ToK Essay Guidance Notes & Mind Maps

Guidance Notes and Mind Maps for the May 2023 ToK Essays are now available from The Store.

The Guidance Notes are very detailed, there are 5000-700 words of ToK analysis for each essay. They:

• include suggestions on the structure of your essay

• include suggestions for possible claims & counterclaims that you could use.

• include 5000-7000 words of ToK analysis.

• have integration of evaluation & implication points.

• have integration of key ToK concepts.

The Mind Maps Pack is the mind maps that I used to write the detailed guidance notes. The pack includes the mind maps for all 6 essays.

The mindmaps show the main structures, and concepts used, in the more detailed Guidance Notes available on the site.

There is 1 x A4 sized Mindmap for each Essay Title (plus an additional essay structure for Essay #2).

The Mind Maps are available FOR FREE to all TokToday site subscribers, so if you want to save yourself $15 sign up below !

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Sample of guidance notes for Essay #4 May 2023

How to plan your ToK Essay

There's no single formula to best plan your ToK Essay, but it's fairly safe to say that you will need to invest time and (cognitive) energy into planning if you want to be awarded a good score.

However, this is not an overly onerous task if you start early, and spend a short period of time each week on the essay. Over a couple of months this will add up to a substantial foundation of planning, and more importantly - a good understanding of your chosen prescribed title.

So what do I actually do in the planning stage ?

I'll put forward a 6 stage process for planning your essay, I have used IDEO's Design Thinking Stages as the basic framework, within which I have fitted the ToK Essay development activities. As mentioned earlier this is just one of many possible models, you can adapt it according to your needs.

^ stages of planning ToK Essay

You can get a full size version of the diagram above at this link

This process begins after you have chosen your preferred Prescribed Title, if you need help with that process please see the blog (& videos) linked here.

Discovery Phase

During this phase you will build the foundation for planning and writing your ToK Essay. If you get things right at this stage you will save yourself time, work and potential stress later on.

You can start by putting time into your weekly schedule to work on your ToK essay, if you give yourself 2-3 months to complete the essay you will probably only need to put 30mins-1hr / week into your schedule to successfully finish the essay. You should plan backwards from the Draft Deadline (remember the Draft Deadline should always be treated as the Final Deadline). Decide what on date you will stop planning and researching, and start writing. Plan your writing sessions. How many (quality) words can you write in an hour ? Probably about 200, if so then plan 8-10 hours of writing sessions.

You should also decide where you are going to store your planning documents, and record your collaborative sessions for the ToK Essay (eg Google suite, iCloud, OneNote, etc). Obviously ensure that everything is being copied to the cloud, hard drives do sometimes fail...,

Get together the necessary documents (eg IB ToK Subject Guide, Your school's ToK Handbook etc). Ensure that you have passwords for any online databases (eg JSTOR) that you may use.

Finally, make a commitment to yourself. This is private to you, and it's a nice way to make this process valuable and personal to you. My commitment to myself at the beginning of a big project always involves the gratitude that I have to be offered the opportunity to do this, the spirit within which I will do the project, and a respect for the learning that will come from the process. That's my commitment to myself, you can make a commitment which is meaningful to you.

Interpretation Phase.

During this phase you are going to build your personal interpretation of the question. Do this before you start to take on other people's interpretations. It is important that you have created your own understanding of the question before you listen to others so that when it comes to developing and writing the essay you have a starting point which comes from your core inner understanding. When students run into problems with the essay I always ask them what they thought the question was asking (& what their answer to it was) before they started writing the answer. Often the student will not be able to answer this question because they hadn't established their personal (foundational) understanding before taking on the views of others.

You can use the ToK Essay Activators during the Interpretation Phase to help you to develop your own understanding of the Prescribed Title.

The ToK Essay Activators (above) are prompts to help you to develop your own understanding of the essay. You can use these (on your own) to guide your thinking at this early stage.

It is very useful to find a way to record your thinking at this stage. You may enjoying using the scattergram method, or visual thinking through drawing or doodling, or even making a flowchart. However you choose to do it I would strongly recommend having an easily accessible record of your thinking, which is meaningful to you, at this early stage.

Ideation Phase.

Once you've established your own understanding of the essay now is a good time to start to collaborate with your fellow ToK students, groupwork with students who are writing the same PT as you. Collaboration is a give and take relationship, you can offer your understanding of the PT, and in turn they will help you to deepen your understanding by offering their interpretation.

