Tuesday Top Tips - spotlight on Criterion G for the IA (HL & SL)
HL IA Criterion G - Structure (written report) (Top mark band 2 marks)
Most students can manage to get 2 out of 2 marks. The key is to ensure all arguments are related back to the research question. Some students get bogged down in the details of what they are writing about and forget that the ultimate purpose of the written report is to address (and answer) the research question. So my tops tips for this criterion are as follows:
Refer to the research question (RQ) throughout the IA - I recommend students write their RQ on a sticky note and have it in view at all times when writing the IA. If in doubt or they're feeling a little confused, they should look to the RQ to help them re-focus the development of their written report.
Write a plan before writing the report - Just like writing an essay or other piece of extended written work, having a bullet point plan of what is to be written will help keep students on track. The bullet point plan is also a useful preview of any areas where their arguments are getting off-track so corrections can be made before writing the actual report.
Submit a complete draft - Writing and submitting a complete/full draft means students can get quality feedback from their teacher. Students who choose to waste this opportunity to receive focused and specific feedback for each assessment criterion are highly likely to lose track of creating an argument that is easy/logical to follow and is clearly related to the RQ.
SL IA Criterion G - Presentation (Top mark band 2 marks)
This is a relatively easy assessment criterion to score top marks. However, careless errors prevent many students from doing so. I advise my students to do the following:
Use a checklist of the presentation requirements - The requirements are listed clearly in the assessment criterion. Students should create a checklist to ensure they have met each of these formal requirements.
Automate the table of contents - The table of contents must be accurate in order to reach the top markband. Manually typing the table of contents is a recipe for careless errors. Microsoft Word and Google Docs both have built-in tools to create and automate an accurate table of contents. Video tutorials of how to do this can be found here: Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Automate citations and the bibliography - Citations and referencing must be consistent and a complete bibliography must also be provided. Manually typing each citation and the bibliography in a specific referencing style is very complicated and extremely time consuming, as students have to be fully familiar with a particular referencing style (e.g. APA, MLA, Harvard etc.). Microsoft Word and Google Docs both have built-in tools to create and automate citations and a bibliography in a consistent referencing style. Video tutorials of how to do this can be found here: Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
I haven’t included tutorials for Mac’s Pages as it requires a program called EndNote. My students have reported they find this Pages and Endnote combo cumbersome and not user-friendly so they prefer to use Microsoft Word or Google Doc. If anyone has any helpful tutorials on referencing in Mac’s Pages, please put them in the comments below for other subscribers.
All the best!
