topic

Choose an economics teacher as an advisor, or one who is familiar with the topic – enough said. Fundamentally, this is common sense. 

And do note that some IB schools require your IB Extended Essay advisor to sign an Agreement Form, so do ask your IB coordinator for any required paperwork. Handle all the paperwork competently. 

Fourth, Be Like a Pokemon Trainer - Choose an Advisor Who Will Challenge You to be the Very Best, Like No One Ever Was

This is related to the earlier tip.

Some economics teachers take on students because they have to as part of their job and duties, and may not be passionate about reading drafts and giving feedback.

Choose an economics teacher who will take the time to read several Extended Essay drafts and give you extensive critique and feedback. Ask an economics teacher you have experience with, either through class or through CCA. 

Do not ask an economics teacher that you are not connected to, or a teacher from another academic field, because the teacher who does not know you or is unfamiliar with economics is unlikely to push you for your Extended Essay, or even unable to do.

Fifth, Have a Clear Essay Structure

All teachers love structure, economics teachers particularly so. Economics is dependent on structure, diagrams, order, and clear, crisp arguments. 

Your Extended Essay needs a clear introduction, economics research question with a strong focus on what you will be investigating, a body of economics research, and a clear conclusion. An Extended Essay with poor structure will be graded poorly.

Also, the abstract for your Extended Essay must be clear and summarise the whole economic argument. An ambiguous abstract will make it challenging for the economics teacher to follow your economics essay’s argument and will impact your Extended Essay grade.

The body of your Extended Essay should include relevant economic diagrams properly labelled and explained, along with real world and relevant examples and economic analyses to support your case.

Sixth, Be Proactive

You should read many economics articles and books, journal articles, and watching economics documentaries. Start the research process as soon as possible so that you can start writing your Extended Essay as early as possible.

Each school has a slightly different deadline for the Extended Essay so do take timelines and deadlines into consideration. Do not be late. Some schools will give you a timeline of when you need to come up with a topic, when you need to meet your advisor, and when drafts are due. Not all schools do so do ask your advisor and economics teachers to ensure that you are on time and on track.

Because a good Extended Essay includes a range of economic data and evidence, from secondary or primary sources, research and preparation time is needed. Too often economics students rely on surfing the web for their secondary research. Do not do that. Collecting economic data or examining a wide range of economic sources will be important in getting a good grade. Economics students can sometimes compensate in an economics essay with lots of secondary data by showing examples of in-depth economic analysis linking with separate pieces of secondary data to tell an narrative. A survey of cinema attendance during an economic recession, checked against secondary economic or financial data on cinema revenues and consumer incomes will provide appropriate economic analysis.

Seventh, Remember to Ps - Pace Properly, Prepare Properly, and Stay Positive

You have done your best for your Extended Essay and that is all that really matters.

If you pace your preparation and research work properly, prepare and draft solid and rigorous economic analysis, diagrams and economic analysis well, and stay positive and motivated throughout the entire process, you have done well. 

And you will do well for your Extended Essay... ceteris paribus.  

All the best, and thank you for reading! Cheers.

JC Economics Essays. This article was kindly contributed by a team of economics teachers. As IB tutors, D and A have guided many economics students to success. SS, a former economics teacher, compiled and consolidated the research and writing. Recently, SS' mother started teaching IB economics in an international school, sparking off research on this article. In addition to helping IB students, the information here will also be useful for JC economics students attempting economics research too. 

Thank you for reading and cheers. 

The AIMS model for writing essays - simple but effective tips on how to write effectively

This post is about effective writing in general, and effective economics writing for A level economics students in particular. 

Writing essays effectively is an important skill for students and workers in the knowledge economy.

There are many good reasons why this is the case. Jobs often require good writing skills for career success; writing is also clearly an important part of communication in daily life; and excellent writing skills are needed for attaining excellent results in essay examinations. 

