Extended Essays in Cat. 3 (Eng A)

In theory, students of English A can do an EE in any category. However, if you are studying English A: literature, you may not be well placed to study a category 3 EE. If, on the other hand, you are studying language and literature at Standard Level you may find the demands of a category 3 essay challenging. 

For categories 1 and 2—focus on literature, click here.

Category 3—focus on language

A category 3 EE emphasizes the production and reception of texts in social, historical and/or cultural contexts. You should give focused and critical attention to the text or texts you are dealing with and your analysis must include a wider discussion of the contexts in which the text(s) are produced and understood.

In addition, examiners encourage you to:

• adopt an analytical, critical position
• show awareness of potentially conflicting viewpoints on the text(s) and their meaning in a wider social context.
• adopt an approach that is balanced, coherently argued, and illustrated by relevant supporting examples.

Note:

Essays that attempt to interpret the text(s) without considering the original audience and context are unlikely to offer a fully successful discussion. Essays that simply offer a general overview of a topic are not appropriate.

Your text or texts must have been originally produced in the language of your essay.

What counts as "text" for category 3?

The widest range of oral, written and visual materials present in society:

• single and multiple images with or without written text
• literary written texts and text extracts
• media texts, eg advertising campaigns; films, radio and television programmes and their scripts
• electronic texts that share aspects of a number of media texts, eg video-sharing websites, web pages, SMS messages, blogs, wikis and tweets
• oral texts, eg readings, speeches, broadcasts and transcripts of recorded conversation.

Please do keep in mind that any narrative and/or descriptive material included in your essay should be directly relevant to the critical analysis. A summary of your reading is not sufficient.

You can, where relevant to the topic, compare and contrast different languages and cultures. However, the essay’s main focus should be the language and culture(s) of the language in which you are writing.

Examples of topics and research questions—category 3

The examples are just for guidance. Apart from examples 1 and 7, each specifies a particular language so that the research question is precise. However, they may also work in another language and context.

Language in a cultural context

Students can explore how language develops in specific cultural contexts, how it impacts on the world, and the ways in which language shapes both individual and group identity.

Topic:  Gender

Research question: How has the portrayal of men in male grooming products changed from the 1980s to date?

Approach: A careful analysis of the contexts and the devices employed in at least two specific advertising campaigns in the target language culture, with some comparative element to the discussion.

Topic:  Language and communities

Research question: How do the Spanish press present controversies that happen during the Real Madrid and Barcelona derbies?

Approach: A careful analysis of the emotive language used to describe the controversial moments from the Barcelona and Madrid press (El País, El Periódico de Catalunya, Marca, As, El Mundo) focusing on a particular season. There will be an evaluation of the social and political stances taken by the different newspapers and an analysis of bias.

Topic: Language and communities (nation/region, subcultures)

Research question:  How are second and third generation Turkish young people portrayed in the German media?

Approach: A careful analysis of and comparison between three different media forms from a variety of viewpoints. There will be a focus on the nature of the language used to portray second and third generation Turkish youth (15–25 years old).

Language and mass communication

Students can consider the way language is used in the media, and may address how the production and reception of texts is influenced by the medium in which they are written.

Topic:  Language and presentation of speeches

Research question:  To what extent does Cristina Fernández de Kirchner use rhetorical devices to criticize international vulture funds?

Approach:  A careful analysis of the contexts and the rhetorical devices used by Fernández de Kirchner in a select handful of speeches in which she criticizes international vulture funds, with some comparative element to the discussion.

Topic:  The use of persuasive language in motivational speeches

Research question:   By what means do Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King seek to inspire their particular audiences?

Approach:   A careful analysis of the contexts and the rhetorical and emotive devices employed in Steve Jobs’ Stanford University graduation commencement ceremony speech (2005) and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” discourse (1963), with some comparative element to the discussion.

Topic: News coverage

Research question:   How do different newspapers vary in their reporting methods of racist incidents in English league football?

Approach:   A careful analysis of the emotive language used to describe specific incidents of racism in football as reported in daily newspapers (eg The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror and a sports publication) and an evaluation of how far the stance taken on this issue is representative of each newspaper’s social, political and class bias.

Topic:  Textual bias

Research question:   How do different newspapers vary the way they convey their political views in their editorials?

Approach:   A careful analysis of the contexts and the language (choice of key words, rhetorical devices) used by two leading newspapers Asahi and Yomiuri issued on the 3rd of May, The Institutional Day (Japanese national holiday to commemorate their peaceful post-war Constitutional Law) for the past five years, with comparative elements to the discussion.

 More topics 

Topic: language and computer-mediated communication
Research question: How do readers recognize inauthenticity in email phishing spam?


Topic: language, age, and computer-mediated communication
Research question: How and why do different generations use language differently in email correspondence?


Topic: language, gaming, and computer-mediated communication
Research question: In Minecraft, which features of language are determined by the activity, and which by the fact that the game is played on-line?


Topic: media, language, ideology, and power
Research question: How are environmental issues represented in The Straits Times and New Internationalist (magazine)?

Topic: language, media, and persuasion
Research question: What rhetorical and stylistic strategies do estate agents use to persuade their readers in Singapore and the USA?

Topic: language, newspapers, culture and society
Research question: How similar and different was the reporting of school shootings in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996, and Columbine High School in the USA in 1999?

