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Extended essay

The extended essay is the concluding project for the IBDP. The extended essay (EE) process has long been regarded as the prime aspect of the IBDP with which the library and librarian should be involved.
This section looks at important areas of the EE feature of the IBDP, and indicates areas where the librarian could contribute to student engagement. 

Extended essay

What is the extended essay?

“The extended essay is perhaps the most inquiry-based activity that DP students will undertake, given that it is an open-ended task, driven by student interest. The extended essay inspires students to examine a topic that matters to them in an in-depth and meaningful way. Students choose what they want to research, decide on an appropriate research method, and engage in independent inquiry with the support of their supervisors. They develop important, transferable skills, such as planning, time management, decision- making and critical thinking, along with the qualities of perseverance and resilience.”

Diploma Programme Extended Essay, first assessment 2027. International Baccalaureate Organization, 2025, p. 9

How this EE section works

This is a landing page. In other words, this introduction page is very much a marker for the section. Most visitors to this website head for the extended essay section first.

As you can see from the menu on the left hand of this page and from selected pages from the section at the bottom of this page, there is a lot to look at. So, in this EE section, we look at the extended essay from different perspectives, including

  • Student perceptions and requirements
  • What is involved in the EE process
  • Who is involved in the process
  • Academic integrity
  • Library and librarian support - what it looks like
  • Research, inquiry, reflections 

Happy landing!

Photo by Daniel Eledut on Unsplash

IB Extended essay guide

The IB guide for the EE is to be followed for this significant feature of the IB Diploma Programme. Like other IB guides, it is valid for a certain period of time, then a new guide is issued. This notice, which has been given on the IB's Programme Resource Centre (part of MyIB), as well as elsewhere, identifies when the old guide ends and the new begins. 

“The final assessment of the current extended essay course will be in November 2026. From May 2027, all work submitted by students must match the assessment requirements of the new Extended essay guide (first assessment 2027).” 

From Diploma Programme updates, September 2026, IB, pp. 7-8 

New Extended Essay Guide (published February 2025, for use in 2027 onwards)

The big news for EE is that there was a new guide published by the EE in 2025. This video is a good introduction to the main sections of the new guide. 

Concluding project

This is the term used by the IB to collectively identify the big inquiry moment that typically ends each of the four IB programmes, which are the: 

  • Exhibition in the PYP (Primary Years Programme)
  • Personal Project in the MYP (Middle Years Programme)
  • Reflective Project in the CP (Careers Programme)
  • and the Extended Essay (DP)

Extended essay, extended essay or Extended Essay

The IB prefers ‘extended essay’ except where the term begins a sentence in which case ‘Extended essay’ is appropriate. However, others use ‘Extended Essay’. You'll find a mixture of these in this section, though we try to be sensitive to the style used by the IB: extended essay. Naturally, the acronym - EE - helps! 

Reference

Photos: airplane photo by Daniel Eledut on Unsplash; introduction box image created by an author of this website

Bold text in IB quotes above made by authors of this website 

Selected Pages

Tags: IBDP Core, Extended essay, essay, EE

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