The aim here is to gather lots of ideas, and to develop new interpretations / perspectives. The aim is not to replace your own understanding with someone else's ideas (doing this will make it much harder for you to write a high scoring essay). Your work with other students is to help you to develop your ideas in breadth, depth and scope.

At this stage you can also start honing (refining) your arguments, research sources, and examples that you will draw upon in the essay. As noted in other blogs I recommend using examples that are drawn from your other DP subjects. Using these examples will save you time (as it's content that you've already learned), you can ask your subject teachers for help (eg if you're using an example from Chemistry then you can ask your Chemistry teacher to give you more information about the development of the theory/concept etc). Finally, using examples drawn from your other DP subjects will help you to deepen your understanding in that subject. ToK helps learning in the Hexagon, and the Hexagon helps your learning in ToK.

Your teacher will probably design collaborative group learning experiences with students who are writing the same PT. Remember to find a way of recording these collaborative sessions (eg a journal, doodles, or taking a photo of a board covered in Post-its). These records will help to stimulate ideas and thinking later when you are writing the essay.

Experimentation Phase.

Now it's time to write your essay plan.

The ToK Essay is 1600 words, so you can think of it as being 8-10 paragraphs long. It's not many words (or paragraphs) given the task handed to you by nature of the PTs. You will need to be concise and precise. There is very little room for contextualisation, scene setting and other 'flowery stuff'. You've got to get straight to the point and start executing the Assessment Instrument very early in the essay.

A Note on Structure.

There is no single 'best' ToK Essay structure. You will need to develop a structure which best serves your needs for the way that you want to answer the prescribed title. I have seen high scoring essays which have used lots of different structures (unfortunately I have also seen less successful essays which have also used the range of structures). If you want more detailed help on structure I would recommend getting my ebook "How to write the ToK Essay in 6 easy steps" which is available from the Student Support Section of this website.

During this phase you will need to finalise the arguments, real world examples, evaluation points and implication points that you will use in the essay. You will undertake the bulk of your secondary research (see note about using content from your Hexagon Subjects above).

Show your teacher your Essay Plan, and get feedback on ways to improve the plan. Feedback on the plan is crucial to helping you to write the essay with fewer obstacles later.

Once you and your teacher are happy with your Essay Plan write your Introduction and show it to your teacher. This will help you to know whether you're setting off in the right direction. It will also help to know whether you are using appropriate tone, pitch and style.

A note on The Introduction

There is no need to write 'flowery' introductions about the nature of the universe, the function of existence, the vastness of the universe etc etc. Further, don't start with a quote if it's not relevant to the PT (generally, just don't start with a quote). There are insufficient words available to write in such a descriptive and stylistic manner. You have to get straight to the point. For most students this will be defining the key terms in the essay. If you want more help on what to put into The Introduction see the ebook (How to write the Tok Essay in 6 Easy Steps) from the Student Support section of this website.

Evolution Phase.

Once you have feedback on your Introduction from your teacher it is finally time to write the rest of your essay. As you write your essay you may find that ideas & arguments develop and even change. This is a positive sign that your understanding is developing as you spend more time thinking about the Prescribed Title. If this happens you may need to go back and redraft the Introduction - this is all good, it's the process of Evolution - an adaptation of knowledge to changing circumstances. Congratulations if you experience, this you are growing !

Continue to communicate with your teacher, and show them your writing when it's appropriate to do so. Write to schedule, and submit a fully finished Draft Essay before the Draft Deadline. Fully finished means that the language has been refined (and proof-read if necessary), the bibliography & references are completed, and there is a word count on the essay.

If you have planned your schedule properly you should comfortably finish writing your Draft well before the submission deadline, and you won't have to 'pull an all nighter', or other such stressful experiences !

Once you have submitted the Draft let out a big sigh of relief, and have a small celebration - the difficult bit of the essay is now over.

Well done !

Growth

If you've followed the plan so far you will have submitted a good Draft Essay. The written feedback from your teacher will help you to turn a good Draft into an excellent final essay. When you receive the written feedback act on it as soon as possible as the ideas will still be fresh in both you and your teacher's minds. Don't leave the written feedback until the last day before the final submission deadline as this will not leave time for any further clarification that you need from your teacher. I usually give my students a month between receiving written feedback and submitting the final essay, I urged them to work on the written feedback at the beginning of that month rather than towards the end.

After dealing with the written feedback you can submit your essay, and you're done for this component of your IB Diploma. However, you're not actually "done".

