Welcome to the Senior School Library Learning Centre at Malvern College Hong Kong: EE Draft Timeline (General - See Mileposts for actual due dates)

CHECK-IN Sessions 

Check-In Session 1:  In your initial check-in session with your supervisor, you should be prepared to discuss ideas you may have about what you would like to research in your chosen subject.  Remember that this is a project you will be focussing on for more than a year, so choose wisely!  You should leave this session with an agreement between you and your supervisor about the direction you now need to go to start your research.

Check-In Session 2:  Come to this meeting with your supervisor with an update of what you may have found as far as some preliminary sources for your research and perhaps any initial direction changes.  You should leave this meeting with an agreed understanding between you and your supervisor of a firm topic, preliminary research question and where to start gathering and and analysing qualified sources of information. 

Check-In Session 3:  This session is with your supervisor is held on the first day of school.  You should be prepared to show your supervisor a completed draft copy of your extended essay. You have a little over a month to complete your final draft from this point. 

From the EE Guide, “Between the first and second reflection session, students can engage in informal conversations with other people, such as subject teachers, the extended essay coordinator, the librarian or their supervisor. They must also ensure that they are progressing with their research plan.”

During this meeting, bring the resources you have collected, your research plan (where are you going, what do you need), any questions or concerns you may have about your current research. This meeting is to ensure that you are progressing with your research plan and on the right track. 

Click here for a handy resource about First, Second and Final Reflections for Students and Supervisors! 

Preparing for your first Mandatory Reflection Session: 

From the IB:

Preparation for the first reflection session

As preparation for their first reflection session, students should do the following.

1. Think about subjects and areas of particular personal interest and do some initial background reading into a subject and topic of their choice. 
2. Using this as a starting point, explore a variety of possible research topics.
3. Read the subject-specific section of the Extended essay guide for the subject they are interested in, paying particular attention to the nature of the subject and the treatment of the topic. 
4. Undertake further background reading and begin to gather information around their area of interest. This exploration should give rise to a variety of topics and questions that students can consider for further research. At this stage it is important that students consider the availability of reliable and valid sources for the topic under consideration. All of this should be recorded in their Researcher’s reflection space. 
5. Begin developing a research proposal which might include a MindMap^® of ideas, an annotated article or preliminary bibliography. Additionally, students must already be thinking in terms of the following questions. 

• Is my topic appropriate for the subject I am considering?
• Why am I interested in this area and why is it important?
• What possible questions have emerged from my initial reading?
• Are there any ethical issues that I need to consider?
• What possible methods or approaches might be used for research in this area and why? 

It is recommended at this point that the student–supervisor relationship is formalized and the student can consider himself or herself prepared for the first formal reflection session.

First formal reflection session

This initial reflection session should be a dialogue between the student and the supervisor based on the student’s initial explorations. It is recommended that the student sends their supervisor an outline of their research proposal ahead of the meeting in order to give the supervisor the opportunity to review their work. This will ensure that the reflection session is focused and productive. 

Topics of discussion that should arise during this session include:

• a review of the requirements and assessment criteria for the subject
• a review of ethical and legal implications, if applicable
• a dialogue about possible approaches and any potential problems that might arise
• a discussion of strategies for developing the student’s ideas for the essay and expanding the research so that the essay starts to take form 
• probing and challenging questions that will help the student focus their thinking; this should lead to the development of the student’s working research question 
• an outline of the next steps that the student should undertake in order to refine their question; this should take the form of a research and writing timeline. 

TIP

Following this first session, the student is required to complete the first student comment section of the Reflections on planning and progress form and submit it to their supervisor who must then initial and date the form. Please refer to the section “Protocols for completing and submitting the Reflections on planning and progress form” for more information.

Preparing for your second Mandatory Reflection Session:

Preparation for the interim reflection session

Between the first and second reflection session, students can engage in informal conversations with other people, such as subject teachers, the extended essay coordinator, the librarian or their supervisor. They must also ensure that they are progressing with their research plan. 

In preparation for the interim reflection session, students should have:

• attempted to refine a focused and appropriate research question
• significantly deepened their research and recorded pertinent evidence, information or data in the Researcher’s reflection space
• reviewed and consolidated the methodologies they are using
• formulated arguments based on the evidence that they have collected
• added to the working bibliography for their research.

The interim reflection session

This session is a continuation of the dialogue between supervisor and student in which the student must demonstrate the progress they have made in their research. They must also be able to discuss any challenges they have encountered, offer their own potential solutions and seek advice as necessary. 

