Free Tool, IB
Extended Essay research question planner
Most weak Extended Essays fail at the question, not the writing. Pick your subject and describe your interest, and this will show you the question shapes that actually work, and where yours is still too broad.
Start planningStep 1
Which subject will you register it in?
Step 2
What are you interested in?
A phrase is enough. "Antibiotic resistance", "the causes of the Rwandan genocide", "how Spotify prices subscriptions".
Step 3
How far along are you?
Why the question decides the grade
Examiners see the same failure repeatedly: a student picks a topic they find genuinely interesting, writes 4,000 careful words about it, and scores poorly because the essay describes a subject rather than answering a question.
"Antibiotic resistance" is a topic. "To what extent does sub-inhibitory concentration exposure accelerate resistance development in E. coli compared with intermittent full-dose exposure?" is a question. The first invites a summary of what is known. The second forces you to weigh evidence and reach a conclusion, which is what the criteria actually reward.
The single most useful hour you can spend on an Extended Essay is the one where you narrow the question. Everything downstream gets easier.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose an Extended Essay topic?
Start from a subject you are genuinely willing to spend months on, then narrow relentlessly. Most weak Extended Essays fail at the question, not the writing: the topic is too broad to answer in 4,000 words, so the essay describes rather than argues. A good test is whether you could state your answer in one sentence. If you cannot, the question is still too wide.
What makes a good Extended Essay research question?
It should be narrow enough to answer properly in 4,000 words, contestable enough that the answer is not obvious, and grounded in evidence you can actually get hold of. Questions beginning "to what extent" or "how does" tend to work better than "what is", which invites description. Bound it by place, time, text, or system wherever you can.
How is the Extended Essay assessed?
The EE is marked out of 34 across five criteria: focus and method, knowledge and understanding, critical thinking, presentation, and engagement. Together with Theory of Knowledge it contributes up to three bonus points toward the 45-point diploma. Check current criteria and mark boundaries with your school and the official IB documentation, since these are periodically revised.
When should I start my Extended Essay?
Most schools begin the process in the second half of DP1, with a first draft late in DP1 or early in DP2 and submission in DP2. Starting earlier mainly helps with the reading, which is the part students consistently underestimate. The writing takes less time than finding out what has already been said about your question.
Does the Extended Essay help with university applications?
It can, particularly in the UK. The new UCAS Question 2 asks how your qualifications and studies have prepared you, and an EE is direct evidence of independent academic work. Oxbridge interviewers may also ask about it. That said, no piece of coursework guarantees an offer, and an EE you cannot discuss confidently is a liability rather than an asset.