The ToK Essay is probably most academic, esoteric and conceptually challenging piece of writing that most students have undertaken at this stage of their education, and as such it can profoundly change you. The skills that you have learned during the essay will serve you well for the upcoming DP exams, and well into your time in Higher Education, and subsequently into your career. Many students have told me that their first year of university entailed a lot more "ToK-like" thinking than they had anticipated (regardless of the subject they study at uni). One student who was studying Film at uni wrote to me after the second term to tell me that he was loving his course because "it's just like doing ToK with a camera.".

If you need help with any aspect of your ToK Essay or Exhibtion please feel free to contact me at Daniel@TokToday.com.

Stay ToK-tastic!
Daniel,
Lisbon, Portugal,
September 2022.

3 easiest wins on ToK Essay

Today's post details 3 easy ways in which students could have "less stress and more success" when writing their ToK Essay. These 3 'easy wins' are things done by some students, but missed by many. Without further ado, let's get into them:

1. Actually answer the question that's actually been set.

Yes, this first 'easy win' is very actual, and may seem very obvious, but it points to a mistake made by many students. Ensure that you are answering the question that has been set by the examiners (in the words of IB 'responding to the Prescribed Title as set by the Chief Examiner'), rather than a rewriting of the title.

When writing your essay ensure that you directly address the question, be careful not to re-interpret the question in such a way that you change the nature, or objective, of the question. This is easier said than done as all of the ToK questions require a degree of interpretation.

Let's take an adapted example* from the May 2022 Essay Titles:

Title 4: Do historians and knowledge producers in one other AoK tell stories to give knowledge meaning ? Discuss with reference to history and one other Area of Knowledge.

A typical mistake that a student could make with this question is to write an essay discussing the various ways in which History, and knowledge in one other AoK, was biased by the telling of stories. The student could have defined 'stories' in terms of a narrative interpretation of evidence, and could make a valid set of arguments as to how such 'story-telling' could introduce bias into the interpretation of knowledge. However, the question doesn't ask about bias, it asks about meaning.

As such the student needs to address both the definition of 'tell[ing] stories' and 'give[ing] knowledge meaning'. Both ideas will need extensive unpacking and application in AoK History and the chosen alternative AoK. If the student were to introduce the concept of bias it would need to be included as part of the definition of 'meaning', as the essay title asks about meaning this needs to be the central focus of the essay.

I have often seen students change the central focus of the question when unpacking the title, and striving to define the key concepts in the question. The over-riding requirement of the ToK Essay assessment rubric is that the student gives a "clear, coherent and critical exploration of the title.". This requires that they don't change the title.

2. Don't waste time & words on quotes.

I often see students include quotes in their essays, very rarely do these quotes add to the overall mark awarded to the essay. It must be pointed out that such quotes rarely detract from the mark awarded for the essay, but they are using valuable words which could possibly be put to better use in trying to meet the requirements of the assessment rubric (I know it's officially called an "Assessment Instrument", but that sounds even more clinical than "assessment rubric").

The use of quotes that I see can be split into 3 broad categories:

a) The "Meme-like Quote".

This is the grandiose quote on the nature of the universe, human beings, time or some other 'eternal question of philosophy'. This quote is virtually never directly related to the prescribed title, and rarely anything to do with the prescribed title. I call it "The Meme-like Quote" because it's the sort of thing that you find if you google "quote about the nature of life".

The "Meme-like Quote" is the sort of quote that you get if you Google an image on "the nature of life" or some other such vague & grandiose idea.

I assume that this quote is included either as scene setting (or maybe to give the examiner the impression that the student is wide-read). Maybe, students who use this type of quote have previously taken courses where they are credited for narrative style, or soft long introductions. The ToK essay does not award 'style' nor wider scene setting. The 1600 word limit is actually very few words within which to answer the question, therefore students need to go to directly to the question at the beginning of the answer. The opening sentence of the essay could be a definition of a key term, there's no need to tell the examiner that you have been pondering the nature of existence, or some such thoughts.

b) The 'related but unnecessary' quote.

This quote is citing the words of a knowledge producer who is being used as real world evidence in the answer. For example, a student who is discussing the Heliocentric Theory of the Universe may quote Ptolemy. Whilst there is nothing inherently wrong with this type of quote as it at least relates to the real world example being used we need to ask ourselves is it necessary. Does the quote actually help to answer the question ? , Did the student need to include the quote to answer the question ? Could the point still be made without the use of the quote ? Very rarely is the quote necessary to the point being made.