This post shares a simple mnemonic device to remembering simple yet effective tips on how to write effectively:

The AIMS model for writing essays

A - Accuracy

I - Impact, Importance, and Implication

M - the "Mother Test"

S - Substance

A

Accuracy is very important in writing. Vague allusions and unspecific arguments make it difficult for readers to really understand the author's intentions. Using economics essays as an example, when an economics student writes about "economic policy" or "macroeconomic policy" in his essay, does this term refer to fiscal policy, or monetary policy? At once, it becomes clear that accuracy is important.

Or even better still, is the student making an argument about "expansionary fiscal policy" or "contractionary monetary policy"? Accuracy makes writing stronger and better, and much more effective. 

I

I can stand for impact, or importance, or implication. 

It can stand for a lot of things - but what is the core idea here about impact, importance, or implication? 

Impact or importance is very important in writing. Why is a sentence or an argument useful or relevant to the reader?

For instance, when an economics student writes about expansionary fiscal policy and the details of how it works or functions, that is great - but what is the impact or implication of the policy? What is the importance of this particular policy? If the argument goes on to say that expansionary fiscal policy can reduce demand-deficient unemployment in theory, then the argument has a real impact and importance, and tells the reader the full implication of the theory. 

What is the impact of contractionary monetary policy? Does it lower AD and thus reduce demand-pull inflation in a particular economy? To what extent does it successfully achieve this aim? 

In other words - impact, importance, implication. 

Make your writing impactful by drawing out the importance of what you are saying, and often this is done because you have told the reader about the implications of your reasoning.

M

M stands for the Mother Test. 

Can your mother understand what you are writing? 

Some people call this the grandmother test, but I wanted to write a post that was neat and memorable, and so I chose M for mothers - because mothers are particularly memorable (mine is). 

If your writing is comprehensible to your mother, then that is a good piece of writing. If your essay cannot be easily understood, because of one reason or another (bad spelling, bad punctuation, bad grammar, meandering arguments, unclear sentences) then you should practise harder. Strive to make your writing as clear and powerful as possible.  

Make your mother understand. 

S

S stands for substance. Do you really know what you are writing about? Do you have detailed knowledge of the field, or the topic for that matter? For instance, in economics, do you really understand the  economic policies that you are analysing? Do you understand the intricacies of the arguments that you are making? 

For economics students, the relevant questions are: have you really mastered your economics material?

Studying hard for economics will provide you with a strong theoretical background to answer essay questions accurately and properly, detailing the importance and implications of your arguments. 

In conclusion, for effective writing, always remember the AIMS of good writing. 

Thank you for reading, and cheers. 

***

For more specific articles on various economics essays topics, please refer to the following useful links:

How to write excellently in economics case studies

How to write a good economics paragraph

How to write economics essays (self help guide)

How to write a good macroeconomics essay

JC Economics Essays - While this is an economics essay website for A level economics (mainly H1, H2, H3, AS, AO, GCE, GCSE, A level economics), it is also important for students (beyond just economics students) to learn how to write effectively. The editor of JC Economics Essays strongly and firmly believes that writing effectively is an important skill. Writing effectively will help all students with their written examinations, not just for economics, but also for General Paper and other examination papers that require excellent essays written in English. Students can always get better and writing, and make steady improvements if they are willing to learn.

Thank you for reading this article, and cheers. 

How To Write A Good Economics Paragraph

How To Write A Good Economics Paragraph... A Basic Introduction!

(Edited and improved from the 2010 version)

In this introductory and basic post on Economics, I reiterate and show how to write a good economics essay paragraph - one that gets good marks rather than bad marks in an economics essay test or examination. 

Often, students ask, and rightly so: "How do we write a good Economics essay?" 

However, before you can answer that, you might need to know how to write a good Economics paragraph first, because paragraphs are the building blocks to create a well-crafted, well-written essay. 

Let's begin with a simple exercise. Ready? 

Have a look at the following sample Economics paragraphs, and think to yourself whether the paragraph is well written or not. 

