IA & EE guides
Extended Essay examples: annotated outlines
Four original outlines showing how an Extended Essay is built: the research question, a word budget for each section and where each criterion is earned. They are written by us as teaching examples, not real student essays.
- 4 original outlines
- Physics, history, economics, interdisciplinary
- Word budgets under 4,000
- Not real student work
You will find plenty of searches for Extended Essay examples, but the best way to learn what a good essay does is to see how one is built. Below are four outlines we wrote ourselves. They are not real student essays, nobody submitted them, and they have no marks attached. Each shows a research question, a section plan with a word budget that stays safely inside the 4,000-word limit, and where each of the five criteria (A to E) is earned. Use them to see the shape, then build your own.
Do not copy these questions or plans. Examiners and your school will expect your own question, your own sources and your own argument, and we never write or edit any part of a student's essay.
1. A physics outline (subject-focused)
Pathway: Subject-focused, Physics
Research question: How does the angle of a ramp affect the speed at the bottom for a solid and a hollow cylinder, and how closely do the results match a rolling-without-slipping model?
A practical essay: the student collects data and tests a physical model against it.
| Section | Words | What happens here |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction and question | 300 | The question, why rolling objects are a good test of a model, the plan. |
| Theory and prediction | 600 | Energy and rotational motion, the equation for each cylinder, the prediction for how speed should change with angle. |
| Method | 500 | Variables, apparatus, how timing uncertainty was reduced, safety, why five or more angles. |
| Results and analysis | 1,000 | Processed data with uncertainties, graphs, comparison of the two cylinders with prediction. |
| Evaluation | 900 | Slipping, timing error, ramp flexing: which mattered most and how you can tell. |
| Conclusion | 300 | How far the model works, its limits, confidence in the answer. |
Where the criteria are earned.
- A: a narrow question and a method chosen to test it, introduced in the first two sections.
- B: accurate physics in theory and prediction, with units and correct terms.
- C: results analysed against the prediction, with each graph leading to a claim.
- D: the evaluation section weighs sources of error and says how far they affect the answer. Some evaluation also appears with the results.
- E: reflective notes on changing the range of angles after the first trial.
2. A history-style humanities outline (subject-focused)
Pathway: Subject-focused, History
Research question: How far did the 1950s transistor radio change how teenagers in one country got their music, compared with changes in record sales?
A source-based essay: the student weighs two kinds of evidence and two possible causes.
| Section | Words | What happens here |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction and question | 350 | The question, the case, the period, the two competing explanations. |
| Context and sources | 500 | A short background, then the sources chosen and why: sales figures, magazines, oral histories. |
| Argument 1: the radio | 900 | Evidence for the radio's effect, weighed for reliability. |
| Argument 2: other factors | 900 | Record sales, television and prices as alternative explanations. |
| Evaluation of sources and weighing | 700 | Gaps, bias, what the evidence cannot show, which explanation is stronger. |
| Conclusion | 300 | Answer the question and say how sure you are. |
Where the criteria are earned.
- A: a case, a period and a source plan stated near the start.
- B: accurate context and correct use of historical terms.
- C: each argument section moves from evidence to explanation.
- D: the rival explanation and source reliability are weighed throughout.
- E: reflect on switching from a single source to a mix of sources after a first session.
3. An economics outline (subject-focused)
Pathway: Subject-focused, Economics
Research question: To what extent did exchange-rate movements explain changes in import prices in one economy between two named years, compared with changes in wages?
A data essay: the student tests two explanations against published statistics.
| Section | Words | What happens here |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction and question | 300 | The question, the economy, the years, the two explanations. |
| Theory | 500 | How exchange rates and wages are expected to affect import prices. |
| Data and method | 450 | Which series, from where, how adjusted, what comparison is used. |
| Analysis of exchange rates | 800 | Evidence of the link and how strong it looks. |
| Analysis of wages | 700 | Evidence for the rival explanation. |
| Evaluation | 700 | Data limits, other factors, whether correlation shows cause. |
| Conclusion | 300 | A weighed answer. |
Where the criteria are earned.
- A: a question with two named years and a source plan.
- B: theory explained accurately with the right terms.
- C: a line from theory to data to claim, in each analysis section.
- D: the evaluation section deals with data limits and weighs the two explanations.
- E: reflect on a change from a broad time period to a narrower one.
4. An interdisciplinary outline (two subjects)
Pathway: Interdisciplinary, Physics and Music (registered under one subject)
Research question: How do physics and music theory together explain why a violin and a guitar playing the same note sound different?
A two-lens essay: each subject answers something the other cannot.
| Section | Words | What happens here |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction and question | 350 | Why two subjects are needed and what each will contribute. |
| Lens 1: the physics | 800 | Harmonics, vibrating strings, resonance, evidence from recorded spectra. |
| Lens 2: the music | 700 | Timbre, instrument technique, how listeners describe and compare sound. |
| Bringing them together | 800 | Linking spectrum features to what listeners hear; where each lens falls short alone. |
| Evaluation | 700 | Limits of recordings, judging sound, whether the two lenses agree. |
| Conclusion | 300 | What combining them explains that neither does alone. |
Where the criteria are earned.
- A: a question that clearly needs two subjects and a plan that says how they fit together.
- B: accurate knowledge from both subjects, with correct terms.
- C: the "bringing together" section is where analysis becomes argument.
- D: evaluation looks at both the evidence and the use of two lenses.
- E: reflect on how combining subjects changed the question.
What the four outlines share
- A question with a limit built in, so the essay can finish.
- Evaluation that appears in the body of the argument, not only at the end.
- At least one competing explanation or reading, so there is something to weigh.
- A reflective statement built from notes taken after each reflection session.
The word budgets total between 3,600 and 3,750, which leaves room to edit without going over. For the rules on what counts, see word count and rules, and to look at what each criterion is looking for in more detail, read the criteria explained. For other starting questions, try topics and research questions.
Our promise
We teach. We never write it for you.
This guide explains how the work is assessed and how to plan it. We never write, edit or rewrite any part of a student's IA or EE, and nor should anyone else: the IB treats work produced or heavily edited by someone else (a person or an AI tool) as not your own. If you use an AI tool for ideas or checking, say so and cite it, as your school will ask.
Keep reading
More on the Extended Essay
Plan with the criteria in mind, and keep inside the limit.
Written by Ejaz Ahmad, IB teacher since 2015. Checked against the IB's published guide, October 2026. Photon Resources is independent of the IB.