The "related but unnecessary quote" is a quote which is linked to the real life example being discussed, but generally unnecessary to making the point. For example, if a student was using Darwin's Theory of adaptation to explain how knowledge develops overtime the quote on the right but would be unnecessary. It would not add to the overall score of the essay, even though it comes from the knowledge constructor under discussion.

3. The possibly relevant and useful quote.

The possibly relevant and useful quote is the one instance when a quote may be useful, it is both very rarely seen, and very rarely required. This is the occasion when a quote does add to the argument being used to answer the question. This quote, by purpose of its necessity, is probably decisive evidence in the argument being made. As such, this quote may take the reader beyond that which is commonly known about the knowledge producer, this quote may offer a new perspective on the knowledge producer. A note of caution must be made about the file-drawer problem, or confirmation bias - ie using a quote which is not typically representative of that knowledge producers overall body of work, or using a quote out of context, in order to consolidate an argument.

The 'possibly relevant and useful quote' is the rare occasion when a quote does add to the perspective, or argument, being put forward. For example if a student was discussing how knowledge could be categorised as both scientific and religious by the knower (as such it can be complementary and integrated) they could be using Ptolemy as an example. It may not be well known that Ptolemy developed both a scientific and religious understanding, in which case the quote on the left may be useful for consolidating the argument. It could constitute the "effective support" of a "specific example".

In summary - a quote should only be used if it is necessary for making the argument, as such the quote adds to the argument. In the vast majority of cases a quote is not necessary, and does not add to the answer. The vast majority (98%+) of answers scoring 8-10 points will not have any quotes in them. As a rule of thumb- just don't include any quotes, and "if in doubt, leave it out".

3. Draw on examples from your Diploma Studies.

The essay requires that you use examples to demonstrate your arguments. I sometimes find that students undertake detailed research on examples that are new to them. Whilst this may sometimes be necessary it's often an unproductive use of time and energy. The easy win here is that all of the examples that you need to draw upon are readily available in the hexagon subjects of your Diploma. If you are taking a 'normal' Diploma then you are taking at least one subject which is largely based in at least one of the Areas of Knowledge (the Hexagon subjects are often based in more than one AoK). Even if you don't take a Group 6 subject everyone takes Language A which provides you with examples for AoK The Arts. Even if you don't take DP History you will be taking a Group 3 subject which will have aspects of The Scope, Methodology, Ethics and Perspective of AoK History inherent to it. You will also have elements of AoK History in Grps 1, 4, 6 and even arguably in Grp 5 (Maths).

There many benefits to drawing upon your hexagon subjects for your examples:

1. It will save you a lot of time as rather than researching and learning new content you are using content that you already know and understand.

2. You can ask your hexagon teacher for help. For example if you're looking for examples of how knowledge evolves over time, and you are learning a new theory in Chemistry you could ask your Chemistry teacher what the accepted thinking was before the development of this theory, why did the new theory come about ?, what conditions had to be fulfilled for the new theory to be accepted? etc This brings ToK into the hexagon subject, and helps the hexagon teacher to integrate ToK into their teaching.

3. learning more about your hexagon subject, and coming at it from a rather different perspective will probably help your understanding of the hexagon subject. It may even improve your understanding and skills in the Hexagon subject (this is definitely the case in Grps 1, 3 and 6). As such it makes time spent on hexagon subjects more productive.

That's it for 3 Easy Wins on The ToK Essay. I hope that these 3 suggestions save you time, and help you to write a better ToK Essay with less stress. If you would like to see more content like this, or you need help with your Essay (or Exhibition) please do not hesitate to contact me at Daniel@ToKToday.com.

Daniel,
Lisbon, Portugal, September 2022

*NB the IB own the copyright to the actual Prescribed Titles, and therefore I can't use them verbatim on this public website.

3 Easy wins on ToK Essay ("short" version)

May 23 ToK Essay Titles: Poll !

Good afternoon from sunny Lisbon, Portugal! Perfect to think about May 23 ToK Essay Titles.

I've spent the last two weeks writing notes for the May 23 ToK Essay Titles (you can see the titles on the page linked here), I will have these available on the site in the next week. (I'm just doing the finishing touches - proof reading, sprucing them up etc).

I will have Mind Maps for each essay title available for free to all site subscribers / members / followers - so please sign up (it's free) to the Wordpress site if you want these - I'll mail them out to all members next week. A subscription box is at the end of this post.

