Help! Urgent help needed - ToK Essay!
I am receiving lots of messages from students across the world at the moment saying things like "Help! I need urgent help with my ToK Essay! My deadline is very soon, and I’m finding it really difficult". Please keep reaching out, I love to help you, that’s what I’m here for.
Today, on ToKToday we're going to look at what you can do if you’re worried about completing your ToK essay. Maybe you don’t know where to start, or you may have left it a little late. Here’s the ToKToday guide to saving your ToK life:
1. Planning.
No matter how little time you have left, spending some time Planning will help you to write a better essay. You have 1600 words, so think of it as an 8 paragraph essay, each para is 200 words long. A basic essay structure that will deliver for most titles is shown below:
Generic ToK Essay Structure
This is a super rough & ready essay structure designed to get you out of a last minute hole. Of course there are many other essay structures that you could use, many better essay structures, but if you’re down to the last 36 hrs before hand in time this essay structure can deliver you an essay that will pass. If you need more help with how to structure the essay see the video linked here.
In the introduction you can explain your interpretation of the prescribed title, and explain how you intend to answer the prescribed title, if there are assumptions in the title you may want to explain whether you intend to address these and why. Many students define key concepts in the Introduction, however I would recommend putting your definitions in the knowledge arguments in each AoK.
2. Knowledge Arguments
Knowledge Arguments are the central focus of your essay, these are what you will get most of your marks for. So spend time working these out before you start writing. You need at least one central knowledge argument for each AoK. You can then develop other knowledge arguments as the evaluation points for the main knowledge argument in each AoK.
If you’re struggling to find knowledge arguments then use your ToK Notes, your ToK textbook (if you have one), blogs on this site, and the ToKToday videos on YouTube.
3. Real World Examples
Lots of people get hung up on which real world examples to use. You can draw on your other DP subjects for real world examples, pull them from the things that you have studied in other DP subjects. How you use the real world example to illustrate the knowledge argument is more important than the real world example used.
4. Evaluation Points.
If you want to score more than 5 out of 10 you need to evaluate your knowledge arguments. These are best thought of as “other points of view”. Good evaluation points will constitute further knowledge arguments in your essay. If you are struggling to identify evaluation points then watch the video linked above .
5. Filling in the paragraphs.
Once you know what you are putting in each of your 8 paragraphs you have your structure. Now all that you have to do is to fill in the words around the main points in each paragraph. This is how you both speed up the writing process and improve the quality of you what you write.
6. Implications & Conclusions.
Finally you need to include a concluding paragraph that ties all of the arguments across both AoKs together. The conclusion must directly and unequivocally address the original prescribed title, this will probably require using the words from the prescribed title in your conclusion. You could also include the implications of your conclusion in this final paragraph.
More help with ToK Essay
We have lots of resources & support for you to help you to write your ToK Essay:.
We have at least 3 videos on YouTube explaining, and giving examples for, EACH ToK Essay title.
We have blog posts explaining possible different approaches for each essay title.
We have detailed Guidance Notes for each ToK Essay title.
We can also provide online coaching sessions to support you every step of the way in writing your essay.
Finally, once you have a first draft in place we can provide detailed written feedback to help you to refine your thinking and writing.
If you need help then please feel free to reach out, the more time we have to work together before your submission deadline the better we can develop your essay so please don’t leave it too late.
If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to email me at Daniel@ToKToday.com, or use the Messenger icon on this website.
Daniel, Lisbon,
January 2024
Don't want to read? Watch the video instead: