Extended Essay Examples and Structure: How to Plan a High-Scoring IB EE

Students search for Extended Essay examples because they want to see what a successful EE looks like. Teachers can make examples more useful by turning them into structure and research-decision questions instead of templates to copy.

The IB shares example EE titles and points schools toward official resources on its example essays page. Use those resources with your school's current guidance.

What strong EE examples usually have in common

• A research question narrow enough to answer.
• Evidence selected for a clear analytical purpose.
• A structure that follows the investigation rather than a generic five-paragraph format.
• Evaluation of sources, methods, limitations, or competing interpretations.
• A conclusion that answers the research question and explains the strength of that answer.

How to structure the IB Extended Essay

1. Introduction: Establish the question, scope, method, and why the topic matters.
2. Context: Give only the background needed to understand the analysis.
3. Method or source approach: Explain how evidence will answer the question.
4. Analysis sections: Organize by argument, factor, method, or finding.
5. Evaluation: Discuss limitations and the strength of the findings.
6. Conclusion: Answer the research question directly.

Teacher questions for high-scoring drafts

• "Which section does the most work in answering the research question?"
• "Where does the essay evaluate evidence instead of reporting it?"
• "What would a skeptical reader challenge first?"
• "Does the conclusion match the evidence actually presented?"

Feedback warning

Do not let examples become a copying exercise. Ask students to identify the decision behind the example's structure, then decide whether that decision fits their own subject and question.

Next steps

Use the Extended Essay Grader to draft comments on structure, evidence, and analysis, then edit them as the supervisor before sharing.