I will also be filming videos on each title, available for free, on the YouTube site (details will follow in the next few weeks).

In the mean-time I'd love to know your thoughts on the May 23 ToK Essays - so I have a little poll

Thank you for answering the poll - I will use the results to help guide where I focus my content. Of course I will publish the final results next week.

There are already some posts up on the site about writing the ToK Essay.

There are a couple of videos already on the YouTube Channel about the ToK Essay (many more to follow).

If you have any thoughts, or questions, about the May 2023 Essay Titles then please email me at Daniel@toktoday.com.

Don't forget to subscribe !

3 tips to less stress, & more success, on your ToK Essay

It's not too hard to write a good ToK Essay if you follow these 3 tips to less stress, & more success, on your ToK Essay.

Tip # 1: Start early.

The most common mistake that I see in the writing of the ToK Essay is not leaving yourself enough time to write the essay. The essay is deceptively short at 1600 words, most students can write 1600 words in 4-5 hours. However, can you write 1600 words of high quality ToK in 4-5 hours ? Probably not. Ideally you will start planning your essay weeks before the Draft essay deadline, giving yourself time to develop your understanding. Treat the Draft Deadline as your 'final deadline".

The ideas, concepts, knowledge claims and counterclaims in the essay take time to develop. If you spend a few weeks writing your essay you will develop deep and informative insights which are not immediately apparent at first glance. Our minds undertake 'latent learning', this is when we subconsciously process (& learn) whilst we are either doing other things, or asleep. You can make great use of latent learning to develop your understanding of your chosen ToK essay.

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

John Lennon

Tip #2: Read Exemplars

Approximately 12,000 students are awarded A in ToK each year, it's not implausible that an equal number of students will achieve 9-10 marks in their ToK Essay each year. The IB publish exemplar essays to the ToK teachers, ask your teacher to show you these exemplars if they are yet to do so. Further, your ToK teacher probably keeps a collection of high scoring essays from former students at your school - these can also be very useful. Read these high scoring exemplars, work with fellow ToK students, consider:

• what do these high scoring essays have in common?

• what structures do they use?

• what language do they use?

• how do they address the command terms?

• how do they develop evaluation and implications in the essay?

• how do they use RLS?

• and many many other characteristics of the high scoring essays.

Tip #3: Thinking & Planning: 75%, Writing 25%

As we established earlier, the ToK Essay is not a great burden to write (it is far easier to write than the Extended Essay). However, the ToK essay demands a developed understanding of the concepts and relevant arguments.

Developed Understanding: a deeper understanding which recognises influences, nuance and implications.

D.Trump, ToK Teacher.

By "developed understanding" I mean:

• informed by your considered and deep critical thinking.

• informed by the writing of other thinkers.

• appropriately applied to the chosen prescribed title set by IB.

• appropriately applied to the arguments that you are using in your essay.

In order to develop this deep understanding you will need to spend a significant time thinking and planning. Thinking is not a substitute for equivocating (wasting time, dodging the work, putting off getting started). Thinking needs to be active, proactive and consolidated by research.

How much "Thinking and Planning time do I need ?"

Most teachers will give you approximately 2-3 months to write your Draft essay. The Draft deadline should be treated as the final deadline, ensure that you submit a fully complete and polished Draft by the Draft deadline, by doing so you will maximise the quality and effectiveness of the written feedback from your teacher.

If you have 3 months to complete the Draft then you could usefully spend 2 months planning (& thinking). The more time that you spend developing a strong understanding of the essay, the easier it will be to write your Draft. The essay has a 1600 word limit, you will probably need to write 1400-1600 words to get a good score. You can probably write 1600 words in about 8 hours if you have a really solid foundation of thinking and planning upon which to write.

During the thinking and planning time you should be frequently consulting with your ToK Teacher. Show them your planning documents, consult with them about the arguments that you plan to use, show them a draft of your introduction, get their advice on evaluation and implication points etc. Your ToK teacher is a fount of good suggestions, and advice. Your ToK Teacher is your best resource in this process - proactively communicate with them throughout the process - their help will reduce your stress and help you realise success!

There's also a lot of useful information (including the ToK Essay Marking rubric) on this page.

If you need help with how to plan your ToK Essay then please see the blogpost linked here.

If you need help writing your ToK Essay please see the Student Support pages on this blog, buy the e-book (How to write the ToK Essay in 6 easy steps) or email me at Daniel@TokToday.com.

