What process did you follow to do your EE?

[pennywise256]

Hello guys, I'm going through a terrible bad time with the woman intended to teach us the EE elaboration methodology, because I simply consider it a lot of nonsense. She's the most squared-minded person I've ever known. But anyway, my question is, what do you think is the best way to go through the EE? My exams are held in May 2013, so I still have left pretty much a lot of time.

I've read the whole guide and many posts related. This woman I'm talking about asked us to first: define the subject, then the specific topic and research question, now the index, and currently we spend the whole class elaborating a bulk of silly worksheets that will be useless whatsoever! I just fill them up with whatever nonsense stuff i can think off, since she doesn't even check their content. But, she is just SQUARED!

EE is supposed to be fun, independent, attractive and easygoing, but instead she's turning it into a nightmare. It's just crazy to as us to know the final research question from the beginning, and then going over the index before even staring to read! How in the world can I even figure what my specific topic, let alone the question, will be if we are not given time to do some readings or an introductory research? I'm sure it's not the way EE should be done. And that bulk of silly worksheets, they are just that: BULK.

So, what I have planned is satisfying her silly requirements to avoid problems, and going through her squared way of working. MEANWHILE ... I, with the help of my assessor only, will elaborate my own EE underground, which will be the one I will actually send to moderation. So that I would be free to stablish my own times and methodology, give myself enough time to read plenty of books, and then, start drafting over and over until I like the final result, then I will ask my assessor to check that final draft in further detail. So I will ultimately be able to polish my research question to its final form, and finally, do the index and the abstract.

Do you think this is a good plan? Since now I'm free to do whatever I want, would you give me any special advice? My EE will be on Philosophy, my general topic is explaining why I think the most viewed video on youtube in 2011 in my country was that popular. It's a chapter of a vlog from a guy called werevertumorro. I have bought some books related to postmodernism, narcissism and discourse analysis. Amongst the main authors I will read to formulate my hypothesis are Gilles Lipovetsky, Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud and Octavio Paz.

I know that once I read Octavio Paz I will have a wider looks of mexican culture, so I will be able to state

"To what extent does the (X feature in the discourse) of werevertumorro in the (Y video) relates to a (Z characteristic of Mexicans), so it became the most viewed video in 2011?

what about you? Were you given the opportunity to carry out your work independently as the IBO states, or not?

[dessskris]

you have a good plan. interesting topic although idk if that's suitable since I have no knowledge in philosophy.

first you need to find a topic by whichever way like reading past EE examples, reading around your subject, googling, talking to teachers... now that you've found your topic, next is to find out which aspects of philosophy is related to that, and read around the subject till you know about the problem/the topic. after that you decide the question, perhaps something that you find intriguing, something that you don't know the answer to yet. after you have your question, read further to find the answers. last you can write your EE.

and if you're required to perform a primary research then do it before writing your EE.

[Guest]

I like your topic! Just don't fall too much into the technical aspects of the video...cause then it would become a ITGS EE

My EE was in ITGS and before I did anything I read some sample EE's from the same subject. After that, start reading. READ, READ and read till you have enough knowledge about our topic. After that fine-tune your RQ. (It seems pretty decent at the moment). After that make a rough plan about what you want to write about. the Conclusion and the abstract can be focused on later.

After THAT make your index. the index will help you stay on track and order your essay in a proper manner. Of course it may change during the course of your essay, but that's ok.

I was able to carry out my work independently, plus my supervisor helped me whenever I needed help. So yeah.

Good luck and cheers!

[White94]

Read around the topic, alot. I read before I started writing the first draft then I continued doing it throughout. It might sound boring but reading old EE's is really useful, it gives you a general idea about what's good and what's bad. Teachers probably tell you this all the time but the marking criteria is important too. I found myself using it to get better structure.

Plans help too, even if it's vague, just knowing what ideas you want to go where helps you structure it in your mind and makes it alot easier to write.

When it comes to actually writing it, do it in stages. Finish a stage, re-read it, correct it (if necessary) then walk away for a break and come to it, then re-read the last section you did and correct it (if needed) and then go onto the next section. You might find just walking away from it then re-reading it again will help you notice inconsistencies/errors in your arguments.

Good luck.

[Sandwich]

I am also uncertain whether your topic is suitably philosophical to achieve a good grade. It sounds worryingly like sociology/psychology.

But yeah really, write your EE however you want. The index was the last thing I wrote before my abstract so yeah, there's no set order in which to do it, although of course if you can give yourself some kind of structure and direction that can be helpful. To be honest it's unusual that you're even having lessons on it, we just got told not to all pick the same supervisor, off you pop kind of thing!

EE is supposed to be fun, independent, attractive and easygoing

Got to say I'd never characterise it like that It's a pain in the behind!

[thehaikubandit]

I read everything I could on the topic and then developed a question from there.

Ended up with 10,000+ of research and a 1,000 plan.

Now I just need to write it....

[Arrowhead]

I changed my topic twice and only landed on my final RQ (mostly final anyway), in the summer before my final IB year. I spent most of the summer doing research and compiling all that research. Then I pretended the essay didn't exist and procrastinated until the end of the academic year. The last weekend before the essay was due I sat down and churned out 4,000 words in 35 hours. The only reason I did finish it well though was because I had already done all the research and I knew exactly what I wanted to say at each point in each section before I even started writing.

That's my advice, so long as you've done the research to the point of satisfaction, the actual essay writing can be done really fast with little hassle.

Arrowhead.

Edited June 3, 2012 by Arrowhead