EXTENDED ESSAY REPORTS – MAY 2003

Danish – Group 1

The range and suitability of the work submitted

No problems.

Candidates' performance against each criterion

General assessment criteria

Criterion A Research question

Most of the students have put forward some very precise research questions which have made it
possible to write an essay with a clear point of view and most of the candidates have chosen subjects
worth writing about and therefore avoided comparing subjects that cannot be compared.

I would like to point out that the extended essays are about literature. Some essays deal with subjects
like religion instead of literature. On the other hand I have read many good essays with a clear focus.
My campaign during the last years against essays comparing incomparable elements seems to have
been successful.

Criterion B Approach to the research question

It is a problem to collect and use relevant information. Too often there are only one or two references
to very central books listed in the essay although it is obvious that these central books have been the
basic inspiration for the EE.

On the other hand some students seem to think that one reference to one essential book is sufficient,
and then they just write the EE without using either the reference or the book in the other parts of the
essay.

Other students have a very fine bibliography but they only use some of the titles in the essay. It is a
bad habit to list a lot of books without using them. I still think that it would be a great help if the
candidates provide printout of articles taken from the Internet as an appendix to the essays because
Internet addresses often disappear after some months and then it is impossible to check the pieces of
information.

Criterion C Analysis/interpretation
All students are familiar with the works they are writing about. The ability to interpret is therefore
essential. The best essays are the essays that show the ability to interpret and to connect the
interpretation with e.g. the era and or theories. Some of the works show no ability to connect the
literature read with relevant material and therefore the analysis in these works is not as good as it
could be.

Criterion D Argument/evaluation
All students try to stick to their research question although not all research questions are good
questions. Perhaps the supervisor should be more active in this early part of the process.

Criterion E Conclusion
Only a very few have forgotten the conclusion. But only a very few have made a conclusion that
points out what unsolved questions remain for further investigations.

Criterion F Abstract
The abstract tends to focus on the essential parts of the essay. But some candidates often just give a
summary of the books dealt with in the essay. The abstract would be much better, if the candidates
were more aware about their own work and the central arguments in it. Too many abstracts are rather
 EXTENDED ESSAY REPORTS – MAY 2003

mechanical. In fact the abstract could be built on the following questions: What have I done? How
have I done it? Why have I done it?

Criterion G Formal presentation

The general standard of the essays is good.

Criterion H Holistic judgement

No problem.

Subject assessment criteria

Criterion J Knowledge and understanding of the literature studied and, where appropriate, reference
to secondary sources
The candidates know what they have read and they know how to deal with it. The problem is that
some of them have chosen subjects that are not dealt with in a novel or a short story but in non-fiction
as mentioned under criterion A.

Recommendations for the supervision of future candidate

See criterion B.