Stay Tok-tastic!
Daniel,
Lisbon, September 2022

3 biggest mistakes on the ToK Essay

OK, this blog is not actually the 3 "biggest" mistakes. It is actually the 3 'most frequent' mistakes' made on the ToK Essay, but that's not quite so catchy. It doesn't fit into a title quite so well. So I used an informal colloquialism, a practice which could be part of one of the 3 'most frequent mistakes'. Onto the mistakes:

Mistake 1. Insufficient focus on Knowledge / Too much RLS / not enough LTQ

The ToK Essay requires a "sustained focus on the title and an effective link to areas of knowledge". Translated this means that students need to write about knowledge, concepts pertaining to knowledge, knowledge issues, knowledge claims, Areas of Knowledge, The Knowledge Scope, Methods of Knowledge construction, perspectives on knowledge, and the ethics of knowledge. Do you see the common thread here ?

Far too often I read essays that contain great details about the examples (aka "real life situations", or "real world contexts") but far too little about knowledge. These ToK essays get very few marks. I have read amazing explanations of the development of Molecular and Atomic Theories, the movement from Realist to Impressionist Art, The role of The American Novel in the literary canon of the 20th Century etc etc. All of these essays scored low marks because they focussed on the real life examples rather than on knowledge itself.

As a rough guide I recommend that the ToK Essay is 80% about the knowledge issues arising from the Prescribed Title, and about 20% real world examples used to demonstrate the knowledge arguments. I ask my students to take their drafts and highlight the knowledge content in one colour, and the 'real life' examples in another colour. This gives a good visual representation of the balance of knowledge to real examples.

LTQ: Link to the Question.

The most frequent annotation that I make to draft ToK Essays is "LTQ", meaning "link to the question". This refers to the mistake of making a knowledge point, or using an example, and not directly linking it to the question. Students need to explicitly tell the examiner how that point, or example, answers the question. The easiest way to do this is to use the relevant words from the question in the answer, usually towards the end of the paragraph.

Some examples of how to LTQ.

Let's look at an example from an imaginary Prescribed Title "Is old knowledge better than new knowledge ?":

Excerpt A

"When considering the role of new knowledge in AoK Natural Sciences we could compare modern surgery techniques with 18th century surgery techniques. We now know that an antiseptic environment, and making use of anaesthetic, not only makes the surgery more comfortable for the patient, but also increases the success, and survival rate, of the surgery."

Excerpt B

"When considering the role of new knowledge in AoK Natural Sciences we could compare modern surgery techniques with 18th century surgery techniques. We now know that an antiseptic environment, and making use of anaesthetic, not only makes the surgery more comfortable for the patient, but also increases the success, and survival rate, of the surgery.This example demonstrates that new knowledge could be seen as a cumulative development of old knowledge in AoK Natural Sciences. As such this could support the claim that new knowledge is better than old knowledge in AoK Natural Sciences, if better is defined as fulfilling the purpose of knowledge construction."

In Excerpt A the student cites a real world example (surgery techniques) to examine a knowledge point, but does not directly link the example to the Prescribed Title. In Excerpt B the student cites the same example, and then explains how that example answers the question, and offers a little further development of the knowledge point (new knowledge could be said to be cumulative).

Mistake 2. Imbalanced, or incomplete ToK Essay.

Far too often I see ToK Essays which are either imbalanced, or unfortunately are incomplete. Most of the Prescribed Titles ask students to consider the prescribed title in 2 Areas of Knowledge. I often see essays in which one Area of Knowledge is fairly well explored, but there is only a cursory exploration of the second Area of Knowledge.

There is nothing explicit in the Assessment Instrument that says that the essay has to be balanced, nor that equal treatment should be given to both AoKs. However, the essay is assessed using an approach called "Global Impression Marking". The explicit instruction to examiners is that they are to make a "holistic judgement" of the essay. This means that they are looking at all elements of the essay together to determine a best fit in the marking scheme. If the exploration of the PT in one AoK is in the upper mark bands, but the other is in the lower mark bands they will be unable to judge the essay, holistically, as being in the upper marking bands.

If there is a significant difference in the quality of different elements of the essay examiners are asked to look again at the driving question (which for the essay is "Does the student provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title?" (IB ToK Study guide, 2020)). This should help to guide the mark given. There is an explicit instruction to examiners that they should not use the assessment criteria as a tick box, which can be used to establish an average mark.

