A complete set of headings can still hide an incomplete argument. Your Extended Essay needs more than an introduction, several sections and a conclusion. The reader must understand what you investigated, why your approach was appropriate and how the evidence supports your answer.
That makes extended essay structure an argument decision, not just a formatting decision.
Before choosing a template, check which assessment framework applies to your examination session. An older guide can describe the right sections while directing you towards the wrong criteria.
Start With the EE Criteria for Your Assessment Session
The earlier IB assessment framework totals 34 marks. The revised framework, first assessed in May 2027, totals 30 marks.
The criteria change as follows:
- Criterion A: Focus and method, 6 marks through 2026; Framework for the essay, 6 marks from May 2027.
- Criterion B: Knowledge and understanding, 6 marks under both frameworks.
- Criterion C: Critical thinking, 12 marks through 2026; Analysis and line of argument, 6 marks from May 2027.
- Criterion D: Presentation, 4 marks through 2026; Discussion and evaluation, 8 marks from May 2027.
- Criterion E: Engagement, 6 marks through 2026; Reflection, 4 marks from May 2027.
Under the earlier model, Criterion C accounts for 12 of 34 marks. Under the revised model, analysis, argument, discussion and evaluation together account for 14 of 30 marks across C and D.
The planning lesson remains useful: protect space for reasoning rather than letting background information dominate.
These criteria are not separate pots of marks attached to individual headings. The section mappings below are practical guidance about where to demonstrate the relevant qualities, not official allocations of marks per section.
Title Page and Contents: Establish a Clear Framework
The IB’s required essay structure comprises a title page, contents page, introduction, main body, conclusion and reference list or bibliography. An abstract is not among these required elements.
Presentation connects most directly to Criterion D through 2026 and Criterion A from May 2027.
For the earlier framework, the title page guidance specifies the essay title, research question, subject details and word count.
For 2027 onwards, follow the new guide’s title page model. Required details include your student code, research question, subject or subjects, and word count. Interdisciplinary essays also identify their interdisciplinary framework.
Do not include student, supervisor or school names. The new guide specifies 12 point type, 1.5 line spacing and page numbering beginning after the contents page.
Use headings that explain the argument’s progression, then update the contents page after the final edit.
Introduction: Define the Question and Its Scope
The introduction primarily establishes evidence relevant to Criteria A and B under both frameworks.
The IB’s introduction guidance asks students to establish the research focus, scope, sources and direction of the argument.
State your research question explicitly. Explain the academic context and why the question is worth investigating. Establish boundaries that matter to the investigation, rather than leaving the reader to discover them halfway through.
Introduce the approach and source base briefly. Save detailed methodological justification for the appropriate body section.
For initial exploration, browse our EE topic ideas by subject, then test whether your chosen area can become a focused, researchable question. Topic suggestions are starting points, not predictions of a grade.
Finalise the introduction after developing the argument. It should introduce the investigation you actually completed, not a plan you abandoned.
Method and Context: Explain Why Your Approach Fits
Method and contextual knowledge primarily support Criteria A and B.
A methodology should explain research choices, not simply recount the order in which you worked. Identify the evidence you selected, the approach used to examine it and the reasons these choices fit the question.
RevisionDojo’s structure guide also distinguishes methodological justification from merely describing procedures.
Whether methodology needs its own heading depends on the subject and investigation. Check the subject guidance with your supervisor rather than forcing every essay into a laboratory report format.
Keep contextual material selective. Introduce concepts, definitions or theories because the analysis needs them. A useful editing question is whether removing a background paragraph would make the later reasoning harder to understand. If not, reconsider its place.
Main Body: Develop an Argument, Not a Source Summary
The body is where you develop much of the evidence relevant to the earlier Criterion C, or the revised Criteria C and D, while demonstrating subject knowledge under B.
Organise sections around steps needed to answer the research question. Avoid making each section a summary of another source unless that organisation genuinely serves the investigation.
