Active tasks

InThinking Revision Sites

INTHINKING REVISION SITES

Own your learning

Why not also try our independent learning self-study & revision websites for students?

We currenly offer the following DP Sites: Biology, Chemistry, English A Lang & Lit, Maths A&A, Maths A&I, Physics, Spanish B

"The site is great for revising the basic understandings of each topic quickly. Especially since you are able to test yourself at the end of each page and easily see where yo need to improve."

"It is life saving... I am passing IB because of this site!"

Basic (limited access) subscriptions are FREE. Check them out at:

www.StudyIB.net

Writing proposals

  • /
  • The old course /
  • Assessment (2020 exams)/
  • Written tasks/
  • WT1 skills/
  • Writing proposals

Althugh the IB does not stipulate that students must write a proposal before writing the written task 1, this activity helps for several reasons:

  • Writing a proposal of 200 words helps the teacher give  guidance. If you have a poor or irrelevant idea, you will not want to waste your time on it. It is better to reject it earlier than later.

  • You can use the proposal as a springboard for the rationale.

  • The proposal creates a sense of commitment. If you and your teacher agree to write the task you propose, then you should stick to it. Changing your idea at the last minute and submitting something you did not agree on with your teacher can lead to frustration.

  • The proposal helps prevent plagiarism. If you have creatively come up with an idea by yourself or with your teacher, then you are less likely to find samples to steal from online.

4 Questions

Here are four questions that you will want to answer when writing a proposal:

  1. What type of text do I intend to write?

  2. To which topic and / or text is my task going to be connected?

  3. Which learning outcome (or outcomes) will I meet by writing this task?

  4. How will I show that I have applied the kinds of skills required in the written task assignment?

Sample proposals

Here are some sample written task proposals that need help. These proposals do not contain all of the ingredients of a good written task 1, as presented on the tips page. Have a look at this page before you rewrite the proposals so that they would be more successful in meeting the aims of the written task 1. Rewrite them so that they answer all of the questions above.

Proposal 1

I’m going make a brochure in which I write about the influence of the two eating disorders anorexia and bulimia on teeth. It is meant for people who suffer from one of these disorders. I want to create the effect that I’m talking to them ‘personally’ by using words as ‘you’.  

I want to start the introduction by saying: ‘You might be one of the many girls suffering from anorexia or bulimia.’ This is to give them the feeling that I’m really talking to them.

In the main part of the brochure, I want to tell about the bad effects of vomiting all day. What many people don’t know, is that this is really bad for teeth. The stomach acid literally destroys the teeth. I want to make girls aware of this. I’d like to add quite a lot of pictures to my brochure to make the effects of vomiting extra clear.

The reason I’m writing about this subject, is that I want to become a dentist. I’m interested in teeth and any bad influences on them

Rate proposal 1

68

Feedback on proposal 1

The student has chosen a type of text, a brochure, that has a lot of potential for a written task. The aim of the task, to inform young women about the dangers of anorexia and bulimia, also has a lot of potential. The proposal, as it is written here, focuses far too much on one of these dangers: its effect on one's teeth. How much can be written about this one aspect? How will this brochure show the student's understanding of the course work? If the student focused on the portrayal of women in the media, for the sexuality topic of Part 1, then she should focus on how definitions of beauty are constructed through language and the media. She should focus not only on the effects of anorexia, but the causes, making references to several ad campaigns and statistics. This shift in focus would require more of the critical literacy skills required of this course.

Proposal 2

After a unit on civil rights and African American Vernacular English (AAVE), I've decided to write about a controversial plan to teach Ebonics (AAVE) in the Oakland School District in California. In class we did some research on this controversy and we looked at the actual proposal that was made by this school board in Oakland in 1996. I plan to write a public statement from the point-of-view of the school board, defending its decision to teach Ebonics as a mother-tongue language in California. I feel that this ties in to the language and social relations topic that we worked on in class, and it shows my appreciation for language varieties and linguistic change. 

Rate proposal 2

69 

Feedback on proposal 2

This idea has a lot of potential. It seems to be rooted in a text, which was taught in class, namely the proposal from the Oakland School District to offer Ebonics as a mother-tongue course. The student will inevitably touch on issues about language rights, identity, expression and social class, all of which relate to the topics and learning outcomes of Part 1. The type of text, a public statement, will require a little research and definition. This could end up sounding like an essay, if the student is not sensitive towards the conventions of the text type. Overall, it's on topic! 

Proposal 3

After reading the novel The Collector, by John Fowles, I want to write a new ending. In the novel, one of the two main characters, Frederick Clegg, kidnaps an 18 year-old girl and keeps her in his cellar. She dies of pneumonia. In the student’s ending she lives and escapes. He is caught by the police.

Rate proposal 3

85

Feedback on proposal 3

When writing a new ending to a novel, you have to make sure you are still writing in the spirit of the author. John Fowles' work is very post-modern and existentialist. His point is that people like Frederick Clegg do not get caught. The student from proposal 3 eventually wrote a new ending to the novel in which Clegg 'accidentally' killed another girl. This ending is very good as it picks up where the novel leaves off. Clegg in fact ponders adbducting another girl in the final pages. You can find this sample written task here.