Non-experimental Biology EE?

[ib_student2014]

I was just wondering if anyone has had a good experience writing a non-experimental (research-based) Biology EE or has any advice on that kind of topic. I want to do mine on stem cell research and obviously I can't do those experiments myself. Is it really such a bad idea to do a research-based bio EE? Will I fail?...

[Brienna]

Generally, research-based Biology EEs don't do as well as experimental ones. However, there are exceptions to every rule. As of now, your topic is pretty vague, and a tad cliche. If you get specific and tackle the topic from an interesting point-of-view, which plenty of data from other people to back you up on your statements, you should do fine. Fine, not great. It's a really risky thing to do a research EE in biology, so use extreme caution when choosing to do so.

[Emmi]

Don't do a non-experimental biology EE. Biology EEs that don't have an experimental component tend to do very poorly, and you'll likely end up with a D at best. If you're serious about doing well on your EE, forget about this topic. It may be interesting to you, but you won't do well even if you write a beautiful essay. Find something else that you're equally interested in that you can perform an experiment with.

[Emily_13]

I have chosen to do an ib research paper on biology and it reads “To what extent does rheumatoid arthritis have an impact on gut 
bacterium?” In my school they haven’t warned me on not doing it instead encouraged me. I don’t know what to do, since reading comments people say it’s horrible and hard to get anything higher than d. However I was told that the highest I could  get was a b after all. I don’t know  what to do, could anyone give me some advice? 

[h_2006]

On 1/13/2023 at 6:21 PM, Emily_13 said:

I have chosen to do an ib research paper on biology and it reads “To what extent does rheumatoid arthritis have an impact on gut 
bacterium?” In my school they haven’t warned me on not doing it instead encouraged me. I don’t know what to do, since reading comments people say it’s horrible and hard to get anything higher than d. However I was told that the highest I could  get was a b after all. I don’t know  what to do, could anyone give me some advice? 

We seem to be in the same boat!!

I am also considering doing my EE in biology, and although I haven't narrowed down the topic yet, I am quite interested in epigenetics and how this can be connected to anxiety disorders, etc. being passed down between generations - but then I saw all the comments warning against doing a research based EE...but my school (and teachers) haven't said anything about how it is more difficult to get a good grade???

I was considering switching to a psychology EE instead... I really don't know what to do either!! the only thing about psychology is that there are a limited amount of resources because my school doesn't subscribe to databases like psychinfo, etc. 

Anyways, from what I have read, it seems like research-based EEs in biology don't do as well because they rely heavily on the analysis part, and most people fall into the trap of just describing the research they found instead of analysing it. I think that if the topic you chose is something you are interested in and you can't perform an experiment for primary data, if you focus heavily on the analysis, you might increase your chances of getting a better grade (again not sure, this is just from what I have read so far). 

Since I am also planning on doing a research based EE in biology, let's hope that somebody with more experience/knowledge answers as well!!! (for both of our sakes)