"A" grade by Adam

Insert tariff diagram - small country case (international trade)

Tariffs, taxes imposed on imported goods and services, hurt the local, domestic economy. The above diagram shows that, for a small country, putting a tariff on an imported good increases the price of the good, making quantity demanded fall by B2 and quantity supplied by local sellers to rise by A1, thus causing deadweight loss A and B. Not only is there deadweight loss of A and B, there is also an increase in the overall price and less quantity of that good is consumed. For example, a tariff on cars will make the price of imported cars rise and thus consumers will buy more locally produced cars, perhaps just like the Proton Saga cars in Malaysia if Malaysia were to impose a tariff. Consumers lose out because they pay more and consume less numbers of cars overall, but local producers and the government gain from the loss in consumer surplus. The deadweight loss is not efficient as the losses from consumer surplus do not accrue to the government, the producers or the consumers, but are in effect lost. Thus, tariffs hurt the local economy via deadweight loss, which is not Pareto (or allocative) efficient.

"B" grade by Ben

Insert tariff diagram - small country case (international trade)

Tariffs, taxes on imports, are bad. The above diagram shows that, for a small country, putting a tariff on an imported good increases the price of the good, making quantity demanded fall by B2 and quantity supplied by local sellers to rise by A1, thus causing deadweight loss A and B. Not only is there deadweight loss of A and B, there is also an increase in the overall price and less quantity of that good is consumed. For example, a tariff on cars will make the price of imported cars rise and thus consumers will buy more locally produced cars. Consumers lose out because they pay more and consume less numbers of cars overall, but local producers and the government win. The deadweight loss is not efficient as the losses from consumer surplus do not accrue to the government, the producers or the consumers, but are in effect lost. Thus, tariffs hurt the local economy via deadweight loss, which is not Pareto efficient.

"C" grade by Cadence

NO ECONOMICS DIAGRAM 

Tariffs are bad because they hurt the local economy. Not only is there deadweight loss, there is also an increase in the overall price and less quantity of that good (which are cars) is consumed. Thus, tariffs hurt the local economy via deadweight loss, which is not Pareto efficient.

"D" grade for Denise

NO ECONOMICS DIAGRAM

Tariffs hurt the economy. A tariff on cars will make the price of imported cars rise and thus consumers will buy more produced cars. People locally lose out because he pays more and consume less of cars overall, but homebody producers and my government win. The deedweight loss is not efficient as losses fro consumer surplus do not goes to the garvenment, the producers or the consumers, but are in effect gained. Like disappeared. Thus, tariffs hurt foreign economys because deadweight loss, which is Not good.

So, what have we learnt about writing a good Economics paragraph?

WHAT ARE THE GOOD POINTS?

STATE Tariffs, taxes imposed on imported goods and services, hurt the local economy.

EXPLAIN The above diagram shows that, for a small country, putting a tariff on an imported good increases the price of the good, making quantity demanded fall by B2 and quantity supplied by local sellers to rise by A1, thus causing deadweight loss A and B. Not only is there deadweight loss of A and B, there is also an increase in the overall price and less quantity of that good is consumed.

EXAMPLE For example, a tariff on cars will make the price of imported cars rise and thus consumers will buy more locally produced cars, just like the Proton Saga in Malaysia.

EXPLAIN Consumers lose out because they pay more and consume less numbers of cars overall, but local producers and the government win. The deadweight loss is not efficient as the losses from consumer surplus do not accrue to the government, the producers or the consumers, but are in effect lost.

CONCLUDE Thus, tariffs hurt the local economy via deadweight loss, which is not Pareto (allocative) efficient.

I would strongly recommend crafting good essay paragraphs by stating clearly what the argument is, first and foremost. After stating your argument, explain what it means by defining the terms, explaining what the process is, and explaining why you think that argument makes sense. Perhaps even draw a diagram to explain the situation, and explain the diagram itself as well to show your economics knowledge. Giving an example, you will now want to explain the example to show how it links to the theoretical content, and then you conclude by wrapping up your paragraph. If each paragraph is written consistently like this, your paper will be more detailed, well-explained, and full of rich real world examples that highlight your points. 

Good luck and all the best writing your economics essay paragraph!

The editor. 

JC ECONOMICS ESSAYS - For H1, H2, H3, "O" levels, "A" and "AS" levels, GCE, GCSE, AS, and introductory undergraduate Economics.