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Are you looking for a guide on how to write your Geography extended essay? Drawing from our extensive experience with the IB coursework, we prepared a detailed breakdown of how to structure a high-scoring Geography EE. Each section is supported with a linked exemplar for reference. Directly follow our tips or customize this structure to meet your needs, good luck!
Geography EE Format and Structure
Geography EE is a 4,000 words long essay that should contain the following sections:
Title page and table of contents
On the title page, you will include the topic of your investigation, the research question, the subject, and the word count.
The next page should be the table of contents with all subsections of your essay along with the page numbering.
Introduction
Provide a concise overview of the topic, including details on the concept under study.
Explain the theoretical models that can be applied to the study, often it could be useful to add their graphical representation.
Briefly characterize the location of your research.
Explain the personal or global significance of the topic, discussing why it was chosen for investigation and its broader importance.
See here for a good example.
Research question
State the research question having in mind the analysed concept and location of the study. For instance: To what extent is Frankfurt involved in sustainable urban development, analyzing the areas of Riedberg and Praunheim?
Formulate a couple of hypotheses and justify your predictions, relating to the theory taught in the IB course.
Background information
Provide maps of the investigated areas, highlighting their features. Make sure that they are appropriately labeled.
Present the geographical context, define key concepts relating to the area of the research.
You could also make references to other models and already conducted studies.
This EE is worth taking a look at.
Methodology
Choose methods for data collection, taking into account the relevance and reliability of the findings. These may include questionnaires, surveys, map work, etc.
Justify the choice methodology, sampling strategy, and other relevant aspects of your study.
Describe the conditions of data collection such as the date, weather, and location (upstream/downstream of the river, distance from the point) depending on what is relevant for the results.
Exactly describe the procedure of the fieldwork.
If needed, list all the required equipment for data collection.
Provide graphical representations with detailed legends.
You can create an index to evaluate a given aspect such as sustainability, quality of life, etc - in such case, you must explain in detail how it works, what are its components and what is the meaning of the obtained values.
A good example can be found here.
Results
Include raw and processed data tables and incorporate qualitative data (if applicable).
Integrate statistical calculations, where relevant, such as Pearson and Spearman coefficients, and discuss the strength of the correlations.
Incorporate graphs depicting processed data relevant to the analysis. Ensure proper labeling with a number and concise caption for all graphs and tables.
Identify patterns observed within the data, such as frequent store visits at specific locations or spatial patterns. Delve into potential reasons underlying these trends.
Engage in a discussion regarding the data's relevance to each proposed hypothesis. Evaluate how the data supports or discards the hypotheses, providing insightful analysis.
You can use this EE for reference.
Conclusion
Re-state the research question and assess to what extent you were able to answer it.
Summarize the findings, do not incorporate any new information in the conclusion.
Evaluate the strengths of the correlations and discuss the anomalies.
Assess the hypotheses and clearly state the answer to the investigation.
Check it out to get a glimpse of the matter.
Evaluation
Finally, evaluate your entire investigation.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the entire study. State their relevance and impact on the results.
Show awareness of possible bias or other factors that could have influenced the results.
Propose ways to address the limitations and extend your study, for example how to improve the methods of data collection or what other factors should be taken into account when analysing this topic.
See this for reference.
Bibliography and appendices
These parts are not included in the word count.
In the bibliography, you should make a detailed list of all sources used in your investigation in alphabetical order. Decide on one style of referencing.
The appendices will serve as a place for additional tables of data etc. however these can't be the crucial information for your EE.
We are hoping that after reading this post the idea of the Geography extended essay structure has become more clear. Remember that there are more exemplars available on the Clastify website. Also, you can check out our guide on Geography EE criteria here.
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