ToK Essay Guidance Notes: FAQs
I’ve been getting lots of questions about the ToKToday Essay Guidance notes, so I thought that it might be useful to put them together into a Frequently Asked Questions Blog / video. The video version of this blog can be found here.
At the end of this blog I will give you a joke about Essay #5 May 24 (Custodians).
FAQ #1: Are the notes cheating ?
No, the notes are not cheating, they are not a ready prepared written essay. They are more like a mini textbook for each essay title. The notes explain different approaches and different ideas that could come up in the essay. You can't just copy and paste the notes, they wouldn't make much sense like that. Think of them as being a textbook just like your ToK textbook from Oxford or pearson, you can even cite the notes in your bibliography. the notes should be used as a way to design and frame your knowledge arguments. You can even use the suggested real life examples from the notes. The important issue is that you're going to have to pick and choose selectively from the notes just like you would from a textbook. As such they're not cheating because you are having to reconstruct and synthesize ideas, as you would from any other secondary source.
FAQ #2: Will I get flagged for plagiarism if I use the notes ?
At the beginning of the notes I warn against copying and pasting the notes. I recommend that you rewrite the ideas in your own words, just like you would from a textbook. The notes are just a mini-textbook that has been written specifically for a single essay question. The notes are 8000-11000 words long, far too long to be copied & pasted into a 1600 word ToK Essay. If you rewrite the sections of notes that you choose in your own words you won’t get flagged for plagiarism. By using the notes you are merely reading ideas, reconstituting and synthesising those ideas into your own thoughts and knowledge arguments.
FAQ3: Can I use your knowledge arguments, but my own Real life examples ?
I get asked this question quite often. Of course you can use the Knowledge Arguments from the ToKToday notes, and use your own real life examples. You can use as little or as much of the ToKToday notes as you wish. The important thing is that you ensure that your real life examples demonstrate the knowledge argument that you are developing.
FAQ #4: Are the ToK Essay Questions harder this year ?
It’s a matter of some debate, lots of ToK teachers have been discussing this across the networks and the forums. I made a video a few weeks ago: why some ToK Essay questions are easier than others. You can check that out for a more detailed analysis.
Personally I think that not having any quotes in the essay questions makes them a bit easier, students are less likely to be distracted from the knowledge argument by the quote . Secondly I think that essay titles 1 & 5 are are fairly straightforward. You don’t get more straightforward than Essay #5. Essays 3 & 4 are fairly normal in terms of difficulty. They’re the middle of the roaders that we get every year. Essay 2 may at first seem hard, but actually isn’t as hard as it first seems when you start to dig into it and think about it. Essay 6 I think is a tricky one, it has at least 3 propositional clauses in it, that’s a lot to deal with ! However, these are just my opinions, and you may have a very different understanding of the essay titles - and that’s why ToK is beautiful.
If you have questions about the ToK Essay Guidance Notes, or anything else, don't hesitate to contact me at Daniel@ToKToday.com. Alternatively use the FB Messenger Button on this page.
Ok, you’ve read this far so you deserve the Joke about Essay #5:
Q:Why did the teacher marry the janitor?
A: Because he swept her off her feet!
This is about essay #5 because in some parts of America the janitor is called the Custodian (Custodians of knowledge). However, in the UK the janitor is called the caretaker.., ok enough
Stay ToKtastic my friends!
Daniel, Lisbon, Oct 23