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From the Horse's Mouth

English A: Extended Essay

Every year, the IBO releases examiner reports which offer valuable insights for teachers and students for each type of assessment. Please note that this report is specific to essays written in English A; essays in English B are discussed elsewhere.

Note: Although this report is from the M15 publication, all points are immediately relevant to students writing in 2018

The range and suitability of the work submitted

The large majority of the essays were submitted in Category 1 and thus comprised a straightforward analysis of a literary text or texts. Category 2 essays were less popular.

Category 3 essays are slowly growing in popularity and schools could usefully revisit the possibilities with this option, especially for students studying the Language and Literature course.

This year in all three categories examiners saw a number of outstanding essays from students who had made fresh and original choices of texts and topic. However, there are still a very large number of essays on ‘well-worn’ themes: Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ (American Dream); Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ (adolescence/character-based), Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (dystopian/feminist); Orwell’s ‘1984’/ Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ (dystopian), and Khomeini’s ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ (cultural/feminist.)

In such cases, as many examiners pointed out, an innovative approach and some recourse to secondary sources, as well as a genuine attempt to set the work in its literary context, is required to offer something beyond the ordinary.

There is also a trend towards a set of favourite topics emerging for Category 3 essays, (perhaps influenced by course units in textbooks?) e.g. the “Dove for Real Beauty” and Benetton campaigns.

Topics based on young adult fiction, or fiction which has been adapted for film or television, remain popular (George RR Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’; Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ series) but here, as always, students need to be circumspect about the literary merit of the works.

Other texts in this category included ‘Matched’ by Ally Condie (the Matched trilogy), ‘Rapture’ by Lauren Kate (the ‘Fallen’ series), ‘Beautiful Disaster’ by Jamie McGuire and ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry, where the novels simply did not support a discussion of a sufficiently academic nature.

Some texts chosen for comparison in Category 2 were too disparate and again, the discussion did not work (e.g. ‘The Great Gatsby’ with ‘Gilgamesh’).

However, it was refreshing to see some new texts, or a popular text viewed from a fresh perspective or compared with a ‘new’ text.

Examples of research questions which lead to successful analysis included ‘How does Eliza Haywood represent female voice and agency in her books ‘Love in Excess’ and ‘Fantomina’?’; ‘How, in similar and different ways, do the two poets Jalal ad-Din Rumi and Joy Harjo present the motif of the divine in their poems?’; ‘How is a nature / nurture tension used to create a complex characterisation of the protagonist in the novel ‘Ed King’ by David Guterson?’ and ‘How are the protagonists from ‘Wit’ by Margaret Edson and ‘Proof’ by David Auburn analogous in the challenges they face?’

Other titles and topics which examiners particularly enjoyed included the use of outside works in John Green’s ‘Paper Towns’ and ‘The Fault in our Stars’ (focusing on ‘Leaves of Grass’ and ‘An Imperial Affliction’ by Peter van Houten); the intrusive narrative voice in E.M. Forster; ; an exploration of racial identity in Nella Larsen’s ‘Passing’, Vikas Swarup’s employment of structure in ‘Q & A’, and essays on ‘Love and Information’ by Caryl Churchill and ‘Americanah’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

For category 3 essays, there needs to be a clear sense of a “text” and a discussion of the language elements at play in the “text”. Three titles which offered the scope to do this are offered as examples: ‘How do Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama use pathos, ethos and logos to reach out to their audiences?’ (Using ‘This lady’s not for turning’ from 1980 and Obama’s 2009 inauguration speech); ‘To what extent do the language choices in the Nike World Cup TV advertisement appeal to the target audience?’ and ‘How has the portrayal of the LGBT community in stand-up comedy evolved from late 80s to the present day?’

Category 3 essays should be based on primary material that the candidates have had to analyse themselves. Essays where the candidates have merely gathered information from secondary sources and ‘patched it together’, so to speak, are not successful. Basing Category 3 essays only on questionnaires which have been completed by fellow students at the school is also inadvisable; as one examiner pointed out, creating a suitable questionnaire is a skilled task for which the candidate needs training.

As always, a few essays exceeded the word limit or dealt only with works in translation and candidates need to be aware of the penalties incurred in these cases.

It should be noted that for Category 3 essays also, texts chosen should be originally written in English.

Candidate performance against each criterion

Criterion A: research question

The new Extended Essay Guide will place increased emphasis on the selection of a research question; and after 2016, the research question is required to be posed as a question, rather than expressed as a title or statement. This is a strategy which candidates could usefully adopt with immediate effect: as the draft TSM points out, “a properly-formulated research question enables students to maintain their focus more easily throughout the essay and to make a judgment as to whether they have responded to the research question.” It is also evident that the most successfully focused work invariably has a simply worded and tightly focused question as its starting-point.

Candidates should be reminded that overly broad topics (such as how different authors deal with the topic of racism in literature) rarely work because of a lack of focus and a lack of detailed treatment within the confines of the word count.

Very obvious or ‘well-worn’ topics (such as the portrayal of war in Owen’s poetry or Remarque’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, or the social background in ‘Pride & Prejudice’) rarely offer new insights.

Other essays omitted to frame the research question to give the investigation a literary focus rather than one which was sociological, psychological, or historical in nature.

