Arkansin Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Greetings!I have a question regarding Topic 3 for May 2014 specifically and TOK essays in general.The topic is: “Knowledge is nothing more than the systematic organisation of facts.” Discuss this statement in relation to two areas of knowledge.Now the topic clearly states "two areas of knowledge" however, my TOK coordinator is suggesting that I include three. I do have good matter to write about in three areas, but should I ignore the topic and go for three? or should I just elaborate two more?Thanks! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Just do two areas thoroughly and well. Three is just dilution. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connaitre Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 The IB are very tough about their questions. I would imagine that it would be a waste of time if you used more, as I cannot see them giving you marks for the third knowledge area (even if your points are brilliant). They obviously believe that two is the amount that is needed to answer the question in enough depth. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) 2 areas of knowledge usually means 2 knowledge issues, and anyways 2 KIs would be better & more in depth than 3. I did 3 KIs (on question #4) but it depends really on what you prefer Edited February 15, 2014 by sameera95 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 2 areas of knowledge usually means 2 knowledge issues, and anyways 2 KIs would be better & more in depth than 3. I did 3 KIs (on question #4) but it depends really on what you preferGoing to have to disagree with you here! Two areas of knowledge means two areas of knowledge. Within those you should explore far more than just one knowledge issue per area of knowledge, you've got to thoroughly cover all the relevant ground for both areas! You want to make as many points as possible to get to the crux of the question and come up with your answer, not just a single 'issue' each. Unless I've misunderstood what you meant, but you should be sure to cover all relevant things in two areas of knowledge. Really, that's why you should be concentrating on 2 in this instance and not getting distracted by three, because you need to do two thoroughly. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 2 areas of knowledge usually means 2 knowledge issues, and anyways 2 KIs would be better & more in depth than 3. I did 3 KIs (on question #4) but it depends really on what you preferGoing to have to disagree with you here! Two areas of knowledge means two areas of knowledge. Within those you should explore far more than just one knowledge issue per area of knowledge, you've got to thoroughly cover all the relevant ground for both areas! You want to make as many points as possible to get to the crux of the question and come up with your answer, not just a single 'issue' each. Unless I've misunderstood what you meant, but you should be sure to cover all relevant things in two areas of knowledge. Really, that's why you should be concentrating on 2 in this instance and not getting distracted by three, because you need to do two thoroughly.Well, I only said this because I saw on the TOK website that someone had asked a similar question and the reply from the website was that this type of question usually lends itself to 2 KIs. However, I did 3 KIs and addressed them all in both areas of knowledge, that should be okay right? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansin Posted February 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 2 areas of knowledge usually means 2 knowledge issues, and anyways 2 KIs would be better & more in depth than 3. I did 3 KIs (on question #4) but it depends really on what you prefer Going to have to disagree with you here! Two areas of knowledge means two areas of knowledge. Within those you should explore far more than just one knowledge issue per area of knowledge, you've got to thoroughly cover all the relevant ground for both areas! You want to make as many points as possible to get to the crux of the question and come up with your answer, not just a single 'issue' each. Unless I've misunderstood what you meant, but you should be sure to cover all relevant things in two areas of knowledge. Really, that's why you should be concentrating on 2 in this instance and not getting distracted by three, because you need to do two thoroughly. 2 areas of knowledge usually means 2 knowledge issues, and anyways 2 KIs would be better & more in depth than 3. I did 3 KIs (on question #4) but it depends really on what you prefer The IB are very tough about their questions. I would imagine that it would be a waste of time if you used more, as I cannot see them giving you marks for the third knowledge area (even if your points are brilliant). They obviously believe that two is the amount that is needed to answer the question in enough depth. Just do two areas thoroughly and well. Three is just dilution. Right. Overwhelming response to sctick with two. That is what I will do This is making me question another thing my coordinator said. The word limit is 1200-1600 words. Accordng to her, we have to do 1600 to get good marks. Is this true? My essay as it stands in something around 1450 words. should I leave it at that or try to figure out more stuff I can write? This is maybe the reason she asked me to look into the third AoK. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Right. Overwhelming response to sctick with two. That is what I will do This is making me question another thing my coordinator said. The word limit is 1200-1600 words. Accordng to her, we have to do 1600 to get good marks. Is this true? My essay as it stands in something around 1450 words. should I leave it at that or try to figure out more stuff I can write? This is maybe the reason she asked me to look into the third AoK. If you feel like you're limiting yourself with 2, I don't see anything wrong with addressing 3. However you should be addressing more than one KI per AoK, e.g. I used the same 3 KIs for both AoKs I used. About the word limit, my school tells us that 1200 is not enough and we should really be aiming for 1550 - 1600. Try getting up to at least 1500 words if you can And the title says 2 areas of knowledge so stick to 2 only, you don't want an examiner marking you harshly because you didn't stick to the instructions. 