During this session the supervisor might discuss:

• a completed piece of sustained writing from the student in order to ensure that they understand the academic writing requirements, including referencing formats 
• whether an appropriate range of sources has been accessed and how the student is critically evaluating the origin of those sources 
• what the student now has to do in order to produce the full draft of their essay, and ways and means of breaking down the task into manageable steps.

By the end of the interim reflection session both student and supervisor should feel satisfied that there is: 

• a clear and refined research question
• a viable argument on which to base the essay
• a sufficient range of appropriate sources
• a clear vision for the final steps in the writing process.

Between the interim session and the completion of the extended essay, students should continue to see their supervisor as appropriate to their needs, although the third and final reflection session should not take place until after the extended essay has been completed and uploaded for submission. 

TIP

Following this interim session, the student is required to complete the second student comment section of the Reflections on planning and progress form and submit it to their supervisor who must then initial and date the form. Please refer to the section “Protocols for completing and submitting the Reflections on planning and progress form” for more information.

Preparation for the final reflection session (viva voce)

Supervisors must have already read the final version of the essay, sent to them by the candidate, before this session takes place.

Students should bring the following to this session:

• extracts from their RRS that illustrate how they have grown as learners through the process of reflection 
• a willingness to share their personal experience and to discuss the skills and development of conceptual understandings that they have acquired through the completion of the extended essay. 

TIP

It is important to note that students must not be allowed to make any changes to their extended essay after this meeting. Once they have submitted the essay as final to their supervisor, it is the supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that changes are not made. This is particularly important for schools who allow candidate upload of the essay.

Final reflection session (viva voce) 

The viva voce is a short interview between the student and the supervisor, and is the mandatory conclusion to the extended essay process. Students who do not attend the viva voce will be disadvantaged under criterion E (engagement) as the Reflections on planning and progress form will be incomplete. 

The viva voce is conducted once the student has submitted the final version of their extended essay. At this point in the process no further changes can be made to the essay. The viva voce is a celebration of the completion of the essay and a reflection on what the student has learned from the process. 

The viva voce is: 

• an opportunity to ask the student a variety of open-ended questions to elicit holistic evidence of the student’s learning experience. 
• an opportunity for the supervisor to confirm the authenticity of the student’s ideas and sources 
• an opportunity to reflect on successes and difficulties encountered in the research process 
• an aid to the supervisor’s comments on the Reflections on planning and progress form. 

The viva voce should last 20–30 minutes. This is included in the recommended amount of time a supervisor should spend with the student. 

In conducting the viva voce and writing their comments on the Reflections on planning and progress form, supervisors should bear in mind the following. 

• The form is an assessed part of the extended essay. The form must include: comments made by the supervisor that are reflective of the discussions undertaken with the student during their supervision/reflection sessions; the student’s comments; and the supervisor’s overall impression of the student’s engagement with the research process. 
• An incomplete form resulting from supervisors not holding reflection sessions, or students not attending them, could lead to criterion E (engagement) being compromised. 
• In assessing criterion E (engagement), examiners will take into account any information given on the form by the student about unusual intellectual inventiveness. This is especially the case if the student is able to demonstrate what has been learned as a result of this process or the skills developed. 
• Examiners want to know that students understand any material (which must be properly referenced) that they have included in their essays. If the way the material is used in context in the essay does not clearly establish this, the supervisor can check the student’s understanding in the viva voce and comment on this on the Reflections on planning and progress form. 
• If there appear to be major shortcomings in citations or referencing, the supervisor should investigate thoroughly. No essay should be authenticated if the supervisor believes the student may be guilty of plagiarism or some other form of academic misconduct. 
• The comment made by the supervisor should not attempt to do the examiner’s job. It should refer to things, largely process-related, that may not be obvious in the essay itself. 
• Unless there are particular problems, the viva voce should begin and end positively. Completion of a major piece of work such as the extended essay is a great achievement for students. 

TIP

Following this final session, the student is required to complete the last student comment section of the Reflections on planning and progress form and submit it to his or her supervisor, who must then add his or her own comments, and initial and date the form. Note that the maximum total word limit for the three reflections on the RPPF is 500. The supervisor must then upload the form into the e-coursework system, confirm the authenticity of both the form and essay, and submit them to the IB for assessment as one portfolio. Please refer to the section “Protocols for completing and submitting the Reflections on planning and progress form” for more information. 

An RPPF that is blank, unsubmitted, or written in a language other than that of the essay, will be awarded a 0 for criterion E.