It is important to stress the importance of a closely-studied text or texts at the heart of a Category 3 essay, and in this category also, some research questions, and responses, were overly general and uncritical in focus. As mentioned again below, these tended to encourage students to simply write about their ideas and opinions without doing research or providing evidence for their statements.

Research questions often varied between the cover, the title page, the abstract and the introduction; consistency is required here.

Criterion B: introduction

Introductions often included irrelevant biographical material but failed to deal with the context and significance of the chosen topic.

Some candidates still needed to delineate the introduction more clearly.

Criterion C: investigation

Candidates need to consider the quality of secondary sources versus the quantity of sources chosen to support their treatment of the topic, and how these sources can be used to further the discussion and analysis in the essay. As one examiner pointed out, “many candidates appeared not to have really understood why they are used and what they might be able to do – and indeed how they might harm a personal perspective”.

Advice was almost unanimous: students need to get to grips with the primary source and use secondary sources (if any) of high quality, offering their own response to those sources.

Students need to be able to evaluate internet sources (see further comments below). Reliance on Schmoop. Wikipedia, Sparknotes etc. should be avoided. At the same time, candidates writing on established authors such as Bronte, Poe or Shakespeare should be expected to be familiar with, and make some use of, the volume of secondary criticism available.

Criterion D: knowledge and understanding of the topic studied

While most examiners felt that there was good knowledge and reasonable understanding, some essays lacked sufficient use of material from the texts (along with analysis and interpretation).

In Categories 1 and 2 there were many essays in which candidates clearly found difficulty in moving much beyond paraphrase/narrative, with a good deal of secondary material, often simply added for extra “weight” and rarely explored or considered in any meaningful way. Those candidates who chose more demanding texts tended to write with greater critical confidence.

Essays where candidates compared very disparate texts, those with vague topics, and those where there was no real comparison of the two texts, were also of poor quality.

Category 3 essays, also, had a tendency for the discussion of the text to lead to generalizations, assumptions and stereotypes resulting in fairly shallow understanding and analysis.

Students who scored highly on this criterion were able to demonstrate a confident knowledge of their text(s) and a genuine engagement with their chosen topic.

Criterion E: reasoned argument

In many essays, plot narration, descriptions, or mere biographical or contextual information remained the primary focus of the essay. Candidates often found it difficult to remain strictly relevant to the research question. Many candidates simply repeated the views found in secondary sources, as a substitute for their own analysis; few were able to use this critical reading to challenge, or to support their own argument in the essay.

Weaker candidates did not use the primary text at all but merely retold the story in a very general manner; as one examiner pointed out, “plot paraphrase does not demonstrate understanding and insight.”

A coherent and convincing argument was also hampered in some cases when candidates opted to discuss only a limited selection of examples from their texts, or to provide quotations without giving any background or context.


Where Category 3 essays took their examples out of textbooks or from a website, these were often less effective because of a failure to investigate and provide the original context necessary for the serious study of the word and/or image.

Criterion F: application of analytical and evaluative skills

This seemed to be a key discriminator.

Once again the single most important failing under this criterion was the tendency for candidates to describe, narrate, summarize, or explain instead of analysing.

Criterion G: use of language appropriate to the subject:

Candidates should aim at least to express themselves in language which is “sometimes clear and appropriate”. They literary terminology for Category 1 and 2 essays and appropriate media terminology for Category 3.

Criterion H: conclusion

The conclusion should offer a new synthesis in response to the research question and not merely summarise what has been said in the essay.

Criterion I: formal presentation

Candidates are strongly advised to consult the IB document ‘Effective citing and referencing’ for guidance.

URL addresses for websites, dates of accessing, etc., were often insufficiently cited in bibliographies and/or footnotes. More than a few examiners pointed out that footnote references tended to be unwieldy, with complete provenance stated every time, instead of ‘ibid’ or ‘op.cit.’

Marks were also lost for omitting citations, the table of contents or page numbers for the essay.
It would be helpful if students could include copies of the work(s) as an appendix if they are writing about poetry or unusual short stories. This would also be useful in many Category 3 essays where advertisements or speeches are taken from unusual sources, especially those not available on the internet.

As stated in the DPCNs, schools are also reminded that “footnotes and endnotes are not an essential part of the extended essay and examiners will not read them, or use any information contained within in the assessment of the essay. Students must take care to ensure that all information with direct relevance to the analysis, discussion and evaluation of their essay is contained in the main body of it. An essay that attempts to evade the word limit by including important material in footnotes or endnotes risks losing marks under several criteria.”

The organisation of the essay should also be given careful thought. For many literary topics, sub-headings can enhance, but more often detract from, the fluency of the essay.

A final proof-read is essential.

Criterion J: abstract

There is still a tendency for candidates to write the abstract as though it is some sort of introduction. It should be written after the completion of the essay and written in the past tense

Criterion K: holistic judgement
Demonstrated a sophisticated level of understanding and research and genuine engagement with the topic.

It was difficult to award more than a “2” for essays on ‘well-worn’ topics, particularly those which did not acknowledge established criticism.

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P1 English A: Literature (SL) "Ballad of Birmingham"

Learning to do commentary is like riding a bike—even if someone repeatedly tells you how to ride, you will never manage it until you climb on and try to do it for yourself. This means that the primary method of learning commentary is through practice, discussion and feedback.

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Write a guided literary analysis on the passage below. In your answer you must address both of the guiding questions provided.

