The Extended Essay (EE) is completed by all DP Diploma candidates in 11th and 12th grade. It is an interdisciplinary 4,000-word research paper that addresses an issue of global significance within a local context.
JQUS students have written about topics such as:
How does littering affect the United States economy?
How does Alzheimer's affect the caregivers/loved ones throughout the patient's journey with the disease?
What is the controversy behind water fluoridation and if possible, what are the solutions?
How does hospital birthing affect the mother and baby?
Timeline of Events
11th Grade/Junior Year
- March of 11th Grade: students begin to explore topic areas for the EE by completing journal entries from the EE guide (just as they did for the Personal Project).
- April of 11th Grade: students complete individual meetings with IB Coordinators and Headmasters to help refine topic chosen, to get student started with research, and to match with a supervisor. The IB Coordinators and Headmasters might ask student to do more work in thinking about the topic before matching with a supervisor—this is when student needs to demonstrate commitment to working with a chosen topic.
- May/June of 11th Grade: students meet at least once with supervisor and together, they agree on work to complete before the end of the school year.
- Summer - July/August: student works independently researching topic over the summer, checking in with supervisor by e-mail. There will be one optional meeting at JQUS over the summer where any student and supervisor can come. Pizza will be provided!
12th Grade/Senior Year
- September of 12th Grade: student should be ready to finish up research and start writing. Student should make plans to meet with Supervisor and draw up a list of goals for the first few months of the school year.
- October of 12th Grade: student is registered for the EE. Commitment to completing the EE must be demonstrated.
- December of 12th Grade: Draft of EE is due to supervisor before December break. Supervisor can comment on only one draft of EE.
- January of 12th Grade: Drafts will be returned to students at the beginning of the month. Final versions will be due to supervisor at the end of the month. The supervisor will schedule a final oral interview with student and the EE will be submitted to the IB for assessment.
As the timeline indicates, the choice of supervisor is a joint decision, ultimately made by the coordinators and headmasters based on input from the student. No supervisor is responsible for more than 4 students.
