Criteria E: Reflection/Engagement

On this page

You'll get information about the facts of reflection in the EE process.
(you'll need to look at skills and Step 3, Step 5 and Step 8 for tips on how to reflect)
You are given example EEs and Reflections that scored either A or B grades
Even though these EEs received a final grade of A or B you may spot mistakes in them, eg. poor citations, incorrect title page, poor table of contents

In one minute

Effective learners reflect regularly. As a consequence students are highly encouraged to reflect throughout the EE process. Where you keep those ideas, notes, mind-maps etc is called the Researchers Reflection Space (RSS).
Managebac provides an RSS or you could make your own.
Each EE student must write a short reflection after each of the three official meetings with their supervisor; the first in January, the second (interim) in March/April and the third (viva voce) in October/November
6 points (of 34) are awarded for a 500 word reflection, that document is called the Reflections on Planning and Progress Form (RPPF).
Each reflection point is a step in our EE process, so more details can be found on the appropriate pages eg Step 3, 5 and 9

Rubric for Criteria E from IB

Criterion E: Engagement

Viva Voce Reflection Hack

2023 EE Reflections Hack - THE VIVA VOCE

Notes on Posting your Reflections to Managebac:

3 Total Reflections
Total word count for all 3 Reflections (1st Meeting, Interim Meeting, and Viva Voce) = 500 Words
Must have met with your Supervisor prior to writing/posting your reflection to Managebac
Suggestion: Write them on a Google Doc so you can use the Word Count, Formatting, and Editing tools you need then copy/paste to Managebac.

Want More?

The Class of 2018 were the first students to write an EE using the current/new guide.
Any EE's written before that are technically out of date (yes we can still learn from them - see Mr. Bell for Examples older than 2018)
The examples given below do not include the 500 words reflection (RPPF)

EE Reflection Examples

The EE Reflection Examples are at the bottom of this page.
Remember that the RPPF is a total of 500 words and is Criteria E for Assessment

EXAMPLES, EXAMPLES, EXAMPLES!

Group 1: Language and Literature

Japanese A

In what ways do three famous Japanese political leaders from different eras build rapport with their audience (create a sense of affiliation) through their speeches [Cat 3] (Grade A)

To what extent is “Seken” significant in female characterisation in Tanizaki’s “Fine Snow” and “Naomi”. [Cat 1] (Grade A)

Korean A

Thai A

English A

Category 1

What message does George R R Martin express through different characters' experience with disillusionment in his novel A Game of Thrones? [Cat 1] (Grade A)

How does Adrienne Rich utilize symbolism in a selection of her poetry to convey the evolution of feminist voice over the course of her career as a writer? [Cat 1] (Grade A)

In what ways does CS Lewis use satirical conventions to emphasize the teachings of Christianity and common shortcomings of humanity? [Cat 1] (Grade A)

Category 2

How does Mary Shelley and Franz Kafka use the portrayal of a character’s gradual alienation in Frankenstein and The Metamorphosis as a tool for conveying social commentary? [Cat 2] (Grade A)

How do Cormac Mccarthy and Elie Wiesel use symbolism, setting, and binary opposition in The Road and Night to convey man’s loss of morality? [Cat 2] (Grade A)

How do urban settings affect the stability of romantic relationships depicted in Anna Karenina and The Great Gatsby? [Cat 2] (Grade B)

Category 3

How does Disney, through advertising and movie posters, use language and image to construct a changing view of femininity in their princess movies? [Cat 3] (Grade A)

How do CocaCola advertisements throughout the past 60 years further the importance of inclusion and diversity? [Cat 3] (Grade A)

How have Nike's advertisements evolved to better support gender equality? [Cat 3] (Grade A)

How does sociopolitical context affect the language used in speeches given by American leaders following the HIV/AIDS crisis of 1981? [Cat 3] Grade A)

Group 2: Language Acquisition

English B

How does the novel Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson reveal American's fear against Japanese-Americans during the 20th century? [Cat 3] (Grade A)

Group 3: Individuals & Societies

Business Management

How far could one argue that Starbucks' marketing strategies have significant roles on its success in expanding into China? (Grade A)

How successful is Burberry's approach to establish brand recognition through a digital platform? (Grade A)

To what extent can VINFAST compete in the Vietnamese automobile market? (Grade A)

To what extent was the acquisition of Pixar by The Walt Disney company attributed to Disney's growth? (Grade B)

To what extent has Apple’s brand equity led to its market leadership over Samsung in the premium smartphone market? (Grade B)

Economics

To what extent does the implementation of a new minimum wage affect the employment of low income labourers in small businesses? (Grade A)

