TOK Essay

Nature of the TOK essay-

The TOK essay is a part of the external assessment (EA) component of the TOK assessment, which is comprised of two components TOK essay and presentation . The IBDP candidates are required to demonstrate their thinking skills in handling one of the six prescribed titles, where real-life examples illustrate the main idea. Real-life examples is a fruit of a student’s academic experience or experience outside the classroom. No hypothetical examples are to be considered. If anecdotal experience is taken into consideration, it is necessary to validate them with substantial evidences.

General instructions of the TOK essay-

Reflection on a knowledge question (KQ) lies at its heart.

The students are supposed to choose one out of six prescribed titles. The titles ask generic KQs which are answered with reference to a transdisciplinary intersection between the specific IBDP disciplines or with reference to opinionated knowledge gained inside or outside the classroom.

The maximum length for the essay is 1,600 words.

All essays are externally assessed by the IB.

The TOK essay looks for a sustained construction of KQs which help in reaching conclusions. It does not look for a mere explanation of KQs, rather analysis of the KQs backed up by claims and counter claims.

The objective requires students to demonstrate their ability to link the knowledge questions to the different areas of knowledge (AOKs) and ways of knowing (WOKs).

The essay must be written in standard 12 font and double spaced.

The chosen title is to be handled in the same way as given, without allowing any distortion whatsoever. Any modification of the title will perversely affect the score, distortion with no relevance to the title gives zero.

TOK essay and academic honesty

The TOK essay must reflect ‘academic honesty’ in terms of authenticity and acknowledgements and references.

Authenticity is ensured by the teacher’s evaluation on the student’s integrity of creating the essay on his or her own. The scrutinization process involves a close evaluation of the initial exploration of the chosen prescribed title, full draft of the essay, referred websites and/or bibliography, style of writing to avoid discrepancy, validation of the academic honesty through a report from an online plagiarism detection service.

Acknowledgement and references highlight that it is of utmost importance for the candidates to acknowledge thoughts or ideas of other persons, provided they are used in the work. This is to avoid plagiarism. Also, at no point of time collusion is entertained, where a candidate knowingly allows his or her work, either in the form of hard copy or by electronic means, to be submitted for assessment by another candidate.

Regardless of the reference style adopted by the school for a given subject, it is expected that the minimum information given includes name of author(s), date of publication, title of source, and page numbers as applicable.

Citation can be in-text, visual material, text, graphs, images and/or data published in print or in electronic sources that is not their own must also be attributed to the source. Again, an appropriate style of referencing/citation must be used.

Factual claims that may be considered common knowledge with the authoritative source of claim mentioned.

The bibliography or works cited should include only those works (such as books, journals, magazines and online sources) used by the student. There needs to be a clear and coherent nexus between the works listed and location of use in the text. A list of books at the end of the essay is not useful unless reference has been made to all of them within the essay.

As appropriate, the bibliography or works cited list should specify the author(s), title, date and place of publication, the name of the publisher or URL, the date when the web page was accessed, adhering to one standard method of listing sources.

The essay is not an explanatory theoretical research, rather a kind of critique or analysis of claims and counter claims to back up the KQ. So, there is no need of extended footnotes or appendices.

Steps to be followed in handling the TOK essay-

Candidates are required to-

1. Discuss the choice of the prescribed title consulting their teacher
2. Explore or develop ideas in written form
3. Plan their essay by drawing the connections between ideas
4. Create a plan of the essay in a paragraph
5. Present the draft of the essay to the teacher to be guided with her comments but not modification
6. Seek advice of the teacher with reference to the right choice of example used, in case the essay is written in the third language

TOK Essay length

The maximum length of the essay is 1,600 words.

The main part or body of the essay

Any one or multiple quotations used

The components not included in the TOK essay word-count

Any acknowledgments

The references (whether given in footnotes, endnotes or in-text)

Any maps, charts, diagrams, annotated illustrations or tables

The bibliography.

Causes for Penalization

Essays that exceed the word limit will be penalized. The assessment would be based on the first 1600 words. A 1-mark penalty will be applied to the essay.

Students are required to indicate the number of words when the essay is uploaded during the submission process.

TOK essay rubrics

The essay is marked on a scale of 10. The assessment is based on holistic or global judgment rather than an analytical process of totalling the assessment of separate criteria. Although in the essay the assessment is presented as two aspects which are understanding KQs and quality of analysis of KQs, they are integrated into five described levels of performance.

Each markband level descriptor corresponds to a range of two different marks within which a student’s performance may vary.

The judgment about the TOK essay is to be made on the basis of the following two aspects:

Understanding KQs

Quality of analysis of KQs

Understanding Knowledge question

This aspect is concerned with the extent to which the essay focuses on knowledge questions pertinent to the prescribed title, and with the depth and breadth of the understanding demonstrated in the essay. KQs need to have a strong direct connection with the prescribed title.

Depth of understanding draws a distinction within AOKs and WOs or shows how the different facets of KQs are connected to these.

Breadth of understanding is often indicated by making comparisons between WOKs and AOKs.

Different titles asking different KQs would have their connection with AOKs and WOKs in different subjective capacities.

This aspect of assessment also looks into how the candidate connects his or her own perspective as a knower in relation to other perspectives, such as those that may arise, for example, from academic and philosophical traditions, culture, demographic picture in the society.