IB Docs (2) Team
What is a line of inquiry?
Your Higher Level Essay requires you to develop a line of inquiry. But what exactly is a line of inquiry?
Loosely defined, a line of inquiry is the specific focus of your essay. It's the big idea(s) in your essay! Think of the line of inquiry as being connected to the title (a question) and the thesis (your argument to the question posed in the title).
From both the title and the thesis, your teacher - and more importantly the examiner - should be able to identify your line of inquiry. From there, the examiner will be able to assess if your line of inquiry is "well-developed," or "adequately developed" or "there is some development," or "little development." This falls under Criterion C: Focus, organization and development.
Therefore, creating a credible and sustainable line of inquiry is central to this assessment task. The goal of this page is to support you in creating a line of inquiry. Because students all around the world have studied different literary works and different non-literary bodies of work, specific conversations about your own line of inquiry are best had with your own teacher. However, we will show you some examples to help you out.
How do I create my own line of inquiry?
There are two main avenues to figuring out your line of inquiry. You can use the IB's 7 course concepts. Alternatively, you can choose anything from your Learner Portfolio to explore in more depth and detail. While there are other alternative pathways to creating a line of inquiry, and these are not the only two ways to do it, they are the most common.
7 Course Concepts
Take one of the key course concepts (or maybe even two) and play around with them. For example, what's interesting about the perspective of the photographs you've studied in class (if you did this)? How does an author construct the antagonist's identity in a play you've studied? What multiple purposes are being communicated in a variety of Nike advertisements you've studied?
Identity
Culture
Creativity
Communication
Transformation
Perspective
Representation
Learner Portfolio Tasks
Key tip: Trust yourself! There's no one right way to get started, but be careful. Don't look up titles or possible topics online. Refrain from doing a Google search. The Internet is rife with misinformation, banal ideas, and misleading advice.
How do I narrow myself down to a focused line of inquiry?
This is tough! You will want to turn your thinking from your Learner Portfolio or from your work with one of the 7 course concepts into a manageable topic. Start by creating a title for your essay.
Key tip: The title of your essay should be a question. This comes from the principal examiner and your teacher can find this advice on My IB.
Remember, the title of your Higher Level Essay is intimately connected to your line of inquiry. Think of the line of inquiry as the answer to the question your title poses.
Can you provide me an example?
Example #1
After looking through my Learner Portfolio, I'm most drawn to the poetry we studied by Wislawa Szymborska. I like her poems and the discussions we had in class about them. More specifically, I'm interested in how she uses perspective. This is such an interesting concept in her poetry. A bunch of her poems we studied come from a different point of view. How does that influence the reader? What's the effect? I think this is worth exploring and I'd be comfortable spending time thinking and writing about this more.
Learner Portfolio - The poetry of Wislawa Szymborska captured my interest
Course concept - Perspective
Title - Why does Wislawa Szymborska uses different narrative voices in her poem and what effect does it have on readers?
Line of inquiry - Szymborska’s use of different narrative voices to invokes self-reflection in readers about their behaviour
Thesis - Szymborska uses various poetic voices to set examples for humankind of what to do and what not to do in times of struggle, invoking a sense of self-reflection among readers.
Can you provide me with some more examples?
Of course! Remember, the key to narrowing yourself down to a line of inquiry is to ask yourself questions. What am I trying to argue? Is this focused enough? Is this too broad? How can I focus on the writer and his or her choices?
I've looked through my Learner Portfolio. I've found that the essays of George Monbiot really challenged and changed my thinking about a wide variety of topics. I didn't use him for my Individual Oral, but this is perfect for my Higher Level Essay. What's interesting is how he communicates his ideas. He's interested in changing the world. I love this!
Learner Portfolio - George Monbiot essays
Course concept - Communication - I thought a lot about what techniques the writer uses to communicate his ideas about power and positive change
Title - In his essays, what narrative and language structures does George Monbiot use to challenge power to bring about ‘positive’ change and a ‘better’ world?
Line of inquiry - Monbiot's use of the restoration narrative in his essays challenges traditional power structures.
Thesis - This essay considers the ways Monbiot uses and exploits this narrative (the restoration narrative) to tell a variety of stories, each of which champions the oppressed and marginalized, and vilifies greedy elites to tell a story that, in every instance, argues for ‘positive’ change in pursuit of a ‘better’ world.
Quick Checklist
Answer the following questions to ensure that your line of inquiry is suitable for the assessment task.
1. Can I answer my question (title) in a 1200-1500 word essay?
2. Does my thesis (main argument) provide a focus for the essay itself?
3. Does the line of inquiry allow me to focus on and analyze the writer's choices in relation to my chosen topic (criterion B)?
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