Reflections for the Planning and Progress Form

There are three mandatory reflection sessions that are a formal part of the extended essay. These should be recorded on the Reflections on planning and progress form - at International School of Geneva - Campus des Nations this is all done on ManageBac > Extended Essay > Planning and Progress Form. The maximum length of all fields is 500 words.

"Supervisors and candidates must ensure that reflections are based on evidence."

Geography Extended Essay Report - May 2018

IB Mastery - How To Write IB Extended Essay Reflections

First Reflection session

• This initial reflection session should be a dialogue between the student and the supervisor based on the student’s initial explorations.
  • Possible approaches and any potential problems that might arise
  • Strategies for developing the initial ideas for the essay and expanding the research
  • How are the initial ideas obviously geographical? Is it spatially (place) focused?
  • What geographical concepts, theories or ideas be applied to it?
  • Are geographical data sources available?

If an examiner read the RPPF could they guess/write your research question?

General advice

Interim Reflection

• This session is a continuation of the dialogue between supervisor and student in which the student must demonstrate the progress they have made in their research. They must also be able to discuss any challenges they have encountered, offer their own potential solutions and seek advice as necessary.
  • Why is the 'question' worth asking?
  • Is it sharply focused - leading to a clear and refined research question?
  • Is there a viable 'meaty' argument on which to base the essay?

Final Reflection - viva voce

• The viva voce is conducted once the student has submitted the final version of their extended essay. At this point in the process no further changes can be made to the essay. Expect a variety of open-ended questions to elicit holistic evidence of your learning experience - such as:
  • What were some of the most rewarding parts of this process?
  • What were some of the most challenging?
  • What have been the high and low points of the research and writing process?
  • What were the most interesting aspects of the process? Did you discover anything that surprised you? Why was the research worth doing?
  • What have you learned through writing this essay? Is there any advice you would want to pass on to someone just starting out on an extended essay?
  • Were there any unresolved issues following your research? Any questions you could not find good answers to?
  • How did the focus of your research change over the course of your research?
  • Is there anything else that you would particularly like me to mention in my report?

"Students should be encouraged, through the questions asked by the supervisor during the reflection sessions, to think critically about the process that they have been through, rather than putting forward a simple description of the actions that have been taken, or summarizing the conclusions of their essay."

General Extended Essay Report - May 2018