Mats Sveindal Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 Hi!I have just finished my Extended Essay in Economics. Don't ask my why, but the essay turned out to be only 2750 words. I know that you should normally write something like 3500-4000 words. (Not including abstract, bibliography etc.)I was just wondering if my amount of words are way to low to do well or even pass? I think that I have written what is to say. Obviously, I could have written 700 more words of BS just to cover the 3500 words, but I didn't have the time as I was struggling just to finish the 2750 words before it was due... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILM Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 Yes it is, if it was math or in sciences then it might be normal, but for humanities you should reach between 3500-4000 words. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
macrofire Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 The whole reason why a Math or Natural Sciences EE may have smaller word counts is that Math and Science uses plenty of mathematical language to express ideas and relations. Thus, calculations don't count in the final word count. In many other essays, however, there is no "other language" used other than the primary language, which is probably English, for you. Thus, your word count should be more than at least 3000. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mats Sveindal Posted November 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 Thank you for answering. As already mentioned, I know that 2750 words are very little for an EE. However, my question is if I will automatically flunk or get a very poor grade? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wireman Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 You won't automatically flunk because there is no lower limit for the number of words mentioned in the Extended Essay guide. Your grades will depend on the assessment criteria, which I haven't read fully. Refer to these, and see if there is any mention about the word count. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabz Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 There's no minimum limit to the EE whatsoever though they have said that anything over 4,000 will not be read explicitly. I suggest you talk to your Economics supervisor about it and show him the whole EE, if you've covered all the points well then that's probably enough.Remember, it's always about the quality and not the quantitiy. I think you achieve that level in 2,500 words with such techniques/structure then that can probably count as a pro. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 You are likely to get a poor grade for two reasons. Firstly that good grades require quantity AND quality, so even if you've written a very short high quality essay, you're still 1,200-ish words of analysis short and less than everybody else so you won't have hit the criteria as well as everybody else has who's written a larger amount. Secondly, YOU pick your EE title. If you've picked a topic which is inadequately broad or deep to discuss in 4,000 words then you've probably picked an inadequate title, which would also score lower than somebody who's picked a more appropriate topic, done more work and delivered more analysis.It's also possible that you've not gone sufficiently into depth.My advice to you is that this is not your last draft. Speak to your supervisor - the deadline for actual EE submission to the IBO is, I believe, some time in January. Any deadline given to you before then is a school internal deadline. So you've got plenty of time to think about whether you need to extend your analysis or extend your question if you're looking to try and do as well as you possibly can. A word count is no guarantee of quality, but an essay of sufficient quality and scope to score highly as an EE research essay is almost 100% likely to be longer than 2,750 words. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mats Sveindal Posted November 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 Thank you!Sandwich, my supervisor told me that the draft I delivered was the final one. Do I still have the right to deliver another draft later, even though it is over the schools deadline? Can I deliver until they are submitted? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabz Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 You are likely to get a poor grade for two reasons. Firstly that good grades require quantity AND quality, so even if you've written a very short high quality essay, you're still 1,200-ish words of analysis short and less than everybody else so you won't have hit the criteria as well as everybody else has who's written a larger amount. Secondly, YOU pick your EE title. If you've picked a topic which is inadequately broad or deep to discuss in 4,000 words then you've probably picked an inadequate title, which would also score lower than somebody who's picked a more appropriate topic, done more work and delivered more analysis.It's also possible that you've not gone sufficiently into depth.My advice to you is that this is not your last draft. Speak to your supervisor - the deadline for actual EE submission to the IBO is, I believe, some time in January. Any deadline given to you before then is a school internal deadline. So you've got plenty of time to think about whether you need to extend your analysis or extend your question if you're looking to try and do as well as you possibly can. A word count is no guarantee of quality, but an essay of sufficient quality and scope to score highly as an EE research essay is almost 100% likely to be longer than 2,750 words.All what you said is correct but for the sake of debate, if quantity mattered that much, they would have stated a minimum word count in the EE guide. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 Thank you!Sandwich, my supervisor told me that the draft I delivered was the final one. Do I still have the right to deliver another draft later, even though it is over the schools deadline? Can I deliver until they are submitted?I would talk to your supervisor and explain what you're worried about. There's no reason that *I* can think of why they would have been sent off already, it's likely that your school's just structured it to make sure you've all done your EEs in time, before Christmas etc. You don't have a 'right' as such, but if the EE is still around and not sent off, I'm sure that most reasonable supervisors would understand your concerns and let you do another draft if you earnestly want to do one.You are likely to get a poor grade for two reasons. Firstly that good grades require quantity AND quality, so even if you've written a very short high quality essay, you're still 1,200-ish words of analysis short and less than everybody else so you won't have hit the criteria as well as everybody else has who's written a larger amount. Secondly, YOU pick your EE title. If you've picked a topic which is inadequately broad or deep to discuss in 4,000 words then you've probably picked an inadequate title, which would also score lower than somebody who's picked a more appropriate topic, done more work and delivered more analysis.It's also possible that you've not gone sufficiently into depth.My advice to you is that this is not your last draft. Speak to your supervisor - the deadline for actual EE submission to the IBO is, I believe, some time in January. Any deadline given to you before then is a school internal deadline. So you've got plenty of time to think about whether you need to extend your analysis or extend your question if you're looking to try and do as well as you possibly can. A word count is no guarantee of quality, but an essay of sufficient quality and scope to score highly as an EE research essay is almost 100% likely to be longer than 2,750 words.All what you said is correct but for the sake of debate, if quantity mattered that much, they would have stated a minimum word count in the EE guide.True But then if quantity mattered that much they'd put minimum word counts into examination papers. For the sake of debate, perhaps they might have stated a minimum word count. On the other hand, there's no motive or reason for them to put in a minimum word count. You're not penalised for it by the literal number of words, but by the consequences of having done a much shorter essay that addresses fewer things and doesn't cover the suggested scope (the implication of giving 4,000 words being that you should address a 4,000-word long research question). Somebody who writes a 1,000 word essay doesn't need a minimum word count to know it's not going to have as much content in it as a 4,000 word essay. The word count is not an empirical thing, but more words correlates with more content correlates with a better essay. And the inverse is also true, perhaps more so. A fatally flawed 4,000 word essay and a good quality 1,000 word essay might score relatively near the same as each other. But obviously the best is going to be a 4,000 word high quality essay. If you're aiming for good marks competing against people who've delivered both the quality and the content, then you're doomed if you've done less than 3/4s of the work as everyone else. Quantity AND Quality will always be better than Quantity or Quality alone. But for the sake of debate rather than actuality, I take your point! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yansari Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 although there is no minimum word count, it is recommend to aim at 3500-4000 words 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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