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

Tips

  • /
  • Assessment /
  • Higher level essay/
  • Tips

Before you start writing your Higher Level essay, you will need a strategy or "game plan." The list of tips below offers you some helpful ideas to get you thinking, writing, and editing.  In brief you will need to go through several stages, where you orient yourself with the nature of the task, brainstorm with classmates and engage with what you want to write about and why.  Be sure to practice using the assessment criteria and look at sample Higher Level essays as well.

  1. Look back at your learner portfolio.  What literary work(s) and non-literary text(s) jump out?  What interests you?  Alternatively, look at the 7 concepts of the course.  What do you find interesting or worth exploring in greater depth?

  2. Narrow your ideas down into a possible topic, title or question you want to answer.  Talk with your teacher, with your peers, with anyone who will listen.  Clarify your ideas and arguments through discussion.

  3. Once you have decided on a line of inquiry, draw a spider diagram for it. Branch out from each aspect of your thinking and answer all parts of it in relation to the text or work you are focusing on.  Share your thinking with others to clarify your ideas even more.

  4. Write a thesis statement which will come at the end of the first paragraph. In your thesis statement, provide a focus for your essay.  What are you arguing and why?

  5. Quote hunt. Find quotations from the primary source that help you explore your line of inquiry. Rewrite them on pieces of paper. Look for similarities between the quotations and start to cluster them. What is the guiding idea behind each cluster of quotations? Could this ‘guiding idea’ become a ‘topic sentence’? How might these tie in to the thesis statement?  

  6. Write an outline to your essay using your spider diagram, thesis statement, quotations and more.  Make sure you stick between the 1200-1500 word limit.

  7. Assess several samples using the assessment criteria.  Review the expectations and what quality looks like.

  8. After you have written the first draft of the essay, think about how you can revise, edit, and proofread (and not just the night before!).