Extended Essay

The Extended Essay (EE) is completed by all DP Diploma candidates in 11th and 12th grade. It is an interdisciplinary 4,000-word research paper that addresses an issue of global significance within a local context. 

JQUS students have written about topics such as:

• How does littering affect the United States economy?
• How does Alzheimer's affect the caregivers/loved ones throughout the patient's journey with the disease?
• What is the controversy behind water fluoridation and if possible, what are the solutions?
• How does hospital birthing affect the mother and baby?

11th Grade/Junior Year 

• March of 11th Grade: students begin to explore topic areas for the EE by completing journal entries from the EE guide (just as they did for the Personal Project).
• April of 11th Grade: students complete individual meetings with IB Coordinators and Headmasters to help refine topic chosen, to get student started with research, and to match with a supervisor.  The IB Coordinators and Headmasters might ask student to do more work in thinking about the topic before matching with a supervisor—this is when student needs to demonstrate commitment to working with a chosen topic.
• May/June of 11th Grade: students meet at least once with supervisor and together, they agree on work to complete before the end of the school year.
• Summer - July/August: student works independently researching topic over the summer, checking in with supervisor by e-mail.  There will be one optional meeting at JQUS over the summer where any student and supervisor can come. Pizza will be provided! 

12th Grade/Senior Year

• September of 12th Grade: student should be ready to finish up research and start writing. Student should make plans to meet with Supervisor and draw up a list of goals for the first few months of the school year.
• October of 12th Grade: student is registered for the EE. Commitment to completing the EE must be demonstrated.
• December of 12th Grade: Draft of EE is due to supervisor before December break. Supervisor can comment on only one draft of EE.
• January of 12th Grade: Drafts will be returned to students at the beginning of the month. Final versions will be due to supervisor at the end of the month.  The supervisor will schedule a final oral interview with student and the EE will be submitted to the IB for assessment.

As the timeline indicates, the choice of supervisor is a joint decision, ultimately made by the coordinators and headmasters based on input from the student.  No supervisor is responsible for more than 4 students.