To what extent does the North American Free Trade Agreement affect the overall total employment in the car industry in Wayne County Michigan? (Grade B)

What is the impact of Korea’s 2018 minimum wage increase on the quantity of labour demanded from paid employees in the convenience store labour market of the Seoul Metropolitan Area? (Grade B)

Geography

To what extent were the stated goals of the Gateshead Quays regeneration initiative successful in the Newcastle Gateshead Quayside area? (Grade A)

To what extent do green spaces situated in different areas in Thailand mitigate urban stress? (Grade A)

To what extent does tourism as a national development strategy affect local Thai citizen’s quality of life, with respect to two areas, Ayutthaya and Sukhumvit? (Grade A)

To what extent could Urban Agriculture help Montreal become a more sustainable city? (Grade B)

History

To what extent did historical and cultural factors outweigh the policies of the Thai government in the fight against communist insurgencies during the Cold War? (Grade A)

To what extent was the development of the Thai Siamese nation state from 1864 to 1910 a continuous development from past social and political institutions? (Grade A)

What factors played the most important roles in the collapse of the Weimar Republic of Germany? (Grade B)

ITGS

How can social media create a profitable restaurant industry? (Grade A)

How has VR been used to improve geographic education at ISB? (Grade B)

To what extent can the mass adoption of cryptocurrency impact financial institutions? (Grade B)

How can blockchain technology assist in creating an accurate and secure electronic voting system? (Grade B)

Psychology

To what extent does gender play a role in the development of the imposer phenomenon? (Grade A)

Is physical attractiveness determined by cultural influences or evolutionary adaptations? (Grade A)

To what extent is self efficacy a predictor of academic procrastination? (Grade A)

To what extent does early bilingual acquisition improve the social and cognitive development of children? (Grade B)

Group 4: The Sciences

Biology

How do different concentrations of aspartame etc etc affect differently on the human gut microbiota etc etc? (Grade A)

How does the effectiveness of cotrimoxazole on Escherichia coli differ from different drug dispensaries in the Pakkret region? (Grade A)

How do different concentrations of Tamarindus indica pulp solution extracted by using 50% aqueous ethanol and 70 ̊C deionized water affect differently on Escherichia coli as measured by the zone of inhibition? (Grade A)

How do different doses of the antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E affect the human immune system in the short-term? (Grade B)

To what extent do adding different concentrations of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), affect the growth of seeds of non-legumes of agricultural plant, Jasmine rice (Oryza Stiva L.), measured by the length of roots and shoots? (Grade B)

Chemistry

To what extent does the density of heptadacafluro 1 decanethiol nanostructures on a nano roughened silver surface affect it superhydrophobicity? (Grade A)

To what extent does the use of a Lucky Iron Fish increase the iron content of water? (Grade B)

How does a differing volume of hexane-1,6-diol or 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate impact the insulation property of Sika Boom® polyurethane foam? (Grade B)

Computer Science

How do the k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm and the convolutional neural network machine learning algorithms compare on the task of image classification in a supervised learning environment? (Grade B)

To what extent can memoization reduce the time complexity of operations on recursively defined lazy data structures? (Grade B)

Does GPU acceleration significantly improve the performance of the AR program? (Grade B)

Design Technology

How can school websites be designed to maximize ease of use? (Grade B)

How can we determine the ideal color of a product intended for either males of females? (Grade B)

Physics

How does the changing velocity of the inductrack levitation system affect the lift force and the levitation height? (Grade A)

How does the minimum time required for two hollow right circular cones made of aluminium foil of constant base radii and a constant air gap to undergo dielectric breakdown in a resonant microwave oven depend on the surface area of the cones? (Grade A)

How does varied surface roughness affect a hollow cylinder’s vertical and horizontal flight path when rotated on it’s converse axis? (Grade B)

How does the percentage of missing surface area of sandpaper due to holes affect the maximum coefficient of static friction between the sandpaper and a wooden block? (Grade B)

How does the density of the material affect the relative intensity of transmitted sound for 220Hz, 440 Hz, 880 Hz sound waves. (Grade B)

How does the force applied to a projectile shot out of a coil gun, and its efficiency, change with the variation of the voltage input? (Grade B)

Sports, Exercise and Health Science

To what extent is a placebo effective in improving cardiovascular performance in the pacer? (Grade A)

How does one’s vertical jump height correlate to their swim start distance time at 15 meters? (Grade A)

How does a placebo affect one’s rate of perceived exertion in the 800m? (Grade A)

What is the effect of positive, negative and no feedback on athletic performance for female varsity tennis players? (Grade A)

Do varied cognitive stimulus tasks immediately prior to a 36 meter sprint affect the resulting performance measured time in seconds of females? (Grade A)