                Ballad of Birmingham

(On the Bombing of a Church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

“Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?”

“No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jail
Aren’t good for a little child.”

“But, mother, I won’t be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free.”

“No, baby, no, you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children’s choir.”

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.

The mother smiled to know her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.

For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
“O, here’s the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?”

                        Dudley Randall, The Ballad of Birmingham (1969)

      - Describe the irony of the situation in the poem.

      - How effectively do you see the form of the poem as heightening its meaning?

English A Literature (HL) (Square)

I used to watch the storm coming up over the baker's house. Not that the house was lower than all those which were crowded around the little square, but it stood on the west side and its roof of round, sun-bleached tiles mirrored the sky.
       On the calmest of days, when the wind scarcely swayed the smoke from the oven chimney, I saw, slowly rising above the top of the bakery, big white clouds which only darkened much later and stayed for a long time fringed with light. The storm anticipated the evening, growing heavy with the sunset shadows, and drawing a deeper night over the world.
       The baker's house, with its bakery looking out on the little square, withstood the daylight, at first constant, then slowly fading, then the darkening of the clouds, and finally the first gusts of the storm, which beat the smoke onto the roof and into the square in a fiery swirl.
        Batches of bread followed one another, the glow of the oven flickering at intervals in the room where two men were working, their bare backs white and emancipated from the fire. When the oven was red hot, they poured the embers to deaden them into large metal drums, as tall as the child of ten that I was then, and they put them outside the bakery door to cool.
        Then the square, in the blazing heat that goes before a storm, seemed to catch fire. It was a sultry heat, a stifling inferno, a sightless summer added to summer. When I went up to the drums I heard the crackling of wood charcoal being formed. Later in the bakery, which the two bakers had just left to have a drink, rows of hot bread were crackling too, like a sunny field with the sound of grasshoppers.
       When I closed my eyes, the smell of bread was like the sighing of a fire-ravaged land which was flaking in its wait for the rain. You would have said that with the oncoming storm some of the darkness, still glowing from the empty oven, now appeared in the sky. A draught from the open door of the bakery sent wood ash scurrying to the middle of the square, a little slack grey trail, soon lost in the dust where a black hen was scratching.
       The first drops of rain sometimes fell before the great drums filled with embers were cold, and sputtered on their lids where I vainly tried to cook little cakes made of bread dough stolen from the bakery.
       I went back to our house on the other side of the square and stayed under the porch watching the rain come down and the clouds scudding by. Opposite the bakery was glowing for a new batch of bread. The smoke from the oven struggled against the wind and sometimes loosed a handful of sparks into the storm-blue evening.

      Pierre Gascar: The Little Square (transl. by Val Cohen)

P2 (HL) Specimen response

The response below is in answer to the exam question Context –‘historical, cultural, or social – can have an influence on the way literary works are written or received. Discuss with reference to at least two of the works you have studied.

To what extent has this candidate explored the implications of the exam question and produced a relevant response?