A practical writing sequence is to establish a claim, present the relevant evidence, explain what it supports and consider what limits the inference. Then show how the section advances the overall answer. This is a suggested writing method, not an IB paragraph formula.
RevisionDojo’s EE structure guide offers a useful relevance test:
“Does this help solve my research question?”
Apply that question to every substantial section.
Do not assume quotations, calculations or results explain themselves. Make the connection between the evidence and your claim explicit.
Where evidence conflicts, examine the disagreement. Consider whether differences in methods, assumptions or source quality affect what you can conclude.
Evaluation should change the strength or scope of the argument. Simply listing limitations at the end, without explaining their consequences, leaves the reader to do that reasoning.
Conclusion: Give the Answer Your Evidence Supports
The conclusion contributes to critical thinking under the earlier Criterion C, and to argument, discussion and evaluation under the revised C and D.
Answer the research question directly. Bring together the findings that justify that answer and state any qualification necessary to keep it defensible.
Do not introduce a major new source or line of reasoning here. If it is essential to the answer, develop it in the body.
Distinguish between a limitation that slightly narrows the conclusion and one that prevents the question from being answered confidently. End with the judgment the research supports, not a broader claim the essay has not established.
References and Appendices: Keep the Essay Self Contained
Consistent referencing supports the essay’s academic presentation, but source acknowledgment is also an academic integrity responsibility, not merely a formatting exercise.
The IB’s referencing guidance recommends using the chosen citation style as you write. Do not leave the reconstruction of references until the final evening.
Make borrowed ideas, quotations and data traceable. A bibliography does not replace citations where the material is used.
Appendices are optional supporting material. Clastify’s appendix guide discusses their supporting role, while the IB’s appendix rules establish the important boundary: essential analysis and discussion belong in the essay.
Depending on the subject guidance, supporting material may include a questionnaire instrument or raw experimental data. Analysis and conclusions must remain in the body.
Do not rely on an examiner reading an appendix to understand your argument. Keep necessary evidence and interpretation in the essay itself. There is no separate allocation of marks for adding appendices.
Extended Essay Word Count: What Counts and What Does Not
The Extended Essay has a 4,000 word maximum. The IB’s word count guidance states that examiners do not read or assess material beyond the limit.
Included: the introduction, main body, conclusion, quotations, and footnotes or endnotes that contain explanation rather than references.
Excluded: the contents page, citations and references, bibliography, tables, maps, charts, diagrams, annotated illustrations, equations, formulas, calculations, running headers and the reflection form.
The distinction between a citation and an explanatory note matters. A footnote identifying a source is excluded. A footnote extending your explanation counts. Parenthetical citations are excluded, but the quotation they accompany counts.
Do not move necessary discussion into appendices or turn paragraphs into tables to disguise an excessive count.
As a planning recommendation, reserve most of the available space for evidence, analysis and discussion. There is no need to assign every section an identical allowance. Cut repeated background before cutting reasoning that the answer depends on.
Criterion E Belongs in the Reflection Form
The essay’s conclusion answers the research question. The reflection examines your learning through the research process.
Through 2026, Criterion E uses the Reflections on planning and progress form, or RPPF, and carries 6 marks. From May 2027, it uses the Reflection and progress form, or RPF, with one final reflective statement of no more than 500 words, and carries 4 marks.
Our guide to EE reflection and the 2027 RPF explains the distinction.
Keep notes on consequential decisions as you work. Those notes belong in your preparation for reflection, not as a personal diary inserted into the essay’s academic argument.
Build the Outline Around What You Need to Establish
Before drafting, write one sentence under each proposed heading explaining what that section must establish. Identify the evidence it needs and how it moves you towards an answer.
A heading without a clear purpose needs reconsideration. A claim without sufficient evidence needs more research or a narrower scope.
Confirm the session guide and subject requirements with your supervisor. For support with your wider subject study alongside the EE, explore Koncepts for DP students.
The aim is not to fill a template. It is to make each section necessary to the answer.
