Do’s and Don’ts of Extended Essays

Do:

• Be careful not to plagiarize
• Choose a topic for which a substantial number of academic references are available
• Find your resources before you finalize your question.
• Write a focused research question that is explicitly formulated and well expressed.
• Include analysis and evaluation.
• Consider more than one side of an argument – make sure that there is a debate relevant to your question.
• Mention the need for further research and unresolved questions within your conclusion.
• Cite your sources accurately – and do not list sources that you have not cited in your paper.

Don’t:

• Choose a topic without looking for resources first!
• Choose a topic that is too broad for an essay of 4000 words.
• Conduct your own experiment, interviews, surveys, or observations.
• Write a descriptive essays.  These begin with words like “What” or “Which”.
• Write a short conclusion of only 3 – 5 sentences.
• Exceed the word limit.

This is a list of sample EE questions.  Please use them as a guide to help develop a question that you would like to research.

Reference: John Crane IB psychology A big thank you to Judith Silver for her contributions to this list!

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

• What levels of psychological arousal are most effective for players in team sports?
• What methods are available to avoid choking in competitive sport?
• Why exercise hurts: an exploration of the processes and functions of fatigue and pain
• How effective can exercise be in combating clinical depression?
• How does participation in team sports influence the development of social skills in 12-16 year old school students?
• To what extent does personality affect an elite sportsman’s performance?
• Does being a perfectionist have a detrimental effect on sporting performance?
• Aggression in sports: A discussion of the psychological explanations of aggression in female amateur roller derby players and the extent to which this aggression affects the player’s everyday life
• The relationship between team cohesion and performance in basketball
• To what extent does a coach play a role in a team’s motivation?
• How to decrease the problem of football hooliganism

Abormal psychology

• To what extent is depression the result of one’s environment?
• To what extent are the media to blame for eating disorders?
• To what extent is Schizophrenia no longer a viable Psychological construct?
• To what extent are the causes of anorexia the result of cultural factors?
• What effect do autistic siblings have on their non-autistic siblings
• Is it possible to determine what causes autism?
• A comparison of the effectiveness of individualized counseling and family counseling n the treatment of anorexia
• Are children raised by single parents more likely to become depressed than others?
• An evaluation of SSRIs in the treatment of depression
• Should “shyness” be treated?

Developmental psychology

• How important is fathering to children?
• What effects do different disciplinary styles and policies in schools have on the behaviour and development of children?
• Is it true that the stages of cognitive development are universal in all cultures?

Health Psychology

• Is addictive behaviour more inherited or is it more influenced by environment and their treatments?
• How can society address the problem of teenage obesity?
• The effect of diet on children’s performance in an educational setting
• How do Psychological factors affect a person’s immune system?
• Is hypnosis an effective treatment for pain relief?
• What are the effects of the disruption of the circadian cycle by jetlag and how can the effects be avoided?
• Are married couples happier than singles?
• What do we know about the relationship between stress and physiological illness and can we use that knowledge to cope with stress?
• An investigation into the extent to which adolescent binge drinking is a product of socialization.

Criminal Psychology

• Is profiling an accurate method to deter terrorism?
• To what extent is violent crime in men the result of a biological predisposition?
• To what extent can a child’s testimony be seen as credible and reliable within an eyewitness situation?
• Can empathy be taught? : an evaluation of the ‘Restorative Justice’ initiative in the UK
• How far can psychological theories and research be applied to help juries make fair decisions?

Human Relationships

• Is there a biological basis for homosexuality?
• To what extent is the Stanford Prison Study an adequate explanation of what happened in the Holocaust?
• To what extent does psychology provide valid explanations for altruistic behaviour?
• Resiliency in response to traumatic events – why makes some people more resilient than others?
• To what extent can the “contact hypothesis” be used to decrease prejudice between groups?
• How far can the committing of war atrocities be explained by Milgram’s obedience account?

Psychology and Education

• Montessori schools: based on a humanistic approach to education are they also in line with cognitive theory?
• An investigation into whether there is a critical period for language acquisition
• The effect of music on the human brain
• To what extent do parents’ discipline style influence the temperament of the children?
• How far is intelligence determined by heredity or how far is it malleable?
• What is the relationship between precocious talent and adult achievement? ( e.g. in Music)
• Do children who have attended some form of pre-schooling when under the age of 5 yrs have an educational advantage when they start school?
• To what extent does violence in the televised media have the potential to increase the level of aggression within children?
• A cross-cultural comparison ( e.g. China/UK ) of the effects of schooling on motivation to learn and educational achievement
• Should boys and girls be educated differently?
• An evaluation of “smart drugs” in improving school performance.

Other topics

• What is the best way to be happy at work? Is happiness compatible with productivity?  Is there any evidence that companies which treat their workers well are more commercially successful?
• What are the psychological consequences of current increases in job-insecurity and unemployment arising from the ‘credit-crunch’ ?
• Are there any common characteristics of ‘good leaders’ or do leaders need to exercise different personal qualities or styles of behaviour in different spheres? ( e.g. factory manager, vs army commander )