Analía Dobboletta works at Asociación Rosarina de Cultura Inglesa, Rosario, Argentina, and is a highly experienced English B examiner.

Overview

As an EE examiner, the first session I marked I felt I was somehow reflected in every essay. To a certain extent, I somehow recognised some resemblance of my own post-graduate papers together with the voice of my tutor asking me ‘whys’ and ‘ hows’, and even sometimes pulling my leg when she said ‘you cannot take all the buses that you come across’. As well as this, I also remember her ‘tell me something my grandma didn’t know.’ As a lifelong learner, I found it interesting to go deeper into every aspect of my topic and found it hard at the beginning to focus on my research question (RQ). This anecdote goes to show that marking EEs, to me, is more approachable because I have been in the students’ shoes even if at different levels.

Examining EEs is interesting because each paper opens a window over the writer’s mental processes It is also challenging because the examiner needs to apply the criteria with flexibility since what students do is rarely fall that tidily in the descriptors. It is also rewarding basically because each EE leaves the examiner some learning experience since each essay is in itself unique. Examining an EE is a lesson in marking, in taking a journey that may start at different points.    

The Process of Marking

There is freedom of choice about how to approach marking as long as the criteria are applied correctly is guaranteed, and this I am glad to say lends ownership to the process. Personally, I first go through the whole essay to check whether all the elements are there:  Title page, Contents page, Introduction, Body of the essay, Conclusion, References and Bibliography. It is worth mentioning here that ‘Body of the essay’ is not a meaningful name to give to the whole of a section between ‘Introduction’ and ‘Conclusion’. Instead, my advice is split that section into more meaningful components that mark the stages into which the information to be presented to make it significant for the reader.

Here is an example of a Table of Contents whose subheadings are relevant to the RQ, Topic and Purpose: ‘Introduction, Historical Context, Racial Segregation, Violence to Afro-americans, Emotional Conflicts, Conclusion, Bibliography’.

Earlier I said ‘significant to the reader’ because this is something that needs to be borne in mind at all times: be reader friendly. Have your students think of the audience i.e. the examiner, always. The examiner is not in the student's mind and the rule of thumb then is to explain and expand so that the reader may follow the student’s thread of meaning. The examiner is not inside the student's mind, and is not at hand to ask either.

Next, I browse the ‘Bibliography’ to check what kind of sources have been cited, in particular what web pages and whether they are University sites or other reliable ones, such as papers. Then, how they have been cited. Let me tell you that once students have been taught how to cite following the chosen style, just as a Maths student uses a calculator, a student writing their EE may use one of the many citation generators, following their supervisor’s advice. As long as the same correct standard is used throughout, citations and references are a good thing if they support a given concept. 

After this, I check that the category the EE was entered in fits the title. The wrong category or even a missing category per se does not affect the mark (in Crit. D). This is a minor omission, but if it were this plus missing word total, it would cost 1 mark, i.e. 3 would be awarded. Missing the ‘Table of Contents’ or ‘Bibliography’ are major faults and this would cost 1 mark each. Non-standard format in the bibliography would also lose 1 mark. 

Finally, before going into awarding marks under descriptors A, B, C and D, I mark the ‘Research on Planning and Progress Form’ (RPPF) not to be prejudiced by what is in the EE. This, to me, is fairer. I assign provisional marks and then, while I read the essay, I evaluate whether there is some indication of what the student has written in their form and revise marks in Criterion E as appropriate. Here there starts the marking process proper.

The Application of Criteria

There is an interesting ‘Overview of the assessment criteria for the extended essay’ on the Guide p. 93.  This should help students and teacher on what to focus on in the criteria. I would say that the easiest, more concrete Criterion to mark is D and the most complex, more abstract is undoubtedly C. Under each criterion, what is it that distinguishes a good EE from a weaker one?

Criterion A: Focus and Method

All too often, what tells a good RQ from a weaker one is how well-focused or how broadly it is framed:

How does British author Ian Fleming describe the masculine stereotype in western culture through secret agent James Bond, the main character, in Casino Royale in the 50s? Vs. How is James Bond described in Casino Royale?       

If the RQ is well-focused chances are that the research discussion and evaluation will keep to the same focus.  This is exemplified below through the definition of the topic:

The topic of masculinity and masculine stereotype will be explored. Firstly, I will define masculinity together with current masculinity models, their traits and evolution. Secondly, the discussion and demonstration of how James Bond epitomises the traditional view of masculinity will follow. Finally, the extent to which James Bond follows the masculine stereotype will be evaluated.

Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding

This refers strictly to objective sources of knowledge that will demonstrate understanding of the topic. Any personal opinion should go to the RPPF.  An important indicator that distinguishes a good from a poor EE is the quotation of primary and secondary sources relevant to answer the RQ. An example of the primary source is, for example, ‘Fleming, Ian. Casino Royale. Penguin Books, 2002.’ or ‘Fleming, I. 2002. Casino Royale. New York: Penguin Books. The secondary sources will naturally be closely connected with what others have to say about the concepts embedded in the RQ.

Remember that the audience is the examiner and they know nothing about the topic of research so no background knowledge can be taken for granted. Therefore a good balance needs to be established between citations of primary and secondary sources to support the development of ideas.

Criterion C: Critical Thinking

A distinction needs to be drawn here between narration / description, i.e. what happened, on the one hand, and analysis and evaluation i.e. reasoned discussion, interpretation, assessment of the elements that have a bearing on the extent to which the RQ may be answered. As I said earlier, this criterion is not that easy to apply because there are three stands to it and 12 marks in terms of quantity, and mental processes that may or may not be there but they have to be marked according to what has actually been written. This means that the student may have used critical skills in their research but they fail at academic writing and fall into the trap of narration and description. Chances are that this may be doubtful. Maybe they are not. You never can tell. There may be a handful of reasons why critical thinking does not always translate as analysis, discussion and evaluation. Of one thing we can be sure, and this will save students from drowning into shallow waters: critical thinking does not translate as retelling. 

Criterion D: Presentation

Unless the student leaves aside key elements in the cover page,  Table of contents, incongruous citation or more words cited in the bibliography than references made in the essay, the mark is a guaranteed 4. However, all five marks from 0 - 4 are certainly awarded.

Criterion E: Engagement

All three instances of reflection add to the final mark but the one that certainly must reflect the most engagement is the final one. Once again, ‘reflection’ is connected with critical thinking, this time on the research process. There is a danger again on falling into description and narration as illustrated below:

I found lines in the film that reflected the alienation of people of colour in US, such as not allowing men and women to use the same bathroom or being judged by race or colour. Kate could solve many issues that men couldn’t, and after the plane was built, people began to give Kate and her peers involved in the project credit. In the end these women proved that in the era of masculinity, people of different skin colour and gender were equal.

Vs.

My research piece deepened my knowledge of the masculine stereotype in the western world in the 50s and I am proud of how I could tackle a piece of academic writing with confidence whereas before my EE was concluded I found it would be an intimidating process. Now I know how to cite concepts, explain them in my own words, cite the work of other, write a bibliography following a standard style and I also learnt how to structure the paper. At first, I deemed that the word count was irrelevant, but I later discovered that conciseness is an asset. In my case, the text became much more focused and thereby stronger. I am happy with my EE because I will be able to refine the knowledge I gained while carrying out this research as I will engage in further studies.

Advice for Teachers: Student’s Dos and Don’ts

Perhaps the most relevant advice to teachers is have students read research papers and draw their awareness to key items. Equally important, analyse the criteria together with your students and see how they are exemplified in sample papers. It is vital that students do not reach the stage of approaching their EE without a visit to the library, without carrying out a bibliographical search of the topic they wish to investigate, without drawing an outline, without reading other EEs.

To conclude, some dos and don’ts for students:

• Do choose a small-ranging topic and read widely on it to see what others have to say about it
• Do write and rewrite your RQ several times, making each wording more focused. Imagine that a spotlight is illuminating in the middle of darkness the little piece about the topic that you wish to investigate
• Do keep a note of the bibliography, both primary and secondary sources, highlight quotes, use the citation machine suggested by your teacher. You will need this information and it needs to be accessible
• Do think before you write: draw an outline and redraw it as many times as you are sure where you will begin and where you may end by the deadline

• Don’t leave the whole task for the last week. Approaching the EE is process that needs maturation drafting and redrafting, that needs the development of time management skills
• Don’t throw information at your reader / examiner without clearly analysing it or reasoning the concept or argument that you wish to illustrate. However, don’t take anything for granted, i.e. do not presuppose that your examiner knows about the topic you are writing about
• Don’t include new information in the conclusion. Quite on the contrary make sure you pull all the threads together and evaluate, if you wish, whether there is some weakness in your research
• Don’t think you have finished your EE until you have self-evaluated your work in all honesty. The criteria are essential before, during and after writing your EE. They will be used to measure your success so if you used them yourself, you may be more aware of what need improving before you hand in your assignment