What is the effect of different kinds of extrinsic feedback on skill based learning? (Grade A)

How do various types of feedback given by a coach to baseball players of varying abilities affect their hitting performance? (Grade B)

Group 5: Mathematics

Mathematics

What algorithms can be used to find the two prime factors of a semiprime, and how can they be implemented? (Grade A)

To what extent can counting cards using the HiLo counting system benefit the gambler in comparison to a standard Blackjack strategy? (Grade B)

How reliable is Fourier Analysis in the analysis of signal processing? (Grade B)

What would be the best method to approximate π without a calculator? (Grade B)

Group 6: The Arts

Dance

How has Jiří Kylián’s artistic preference evolved during his time at Netherlands Dance Theater? (Grade A)

Film

What is the role of psychoanalytic film theory in conveying distorted perceptions of reality filmically? (Grade B)

Music

How do the works of Lightning Washington, WC Handy and Amos Milburn reflect both African and European influences on the musical characteristics of the blues? (Grade A)

Theatre

How does Kenneth Posner’s stage lighting convey meaning across various Broadway productions? (Grade A)

Visual Art

To what extent do Jiaying He’s Chinese gongbi paintings appropriate the works of Edgar Degas, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Egon Schiele? (Grade A)

In what ways do three contemporary artists preserve their indigenous storytelling within post-colonial countries? (Grade A)

To what extent is liminality evident in the works of Edward Hopper and Edvard Munch? (Grade B)

Interdisciplinary Subjects

Environmental Systems & Societies

To what extent do aquatic plants and natural filters purify contaminated canal water and work towards the betterment of society in the Nonthaburi province of Thailand? (Grade A)

Literature and Performance

no As to Bs to share yet

World Studies

Conflict, Peace and Security

To what extent did economic conditions influence whether communities voted in favor of populist candidates in the United States 2016 Presidential Primary Elections? (Grade A)

From a political standpoint, to what extent may music allow for the expression of human emotion, and persuasion? (Grade B)

To what extent have the efforts and aims of the Turkish Red Crescent in Hacivat/Bursa improved the integration of the Syrian refugee population to society? (Grade B)

Culture, Language and Identity

To what extent did culture act as a barrier to quality education in Bangladesh between 2000 to 2015? (Grade A)

How has the Portuguese-Spanish wave of Jewish immigrants in Bordeaux impacted the current Jewish Community of Bordeaux today? (Grade B)

To what extent have culture and immigration affected the styles and designs of religious architecture in Yaowarat, Thailand? (Grade B)

Environmental and/or Economic Sustainability

To what extent has the development of wind energy generation in County Wexford, Ireland contributed to Ireland's fulfilment of its UN development energy goal? (Grade A)

To what extent have the aims and objectives set for the DoiTung development project in Northern Thailand been achieved? (Grade A)

To what extent is farmers’ standard of living better under the conduct of organic agriculture than industrial agriculture? (Grade B)

Equality and Inequality

To what extent has the software development industry impacted gender equality in Bangkok, Thailand? (Grade A)

How significantly did land ownership disparities in the Buriram, Chachoengsao, Srisaket, and Lopburi provinces influence voter preference in the 2001 Thai General Elections? (Grade B)

Health and Development

To what extent do La Niña-driven climate parameters affect the epidemiology of dengue in an urban population? (Grade A)

To what extent has Thailand’s Universal Healthcare helped reduce health inequality and satisfy the wants and needs of the rural population in 2019? (Grade A)

What influence does advertising and income levels have on obesity rates of high school students in Bangkok? (Grade A)

To what extent does the socioeconomic and demographic factors contribute to the low Alzheimer’s mortality rate in Okinawa while retaining its above average Alzheimer’s incidence rate in Japan? (Grade B)

To what extent is exposure to ambient particulate matter 2.5 diameters and smaller in the air, PM , affect the 2.5 development and exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Thailand? (Grade B)

Science, Technology and Society

no As or Bs to share yet

Extended Essay Reflection Examples

Good Example: Should be a 3 or 4 out of 6 Points for Criteria E

Example F, Good reflection, 5 out of 6.pdf

Better Examples: Should be a 5 or 6 out of 6 Points for Criteria E

Example A, Average reflection, 3 out of 6.pdf

Example D, Good reflection, 6 out of 6.pdf

Example E, Good reflection, 6 out of 6.pdf

Example B, Good reflection, 5 out of 6.pdf

Example A, Good reflection, 5 out of 6.pdf

Example C, Good Reflection, 5 out of 6.pdf

If you would like to see more examples please contact Mr Bell.

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