Choosing the subject

This section gives you information and advice on how to choose the subject for your Extended Essay and then how to go about selecting a particular area of interest within that subject to focus your research upon.

Subject choice

The previous links to this section have explained what an Extended Essay is, its aims and objectives and what is expected from you. You should now be in a position to choose which subject you wish to pursue your research in. Different schools will have slightly different procedures in place as to how to help their students go about choosing their subject. One common scenario is that someone (probably the member of staff in charge of all Extended Essays) talks to all the Diploma students making them aware of the general requirements and timetable etc. Many schools will also give you a copy of the school's EE handbook which contains all the necessary information and in particular the deadlines you will need to observe. All your subject teachers should also talk to all the students they teach explaining about Extended Essays in their own subjects. This is so you are clear what the demands are in each subject before you then choose which particular IB subject you wish to research and write your Extended Essay in. Clearly different schools and teachers will have their own approach, but the points which you should consider or focus on if you are thinking of choosing chemistry include:        

  • Whichever subject you choose you will need to be fully committed to it.
  • Look at examples of some previous EE topics in chemistry.  
  • if you get the chance, talk to students in the year above you to find out their experiences of doing their EE in chemistry.
  • Since the Covid pandemic, more science students have had to research their topic using only secondary data. This is perfectly possible and some students following this route have scored highly. However, If you do have access to a laboratory, chemistry (like all the Group 4 subjects) is based on experiments and the best essays generally come from those students who include their own practical work on a topic of their own choosing.
  • If you already know what career you want to follow then consider the value that an EE in chemistry might have when applying to university to study chemistry or a related subject such as medicine or veterinary science.
  • Your chemistry teacher is much more likely to agree to act as your supervisor if you can indicate a particular area of chemistry that you are interested in. (Look at newspaper articles, the Internet, journals etc. for ideas.)
  • Remember your teacher is there to help and guide you so ask questions and get them to elaborate on anything you are not sure about.At the end of all this though, I strongly recommend that you choose whichever IB subject you are most interested in. 

One other important point is that a good teacher should have really encouraged a drip feed process much earlier - in fact right at the start of your IB course. During your lessons, whenever an interesting point emerges in discussions or a particular chemical item is in the news, it is worth considering whether it would make a good topic to research further, either for your Individual Scientific Investigation (IA) or for your Extended Essay. It can be helpful to make a list of these ideas as you go along which you can then refer to when making your choice.

Choosing the area of investigation 

Once you are certain you want to do your Extended Essay in chemistry you will need to come up with a suitable area for investigation. It is unreasonable for you to start formulating a precise research question at this stage but you should come up with a general area of chemistry that you want to investigate rather than just vaguely saying you want to do it in 'chemistry'.

There are several approaches to finding an area to investigate. Some teachers provide a list of topics which you can choose from however there is clear evidence that students who come up with their own topic feel ownership of it and score much more highly on the assessment criteria that measure personal input and initiative (see an article piublished in the Journal of Educational Research by Dr J. Munro). Some students already have a clear idea of the area they want to investigate but many do not. If you do not, then I suggest you look at chemistry journals, newspaper articles or search online until you find something you are interested in. If you can, relate it to the field you want to study at university, e.g. something about drugs if you want to study medicine or veterinary science or something about blood detection if you want to study forensic science etc., as that may help to focus your mind. You could also look at the table below which is taken from my book IB Chemistry 2014 Study Guide on page 179. This table turns the problem on its head. It lists the types of techniques that could be used in a school laboratory and then gives suggestions of possible topics that could be researched for each technique.

Once you settle on the area of investigation you are interested in, then talk to your teacher and hopefully they will agree to supervise your EE and sign any necessary internal forms to this effect.

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