Which brings us to the obvious concern that an imbalance in the number of words written does not necessarily mean an imbalance in the quality of the ToK content. This is absolutely correct. The note of caution here is that with a limit of only 1600 words it is very hard to develop a holistically insightful and lucid essay if there are uneven treatments of the elements of the essay.

Balance in arguments.

The same mistake is also sometimes seen in the treatment of the arguments of the essay. Students may fully develop one argument, whilst the other is much abbreviated or abridged. This brings us to the question of what the appropriate structure of the essay should be. There is no single 'approved' structure, and no defined 'successful' structure. The correct structure for the essay is the one which will allow the student to develop a coherent and critical exploration of the title.

Students will often ask "should the claim be in one AoK, and the counterclaim in another AoK, or shall I do both claim and counterclaim in both AoKs ?" (of course, there is no requirement to use claim and counterclaim, but it is one method to develop arguments in the essay). In this instance it's important that there is no repetition of points in the essay, other than that students should use the structure which best helps them to answer the Prescribed Title.

Mistake 3. Lack of substance / evaluation / depth / research in ToK Essay.

Many essays lack depth, or substance in concept development. The knowledge points appear to be superficial, maybe even anecdotal. Such essays appear to suffer from a lack of planning, and research, by the student before writing. This can lead to the essay lacking nuance, coherence and analysis. The typical consequences of such essays are:

1. Absolutist or binary statements eg "Natural Sciences are objective, the Arts are subjective".

2. Knowledge Hierarchies. Eg "Science has more status than Art because it is more valuable"

3. Unsubstantiated Assertions. Eg "Maths is unbiased, but History is inevitably biased".

4. Unaddressed implied assumptions. Eg "Technology is popular because it makes life easier".

In order to write a lucid and insightful ToK Essay we need to spend time exploring the arguments and ideas. I would recommend reading the précis of some of the classical texts, or 'big thinkers', in the field. Research the range of perspectives relating to the concept or idea that you are discussing, develop a more holistic and nuanced understanding of the subject.

Some examples to show undeveloped claims.

Let's look at a typical example: Knowledge claim - Natural Sciences can be more objective than Human Sciences because Human Sciences are more open to human interpretation and biases.

Typically students argue this claim with very little evaluation, nor an examination of the underlying assumptions. Typically I see an orthodox positivist explanation of the claim. To develop a more holistic (evaluative) argument the student could consider any of the following:

1. Researcher bias in the Natural Sciences.

2. Biases inherent to the Scientific Method in the operationalisation of variables, sample selection, experimental design etc.

3. Confirmation bias in interpretation of results.

4. The salami slicing problem of scientific research publication / research funding pressures.

Further, the student could consider the epiphenomenal / ethnographic schools of Human Sciences. There could also be a consideration of Kuhn's Theory of Paradigm Shifts in the Natural Sciences.

I am not arguing that the student should include all of these evaluation points (after all, there are only 1600 words available). I am arguing that addressing one or two of the evaluation points makes a more nuanced essay, and allows for a more insightful examination of the claim.

The points above also apply to a lack of Implications of knowledge arguments in the essay (as required by the highest mark band). However, we will save a discussion on 'implications' for a later blog.

If you need any help with your essay then please see the help available at our student support page, check out the videos on our YouTube Channel, pick up my E-Book (The ToK Essay in 6 easy Steps), or get in touch with me at Daniel@ToKToday.com.

Daniel,
September 2022

How do we avoid the use of Essay Mills?

Essay Mills are private companies that offer essay writing services to students. There has been a proliferation of these companies in recent years (see this Guardian article for example). Their main focus has been the higher education sector, however it can be assumed that their services are also available to IB Diploma students. The question for ToK Teachers is how can we deter our students from using Essay Mills ?

During, and after, the 'act' processes - do they beat essay mills ?

The use of the following processes to retain academic integrity is fairly widespread in ToK:

Using Construction monitoring tools such as Google Docs: The teacher can monitor the essay as it is being written by the student.

Plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin.Com: This software is best used by the student during the writing of the essay. Giving the student the power and freedom to use the software helps them to avoid any potential plagiarism issues. It also helps them to find papers that have been written using the same terms that they are using.

There are a couple of concerns with plagiarism detection software:

1. Using it after the essay has been submitted.

2. If it is only used after the student has submitted their essay it is being used as a cure rather than a prevention. The 'after-submission' method doesn't teach the student best practises for avoiding academic integrity problems in the future.