Sample student response

The novel, The Bell Jar, is a semi-autobiographical novel, written by Sylvia Plath, and set in 1950s America. The play, A Doll’s House, is written (originally in Norwegian) by Henrik Ibsen, and set in late 1800s Norway. Both texts explore the marginalization of women in the social contexts of the period and place in which they are set. And, both texts are strongly influenced by their social context, exploring gender inequality and attitudes of social conformism. Plath and Ibsen essentially explore the inferiority of women – their restricted and sacrificial social role – through the character development of their female protagonists, Esther Greenwood and Nora Helmer, respectively, who struggle in their search for an authentic, individual identity, rather than obediently succumb to a socially pleasing façade. Hence, it can be said that both Plath and Ibsen are challenging the gender inequality and conformist attitudes dominant in the societies in which these works are set by representing the struggle and suffering of the protagonists.
             Both The Bell Jar and A Doll’s House explore the theme of the inferiority of women in society through either their restricted possibilities, or the sacrificial role patriarchal society expects them to take. In The Bell Jar, Plath makes it clear that part of the prevailing social expectation is that women should remain virgins until marriage. The article ‘In Defence of Chastity’, “gave all the reasons why women should not sleep with anybody apart from her husband and then only after they were married.” Esther Greenwood, the novel’s protagonist, recognizes the hypocrisy of this social convention after discovering that Buddy Willard, her college boyfriend, has had an affair and lost his virginity, yet still expecting Esther to retain her “purity” for him. Buddy Willard symbolizes a perfect male specimen in 1950s American society – he is intelligent, hardworking, athletic, and studying to become a doctor. In the androcentric society in which Esther lives, he is the type of man that Esther should want to remain a virgin for. However, recognizing the socially imposed sexual double-standard regarding sex and virginity – that is, women should remain virgins, but men should not – Esther feels that the article ‘In Defence of Chastity’ fails to consider “how a girl felt”. That Buddy Willard could live a life in which he could both lose his virginity, and at the same time be regarded as pure and perfect, makes no sense to Esther. As a result, Esther recognizing the injustice and ambiguity in this, goes all out to lose her virginity with men like Constantin, in order to relieve herself of this social pressure. Eventually, Esther loses her virginity with Irwin, a maths professor. This could be regarded as scandalous to readers first encountering the book in the 1960s, as it is behaviour that is contrary to the beliefs and norms of the period. Given this, it suggests that Plath’s novel can be read as an attempt to challenge the injustice of unequal gender expectations.
              Similarly, in A Doll’s House, it is expected that men take on the dominant, authoritative role in marriage and that women take on a sacrificial, largely passive role. Ibsen portrays this through the sacrifices that all his female characters, representing different social classes (and therefore literary foils of a kind), make for themselves and their families. Mrs Linde is a working-class woman who gives up her true but poor love, Krogstad, in order to marry a man of wealth in order to support her sick mother and two brothers. Nurse, caretaker to Nora’s children, has had to give up her daughter in order to become Nora’s nanny and support herself. Nora, an upper-class woman in the Norwegian social hierarchy, also reveals that she is willing to support herself in order to save Torvald’s honour. The women of Ibsen’s play exemplify Nora’s assertion later in Act III after Torvald states that “no men can be expected to sacrifice their honour, even for the person they love, while millions of women have.” Ibsen, it seems, may be challenging the injustice, apparent in Norwegian society of the period, that only women, not men, are expected to make sacrifices.
              Furthermore, in The Bell Jar, inferiority and restriction of women is as women are expected to merely and solely take the role of wife and mother. Esther’s mother and Mrs Willard are female characters which Plath creates showing how society has internalized in these women the morals and beliefs that men and women have specific and different roles to play and that they must be followed. Mrs Willard strongly believes that “what a man is is an arrow into the future and what a women is is the place the arrow shoots off from.” When Esther tells Buddy that she does not intend to get married, Buddy responds as if this is impossible and that Esther is absurd. Buddy tells Esther, “you’re crazy…you’ll change your mind”, showing how society does indeed dictate that women’s key social role is to be a dutiful wife and a good mother, and anything else is considered ridiculous or inferior. Esther rejects this belief and disagrees with her mother who insists that she learn short hand as this would enable Esther to take on a secretarial job and find a wealthy man to marry. Esther’s mother states that “she would be in demand amongst all the up-and-coming young men”, just like the young women who stay at the ironically named Amazon Hotel. However, instead of epitomizing glamour and fortune, Esther finds these young women spoilt and, as she describes in her ‘skaz-like narrative voice, “bored as hell”. It can be suggested that, through Esther, Plath challenges the stipulated pathways that male society crafts for women.
              A further main contextual theme that results from challenging the male-centric society, as Plath and Ibsen evidently do, is the idea of searching for an authentic, individual identity, rather than succumbing to a socially pleasing façade. Ibsen does this through the construction of his protagonist Nora. As Ibsen’s realist drama opens, the audience see Nora enter the stage, bringing home a Christmas tree, symbolically suggesting affluence and a socially constructed view of female domesticity. However, over the three Act play, Nora’s character develops, as she goes through a transformative, life-changing event that threatens her marriage and her relationship to her children, as she realises the importance of establishing her own self-identity. At the beginning of the play, the audience recognize Nora as an amalgamation of 19th century generalizations of women – she is only concerned with her husband’s needs and the material aspects of domesticity at home. However, as the play progresses and Krogstad threatens to expose Nora’s ‘crime’ and challenge the stability of her marriage to Torvald, Nora undergoes a change. Increasingly, she becomes unhappy playing the subservient role of Torvald’s ‘doll’ that he can control and play with, rather than an equal partner in marriage. Torvald claims that Nora’s “sacred duties lie in (her) home”, symbolically suggesting that a women’s domestic role is religiously prescribed, and that Nora is “first a wife and a mother”. However, Nora recognizes that she can no longer stay with Torvald and that she must embrace her independence and search for her own identity. She realizes that she needs to “learn about” society on her own in order to “satisfy (herself) which is right, society or her” even if this means rejecting society’s view of “sacred duties” and “morals”. Ibsen, in my view as a young female reader, is challenging society’s expectation of women. It is this that 19th century European theatre audiences would have found shocking.
              Likewise, in The Bell Jar, Esther also searches for an authentic identity, refusing to accept the social conventions of 1950s America that stipulates how women should behave. During her summer internship as a guest writer on a ‘ladies’ magazine in Manhattan, Esther is expected to be having the time of her life and to be enthusiastic about her opportunity since many women would aspire to have her chance. However, through Esther’s narrative, Plath explores the tension between expectation and reality, showing how the expected charm and romance of New York life is opposed by Esther’s encounters with suspicious men like Lenny and the immense unhappiness and gloom she experiences. Early in Esther’s retrospective narrative, she says “I didn’t know what I was doing in New York” showing her sense of anomie and isolation in a society that makes no sense to her. Esther does not understand “why (she) couldn’t go all the way doing what (she) should do. This made (her) sad and tired,” and she also wonders “why (she) couldn’t go all the way doing what (she) couldn’t do. This made (her) even sadder and more tired.” It is apparent that Esther cannot conform to society’s expectations on how she should feel and behave despite her apparent success. This is emphasized by her refusal to accept traditional female roles as “the last thing (she) wanted was infinite security or to be the place an arrow shoots off from.” Esther “hated the idea of serving men” and “(she) wanted to dictate her own thrilling letters”, suggesting that Esther (and perhaps Plath) wants to author her own life’s narrative. In Esther, Plath has clearly created a female protagonist that is determined to shape her own individual identity. However, for Esther, this is not easy. The metaphor of the fig tree, and the choices on offer, suggests Esther’s indecision or inability to choose a future for herself. She eventually becomes depressed as a metaphorical bell jar descends on her, and she is ‘punished’ through electroshock therapy for her failure to accept socially appropriate roles. In a similar way, when Nora slams the door at the conclusion of A Doll’s House, she is physically and symbolically ‘in the cold’ – punishment for her decision to seek a life for herself.
              Plath and Ibsen write in different literary genres, and in different times and places. Esther and Nora, however, share very similar fates in refusing to be the women society expects them to be. Thus, whilst Esther and Nora are social constructs of particular societies, it can be argued that over time and space, the situation of women in male dominated cultures remains the same.

