Examples in essay May 10

[MybelovedTFB]

Hi, I do not understand how to do the examples.

I have understood that I need to have 2 examples...

I have topic one ”To what extent is truth different in mathematics, the arts and ethics?” But I dont understand what kind of examples I am supposed to have, I don't get it at all and I am starting to freak out.

God I hate TOK.

First draft due soon... still got winter/christmas vacation... and as you IBOers know we never got vacation... Longing for May 18th my last Exam! (still dont want it... failure is inevitable.)

I'm greatly thankful for some... insights to this problemo!

Manda

[Sandwich]

Stuff like "ethics is a form of knowledge which is can constantly change and expand, for instance when I walked down the street and saw a homeless man sitting in the cold, it made me reconsider a lot about whether it is ethical for society to allow people to suffer like that when there is the possibility of redistributing wealth and helping these people. This is an example of how emotion can help us understand situations and contribute to our own ethical codes" etc etc.

That's not the best example OF an example (in that it's not a very good point ) but basically it should be an example to support whatever point you're making, with at least two of them (one if you're realllyyy stuck) being a personal example from your own life. So what I did was an example to support my point, coming from my own life. Extra bonus points would probably have ensued if I'd said something like "I was walking down the street for CAS"! xP <--- just kidding, but they want to see that TOK is informing your life, or that your life is informing TOK, or whatever. Basically proof you can put them together.

Impersonal examples are bits of knowledge you didn't discover yourself, e.g. if you're trying to show that the "truth" of science is constantly changing, a common example to use would be how our understanding of the atom moved through all the different models to the one we know today. That's an example illustrating the point you're trying to make which comes from general knowledge as opposed to a personal experience.

You need examples to support every point you make, ideally, not just two examples. Just like any other essay, you have to substantiate what you say, so whenever you make a claim about ethics or art etc., you should illustrate why it is that you're saying what you're saying.

Hope that helps. Don't fret too much about TOK and definitely read the TOK help threads here. It's a confusing (and arguably pointless) subject to handle, but if you read some of the essay examples (it's really cheap to get a subscription to IB Survival and download all the examples for all the subjects, if you can't find them elsewhere - IMO very worth it!) it'll help. There's a particular style to writing TOK essays, but if you look at some which other people have done (and scored well in!!) you'll be able to get the hang of it and model yours after theirs. Good luck!

[MybelovedTFB]

Thank you so much, it did help! god... I'm getting nowhere really. But I do love IB survival! I'll definitley do as you said. But just to make it clear... I do not need an example that includes all three areas to show how its different, I can treat them equally and compare and still have examples?

[Sandwich]

Thank you so much, it did help! god... I'm getting nowhere really. But I do love IB survival! I'll definitley do as you said. But just to make it clear... I do not need an example that includes all three areas to show how its different, I can treat them equally and compare and still have examples?

If you can find such an example, I'm sure you could, but I can't think of anything which marries up ethics, art and maths! You can use similar examples to really make the point if you're trying to show the differences between things but although you're aiming to use examples to highlight differences, you don't need to do it all in one! Largely because I'm not sure that's possible!