2 areas of knowledge does not mean 2 KIs, so keep that in mind Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhael Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Do two! Do not alter it anyway...I agree with the Sandwich lady. Even though if you could do three, would you take the risk? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansin Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Okay guys now I'm panicking a little bit. My essay has maybe 3 KIs in the whole thing (one I have explicitly stated to be my main KI and the others I have just asked as questions). It doesn't match anything you guys seems to be saying. My coordinator has read through it and is "quite happy" with it. What am I supposed to do?Since none of you seem to be doing topic 3, would you mind going through it and giving me some feedback? We are the first IB batch in our school and nobody seems to know anything. If you guys could help me out, I could help my classmates. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Okay guys now I'm panicking a little bit. My essay has maybe 3 KIs in the whole thing (one I have explicitly stated to be my main KI and the others I have just asked as questions). It doesn't match anything you guys seems to be saying. My coordinator has read through it and is "quite happy" with it. What am I supposed to do? Since none of you seem to be doing topic 3, would you mind going through it and giving me some feedback? We are the first IB batch in our school and nobody seems to know anything. If you guys could help me out, I could help my classmates. This post has mixed up Aok with KI. The question says 2 AoK, that means 2 only and don't do more or less. However, there's nothing wrong with having 3 KIs. I hope this clears things up a bit Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansin Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Okay guys now I'm panicking a little bit. My essay has maybe 3 KIs in the whole thing (one I have explicitly stated to be my main KI and the others I have just asked as questions). It doesn't match anything you guys seems to be saying. My coordinator has read through it and is "quite happy" with it. What am I supposed to do? Since none of you seem to be doing topic 3, would you mind going through it and giving me some feedback? We are the first IB batch in our school and nobody seems to know anything. If you guys could help me out, I could help my classmates. This post has mixed up Aok with KI. The question says 2 AoK, that means 2 only and don't do more or less. However, there's nothing wrong with having 3 KIs. I hope this clears things up a bit Yes, I meant 3 KIs in the whole essay. From what you are saying you have 6! have you explicitly stated they are Kis? For eg. "My first knowledge issue is"..., "that brings me to my second knowledge issue.." or have you just stated them as normal questions? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Okay guys now I'm panicking a little bit. My essay has maybe 3 KIs in the whole thing (one I have explicitly stated to be my main KI and the others I have just asked as questions). It doesn't match anything you guys seems to be saying. My coordinator has read through it and is "quite happy" with it. What am I supposed to do? Since none of you seem to be doing topic 3, would you mind going through it and giving me some feedback? We are the first IB batch in our school and nobody seems to know anything. If you guys could help me out, I could help my classmates. This post has mixed up Aok with KI. The question says 2 AoK, that means 2 only and don't do more or less. However, there's nothing wrong with having 3 KIs. I hope this clears things up a bit Yes, I meant 3 KIs in the whole essay. From what you are saying you have 6! have you explicitly stated they are Kis? For eg. "My first knowledge issue is"..., "that brings me to my second knowledge issue.." or have you just stated them as normal questions? I don't have 6, I have addressed the same 3 KIs in my essay for both AoK. Well, I stated the 3 KIs in the introduction, then throughout the essay I've used KI/question interchangeably Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansin Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Okay guys now I'm panicking a little bit. My essay has maybe 3 KIs in the whole thing (one I have explicitly stated to be my main KI and the others I have just asked as questions). It doesn't match anything you guys seems to be saying. My coordinator has read through it and is "quite happy" with it. What am I supposed to do? Since none of you seem to be doing topic 3, would you mind going through it and giving me some feedback? We are the first IB batch in our school and nobody seems to know anything. If you guys could help me out, I could help my classmates. This post has mixed up Aok with KI. The question says 2 AoK, that means 2 only and don't do more or less. However, there's nothing wrong with having 3 KIs. I hope this clears things up a bit Yes, I meant 3 KIs in the whole essay. From what you are saying you have 6! have you explicitly stated they are Kis? For eg. "My first knowledge issue is"..., "that brings me to my second knowledge issue.." or have you just stated them as normal questions? I don't have 6, I have addressed the same 3 KIs in my essay for both AoK. Well, I stated the 3 KIs in the introduction, then throughout the essay I've used KI/question interchangeably Dammit my essay needs serious rewriting. For now I'll just submit what she asked for and do my other IAs then I'll get back to this. Do you have access to some good TOK essays by any chance? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 (edited) Why? You don't have to address the same KI in both AoK, you can have subject specific KIs. Here's a link for 50 excellent tok essays from 08/09 http://intranet.catscanterbury.com/ib/ETOKE/html/essays.html and here is an example of 2 tok essays (one achieved a D, and one a B) with comments and grades so you can take a look and know what to avoid in your essay: http://www.ibmidatlantic.org/TOK10/Sample_Essays.pdf I hope this helps! Edited February 16, 2014 by sameera95 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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