Extended Essay Conclusion Guide

A strong conclusion to an Extended Essay leaves a lasting impression, bringing your ideas together and clearly communicating what your research has achieved. In this post, we’ll outline key points to remember when crafting your EE conclusion, helping you ensure that your essay ends with clarity and depth.

Extended Essay Conclusion Guide

Restate Your Research Question Clearly

• Explicitly re-state the research question or hypothesis you made at the beginning of your EE. 

   

• This reminds the reader of the main focus of your essay.

   

• Keep the phrasing similar to how you discussed it in the introduction for consistency. However, do not directly copy-paste the text from your introduction. Try to paraphrase and change it up to keep the reader engaged.

   

• A good example of this can be seen here.

Summarize Key Findings

• Highlight your main findings in a few sentences. The conclusion should not be more than 1-2 paragraphs.

   

• The conclusion should be a summary of your main findings. Do not directly repeat information from the main body of the essay or from the data analysis section for science EEs. 

   

• Avoid summarizing every single point from the main essay. Pick only the most important findings to discuss in the conclusion. 

   

• A good example of a succinct conclusion can be seen here.

Avoid Introducing New Evidence

• Your conclusion should not contain any new information that has not previously been mentioned in the EE.

   

• The conclusion is a place to wrap up any loose ends in your EE, not to confuse the reader by introducing new ideas or literature sources.

   

• Ensure all conclusions you make are supported by the information presented in previous sections of the text.

   

• A good example of a conclusion based on information only from the main essay can be seen here.

Stay Concise and Formal 

• The conclusion should be around 300-400 words, roughly 10% of your total word count.

   

• Avoid repeating extensive information from the body of the essay. Stay concise and outline only the main findings from the previous sections of the EE.

   

• Ensure every sentence is clear and to the point. Do not use sentence fragments or run-on sentences that distract from the main point you are trying to make. 

   

• Maintain academic formality, avoiding personal opinions or casual language such as the first-person voice. 

We hope this post helped you learn more about how to write an effective EE conclusion. For more useful materials associated with the IB, check out the wide variety of IA, EE and TOK exemplars available at Clastify and other guides available on our blog.