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EE: First Reflection Session

As part of your engagement mark (Criterion E), you will be required to fulfil 3 reflection sessions with your supervisor. Your reflection will be recorded in the Reflections on Planning and Progress Form (RPPF) and submitted along with your extended essay proper. Engagement is worth 6 points in total or 17% of your final EE mark.

What is expected in the first session? 

This initial reflection session will be a dialogue between you and your supervisor based on your initial explorations. It is a good idea to send your supervisor an outline of your research proposal before the meeting so that he or she has the chance to review your work. This will ensure that the reflection session is focused and productive.

Topics of discussion that will arise during this session include:

• a review of the requirements and assessment criteria for the subject

• a review of ethical and legal implications, if applicable

• a dialogue about possible approaches and any potential problems that might arise

• a discussion of strategies for developing your ideas for the essay and expanding the research so that the essay starts to take form

• probing and challenging questions that will help focus your thinking; this should lead to the development of a working research question

• an outline of the next steps that you should undertake in order to refine your question; this should take the form of a research and writing timeline.

How shall I prepare for this session?

1. Think about subjects and areas of particular personal interest and do some initial background reading into a subject and topic of your choice.

2. Using this as a starting point, explore a variety of possible research topics.

3. Read the subject-specific section of the Extended essay guide, paying particular attention to the nature of the subject and the treatment of the topic.

4. Undertake further background reading and begin gathering information around your area of interest. This exploration should give rise to a variety of topics and questions that you can consider for further research. At this stage it is important to consider the availability of reliable and valid sources for your topic. All of this should be recorded in your Researcher’s reflection space (RRS).

5. Begin developing a research proposal which might include a MindMap® of ideas, an annotated article or preliminary bibliography.

Additionally, you should already be thinking in terms of the following questions:

• Is my topic appropriate for the subject I am considering? 

• Why am I interested in this area and why is it important? 

• What possible questions have emerged from my initial reading? 

• Are there any ethical issues that I need to consider? 

• What possible methods or approaches might be used for research in this area and why?

Great Ideas for EE Categories 1 & 2 (Eng A)

Before looking at potential topics, it is worth knowing the parameters for an English A extended essay, so that you have a clear idea of the appropriate focus and scope for this essay.  We outline these briefly, here, before delving into viable topics.

A good research question in this subject will be one

• in which you are able to convey some personal critical judgement about literature.

• that is finally shaped after examining some available critical comment on the writer and the work(s)

• that is sharply focused and possible to treat in no more than 4000 words.

Studies in language and literature EEs are divided into three categories:

Category 1 Studies of one or more literary works originally written in the language in which the essay is presented.

Category 2 Studies of a literary work or works originally written in the language of the essay compared with one or more literary works originally written in another language. (The work originally written in another language may be studied in translation.)

Category 3 Studies in language based on one or more texts originally produced in the language in which the essay is presented.

This article focuses on categories 1 and 2, literary essays. For essays in language (Cat.3), click here.

Treatment of topics in literature

You should always consider how your chosen text(s) work as literature, dealing with aspects such as the effects they achieve, the devices they use and the way they are written.

You may choose as your topic a philosophical, political or social issue arising from a work of literature.  However, the major focus of your essay should be the literary treatment of the issue. You must not treat the literary work(s) simply as documentary evidence in a discussion of the particular issue. In addition, you should not use the essay solely as a vehicle for your own thoughts on the issue.  You must focus first on an analysis of the presentation of the author’s ideas. Then you can present your personal views on the way the author has treated the subject.

When using literary criticism aim for a compromise between building on the wisdom of experienced critics and introducing new personal elements. An essay that simply repeats the views of established literary critics will not receive a high mark.

Essays that interpret literary works in terms of the writer’s life tend to produce reductive readings based on second-hand information. Such essays receive low marks and the IB therefore advises students to avoid biographical topics. 

Examples of topics - Cat. 1

Topic An exploration of evil as a motivating force in drama

Research question How effectively does Christopher Marlowe present his view of evil in Dr Faustus?

Approach A detailed study of the play to include selected quotations to support the argument, with reference to secondary source material if appropriate.

Topic The treatment of prejudice in novels

Research question How far are the approaches to prejudice and discrimination different in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Kite Runner?

Approach The identification of types of prejudice (religious, racial, caste, gender, as appropriate) in the novels and the selection of detailed incidents and/or character studies for close analysis. Some background research into 1950s America and Afghanistan between 1970 and the mid-1990s may be helpful in establishing a context for the argument and a comparative element to the discussion.

Examples of topics - Cat. 2

Topic The portrayal of childhood in novels

Research question In what ways, and to what purposes, do Nabokov’s Speak, Memory and Proust’s Swann’s Way evoke memories of childhood?

