JacobSchoenherr

6/4/16
WhatILearnedFromReadingmySampleExtendedEssay
BeginningmyjourneyintotherealmoftheExtendedEssay,myonlypriorknowledge
wasthatitwasindeedanessayanextendedone,tobeprecise.Iknewnothingofitspurpose,
formatting,requirements,importance,orpossibleneedforexperimentation,andsoIassumedit
wassimplyanessaywrittenaboutanythingthatinterestedus,theonlyrequirementbeingthatit
lasted4000words.

Oh,howwrongIwas

ItturnsoutthattheExtendedEssayinvolvespickingthemostspecializedtopiconecanfind,
performingthejuniorversionofaprofessionalexperimentdoneonthesamespecializedtopic,
analyzingthedata,andcombiningitwithfiveWikipediapagesworthofacronymsandgenomes.
IfIlearnedanything,Ilearnedtobe
scared
.Asidefromintimidation,though,readingthesample
ExtendedEssaytaughtme:
Abstract
comingatthebeginningofmyessay,beforeeventheintroduction,thefirststepof
anabstractistointroducemymaintopicofresearchoutsidetheessaysspecificcontextof
study.InthecaseoftheSEEIread,theauthorwasexperimentingcircadianrhythmswith
regardstoSiberianHamsters,andsotheabstractbeganbyexplainingwhatcircadianrhythms
were.Theauthoralsoexplainedwhatmethodofexperimentationhewouldbeusing,goingso
farastogiveexamplesofpreviouslydoneexperimentsofthesamenature.ThoughIremain
unsureastotheoverallpurposeofanabstract,asitdoesntseemtobetosummarizethe
essay(aspreviouslythought),themethodbywhichIcanwriteonehasbeenmademoreclear.

Introduction
ithelpstorelatethetopicofdiscussiontoanygivenhuman,mostlytoconveyits
importance.MySEEauthorincludedsomehistoryrelevanttohisresearchtopic,meaningthat
itsnotagainsttheguidelinestomentiondifferentIBsubjects,solongastheydontbeginto
blend.
Method/Procedures
partoftheessayincludeslayingoutonesneededmaterialsand
schedule.Theauthorevenincludedthespecificdaysinwhichcertaintaskswerecompleted,so
Iknowdetailsdonthavetobestrictlyavoidedsolongastheyrerelevant(Iwouldthinktheyd
evenbenecessaryinordertoreachthewordlimit)
Results
Thereisntapagelimit,soitseemsthebulkofmyphysicalessaywillbetakenupmy
picturesofmyexperimentaldata.Itisnecessarythateverythingbelabeled,andacceptablethat
all

databeshown,eventhoughitmightseemredundantpastthefirstexperiment.
AnalysisandEvaluation
Weareexpectedtoinformthereaderofourstrengthsand
weaknesseswithregardstoexperimenting.Partofouressayinvolvesgivingexamplesofhow
certainaspectscouldbe/havebeenimproveduponinfuture/pastexperiments.Icanonly
assumethisisforthesakeoffutureEEauthors,thoughperhapstheIBboardhasaproblem
withfeelingprideinoneswork.
Conclusion
wedonthavetoendwithwordsofencouragementorinspiration,oratleastthe
authorwhoseworkIreaddidnt.IdontbelievethisisapatternIllfollow,butitscomfortingto
knowIwonthavetodustofftheolprosemachinetoinspirethereaderwithmyfinelycrafted
syntaxandexpertlypolishedpathos.