Approach A close analysis of both works, with reference to secondary source material if appropriate, and some comparative element to the discussion

Topic The presentation of guilt in novels

Research question How important is the narrative structure to the way guilt is addressed by Bernhard Schlink in The Reader and Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried?

Approach A close analysis of both works, with reference to secondary source material if appropriate, and some comparative element to the discussion.

Important aims ...

• the research question must be specific and sharply focused and stated clearly in the introduction of the essay. It should be formulated as a question, not a statement or proposition for discussion. 

• Avoid overly broad topics that cannot be dealt with adequately within the scope of the word limit. Similarly, too obvious a topic is unlikely to score highly in terms of criterion C.

• The introduction should state briefly why you have chosen that particular research question and what it has to offer. It should also indicate clearly how it relates to existing knowledge on that topic.

• The focus of your literary discussion should involve analysis of the text(s) in the light of the research question. You may also include the views of critics to support your arguments and points and include a critical perspective on our secondary source material.

• For categories 1 and 2 essays, appropriate sources include the i) literary text or texts that form the focus of the investigation and, ii) where appropriate, secondary sources such as published criticism on those texts.

• Avoid unduly limiting yourself by choosing texts that are not capable of sustaining a detailed in-depth literary analysis, eg some types of children’s literature or teenage fiction.

• For Category 2 essays include a brief rationale for the pairing of the texts chosen, indicating what might be gained from the comparative study being undertaken. Avoid taking an approach where the texts are dealt with in two separate discussions.

Need help discovering or formulating a research topic? Contact us.

From the Horse's Mouth

Examiner Advice for Paper 1 (Eng A: Language & Literature)

Every year, the IBO releases examiner reports which offer valuable insights for teachers and students for each type of assessment. These can be turned into a useful guide what to do and NOT do on exams.

The article begins with standard level, then continues with remarks for higher level.

Standard Level

Criterion A

Candidates must deal with the whole text - not just part - it is important to see it in its overall context. They must keep close focus on the passage throughout and be specific and detailed; all comments should only be applicable to this passage and should not be general in nature.The need for close referencing to support all comments and ideas presented; the deconstruction of visual texts, especially the use of visual metaphor and the need to connect responses to the context must occur to score more highly for criterion A. Candidates are also advised to be more specific in their explanation of target audience as this seemed to be a weak area in this session in relation to both texts. More time may need to be spent on helping candidates be more specific in identifying audience and context. Teachers should also remind candidates of what context of a text entails and to ensure a discussion regarding audience and how this is influenced by the context.

Criterion B

Candidates must understand and articulate the effects of stylistic features beyond the generic, for example; to grab the reader's attention, to entertain, to inform etc. This is a major concern and over the last few years had seemed to improve but this year the analysis of stylistic effects was not done well.

Candidates must avoid device spotting and teachers need to help candidates understand what is expected by "the effects on the audience" for criteria B. Candidates should not only know stylistic features, but they should be able to explain their purpose in the given text.

Candidates must avoid vague, descriptive analysis and try to be as specific as possible in their explanation of stylistic features and their effects. They must analyse and not describe. Candidates also seemed to fall back on explaining technical terms before giving an example and this is not an efficient use of words and is not needed. When a text has both visuals and words the visual aspects should not be focused on at the expense of textual analysis


Criterion C 

This year many candidates spent too long planning and writing drafts and did not leave enough time to write adequate commentaries. Candidates need help to have more time management as part of planning in an examination setting. Candidates also need help to develop a strategy and provide a framework for their argument or approach to analysis. They need to develop and present a clear thesis statement under exam conditions in order to provide a basic direction for the argument of the response. They should try to have some thread that holds the answer together. Teachers should continue to work on explaining the need for an overarching argument that ties the commentary together. Formulaic organization should be discouraged. It is clear that some candidates arrive at the exam with a template into which they simply inject content. It makes their responses much weaker than they would otherwise be. Transitional phrases are often used without a clear understanding of their meaning. For example, "Firstly, secondly, thirdly...in conclusion" when the ideas explored are not lists and the conclusion does not conclude.

Criterion D 

Candidates have improved in this area with many in the 3-4 range but there are still repeated errors that teachers should work on in preparing their students for the examination:

Help candidates not to describe but to analyze. Attention to technical accuracy with particular attention to correct sentence structure, use of apostrophes and semi-colons.

Teach candidates to proof-read work for errors before submission in order to correct basic errors such as: tense and number agreement, spelling, article use, informal register.

Higher Level

Criterion A and B

For both texts, candidates appeared to have difficulty identifying and being concise about the target audience and context. Candidates also had difficulty backing up their assertions with evidence. Examiners reported "vague, unspecific answers that were not adequately supported by reference to the text". For text 1, for example, examiners reported that the audience was often given as "anyone interested in science", and for text 2, many candidates identified the audience erroneously as children, as a result of the cartoons. The identification of the target audience was often either very narrow or very broad.

Many candidates also struggled with identifying purpose, which tended to be very generic, basically to inform and/or entertain, and context, which was probably the most overlooked element in the texts. Some candidates wrote solely about purpose for their entire commentary.

A significant percentage of scripts reached low levels of achievement, especially in Criteria B. Though candidates could identify stylistic features, they exhibited difficulty in exploring effects. Tone and mood appeared problematic, with some candidates confusing tone with style. Some candidates wrote about the writer's choice of adjectives, verbs, etc. but were not able to link those to the main devices like personification, metaphor, irony, etc. There was also a tendency to summarize the texts or to give simple explanations instead of analyzing them. There was also difficulty identifying the more detailed purpose and effects of stylistic features, with examiners looking for more than candidates' over-simplistic (and often repeated) comments about "engaging the reader". Surprisingly, candidates did struggle with reading and interpreting visual texts was an issue.


Criterion C

A significant proportion of students applied one of a range of over-structured, formulaic approaches regardless of the appropriateness of the approach to the text tackled. Misuse of linguistic and literary terminology was apparent. Similar to last year many candidates still struggle to write a strong introduction that leads the reader through their argument. There is a lack of focus on developing and keeping a strong analytical thread that links stylistic features to effect and thence to audience and purpose. Construction of a cohesive and persuasive argument within the response also presented challenges. Some candidates randomly assign connectives such as "moreover, consequently, furthermore" at the beginning of sentences/paragraphs without having clear logical links between the ideas presented.

Some candidates spent too long writing involved plans (some complete drafts) and left little time for writing and developing the commentary to an appropriate length, consequently affecting criterion C scores.


Criterion D

The use of language by candidates fell largely in the 3 to 4 range and there were not so many weak writers this year but we also did not see the sophistication of the 5 band. Although language was generally appropriate candidates do need to be reminded to use punctuation!

Rules of Configuration

Perceiving the text's developing shape

Undermining—we know that stasis will be disrupted, and we expect that problems will be resolved. The sub-rule of chutzpah forces us to question the self-proclaimed greatness of Oedipus, and it’s why we kicked ourselves if we trusted Lizzy too much.


Balanced focus—books will focus on some central thing, as in David Copperfield, Emma, or a metamorphosis.


Balanced action—the other shoe must drop. Lydia’s stupidity must have some consequence.




[full article]

Rules of Coherence

Finding systems of unity among the details

Insufficient information—we know that holes in a text must be filled in.


Bundling of information—we find patterns that link characters or events. The Song of Solomon uses biblical names for certain characters, but not others.


Consistent reference—a signifier is linked to one signified. It might not be clear to us, but we assume that there is a way to unify discordant impressions. (Think of Piggy’s glasses. Perhaps you assume that they represent the hope of salvation through logic and technology. When they start to fall apart, you don’t say “well, I guess I was wrong.” You adjust.)





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Rules of Signification 

Assigning larger meanings to details

Source—who is speaking and how does that shape whatever information we are getting. “Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.” Do we trust Jason?


Physical trait links—How you look is who you are. Gregory Peck is trustworthy and Peter Lorre isn’t. (often dependent on genre)


Enchainment of action—a puppy kicker is no good


Realism—conventions of standard human behavior apply to most texts


Causation—all events in a text have causes we can fathom. Gregor is a bug for some reason. We can somehow make sense of Raskolnikov’s decision to murder.


Ironic Voice—ideas in conflict must be remedied; opposites must be deciphered.



[full article]

Rules of Notice 

Attending to the most important details

Convention—rules of the genre—symbols for literary novels, suspicious people for mysteries, setting in Romantic texts


Key words—"suddenly", "realized", "truth", etc.


Repetition & Italics—Lolita has clues in italics. Words or phrases that are italicized or otherwise set apart from the rest of the text are meant to call the attention of the reader.  MacBeth repeats the word blood over and over. Repeated actions/ideas are meant to attract the attention of the reader and suggest importance.


Explicit highlights by author—this sounds odd, but think about Huck Finn’s first lines about “stretchers.” Twain is explicitly drawing our attention to a central idea in the novel. (“I am telling you” moments in a narration)


Epigraphs—An epigraph is a quote that comes before the beginning of a text and can serve to raise the expectations of the reader about events to come.


Metaphors and similes —The author may use these types of figurative language to draw attention to a certain aspect or idea in the text. Pay close attention to metaphors and similes.


Ruptures—an odd break in tone or narrative; when the turtle crosses the road in Grapes of Wrath (or when a new anonymous voice begins narrating, as in a mystery novel). 


Spacing and line breaks — Pay attention to how the author chooses to break up the text – it may be a signal for a change in the time structure (like a flashback), a change in narration, etc.


Privileged position—Title, subtitles, first lines, last lines, single sentence paragraphs. Titles and subtitles tell us where to focus our attention and provide a core around which to organize our interpretation.  A valid interpretation of a text will be able to incorporate the message or meaning of the first and last sentences (of a chapter or of the work as a whole). Authors often place important information in these positions.

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English A: Lang&Lit (SL) - Campbell Soup

Write an analysis on the following text. Include comments on the significance of context, audience, purpose, and formal stylistic features.

- What elements of persuasion are being employed in this advertisement?

- To what effect are parallels between image and text and image being developed?

English A: Lang&Lit (SL) - Hunting

In each session, you will get to see and discuss a wide variety of exam passages and poems with your tutor, who will also give you plenty of criterion-based feedback on your own writing.

Try your hand at the sample below, then contact us for your first session.

Write an analysis on the following text. Include comments on the significance of context, audience, purpose, and formal stylistic features.

Text 1

• Comment on the writer's use of structure and layout in this text.

• How does the writer combine image and language here to create a persuasive effect?