3. "What % is acceptable ?".

4. I often hear teachers (& students) asking what the "acceptable percentage" of similarity is when looking at a Similarity Report. This question demonstrates a misunderstanding of what the software is doing. A report can have a high similarity rating just because it repeatedly uses a phrase from the prescribed title which is often used in other papers. This doesn't necessarily mean that the student has plagiarised the essay, they are merely repeatedly referring to the Prescribed Title (which is good practice). Conversely, a report can have a very low similarity percentage yet the essay contains a whole paragraph which has been copied word for word from another source - this is a serious breach of academic integrity despite the report having a low similarity rating.

Writing in controlled circumstances: When a teacher suspects that an essay may not be the student's own work there is the option of asking the student to write a new essay under monitored & controlled circumstances. Obviously this is opens up a whole range of problems - the student is not developing the essay under the same conditions as other students, the student doesn't have a long period of time to develop the essay, and it is very demanding on school resources.

None of the "during & after the act' processes above avoid the problem of students using essay mills.

The essay monitoring system (sometimes called "Check Check out") is open to the student adding the milled essay piece by piece. Plagiarism detection software will only pick up an essay if it (or parts of it) has been copied from elsewhere. If the essay mill writes an original essay then this will not be picked up by the software (however, there is evidence that essay mills are recycling essays - which is obvious a great potential threat for our students). Finally, asking students to write under controlled conditions opens the school up to all sorts of allegations of unfair treatment etc.

There is only one viable educational method to counter the scourge of essay mills - the development of Self Regulated Learning Skills.

Self Regulated Learning definition: Self-regulated learning is a cyclical process, wherein the student plans for a task, monitors their performance, and then reflects on the outcome. The cycle then repeats as the student uses the reflection to adjust and prepare for the next task. The process is not one-size-fits-all; it should be tailored for individual students and for specific learning tasks (Zimmerman, 2002).

It's a fair assumption that we all know those students in our classroom who have self regulated learning skills and qualities. I don't need to describe how those students take charge of their learning in ToK. I think we can all agree that those students are not going to use Essay Mills. However, if you need more details see the end of this blog.

How do we teach Self Regulated Learning Skills in ToK ?

Most research shows that the basis of self regulated learning is critical reflection, and in turn the basis for critical reflection is self reflection. In order to integrate self, and critical, reflection into the ToK classroom we can use the basic teaching structure of David Kolb's Learning Cycle:

Kolb's Learning Cycle provides us with a framework for developing self regulated learning in the ToK classroom.

1. Time
   We can't start to deal with academic integrity of the ToK Essay when the students start to write the essay (or even worse, after they submit the essay). We need to address it from the first day in ToK through the use of self reflection. Self Regulation does not appear over night, but over a long period of time.

2. Domain Specific
   Self Regulated Learning Skills are domain specific - therefore just because a student is a self regulated learner in another DP subject doesn't necessarily mean they will be so in ToK. We need to show them how to be a reflective and self regulated learner in ToK.

3. Self Confidence.
   Students turn to Essay Mills because they have low confidence in their own abilities to write The ToK essay. Therefore we need to ensure that our students have the self-confidence and capacity to write the essay. We do this by slowly scaffolding ToK Skills, and the use of self reflection throughout the course.

For more on ToK Skills see this blog (& video)

For more on using Kolb's Learning Cycle see this blog (& video).

In the coming months I will have more content showing the use of Kolb's learning cycle as the lesson framework for ToK lessons. In the meantime you may want to look at this lesson.

If you have any specific requests for resources please let me know at Daniel@ToKToday.com.

Daniel,
Lisbon, September 2022

References

• Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(2), 64-70.

Characteristics of Self Regulated Learners:

What we know

Research (see reference list below) shows that teaching self-regulated learning skills enhances student learning. Self-regulated learning is:

• a goal driven process

• encompasses skills that can be learned through observations or modelling.

Self-regulation skills include:

• goal setting

• reflection

• self-management of on/off task behaviour.

Self-regulated learners are aware of:

• their strengths and weaknesses as a learner

• the learning strategies that they can manage and use

• strategies they can use to motivate their learning and stay on task.

• (From Victoria State Education Dept) Like & Reference: at this website

ToK Essay Activator Questions

The ToK Essay Activators are questions that students can use at the beginning of their ToK Essay Planning Process. They are a way to start to understand the essay title. They’re the foundation of thinking.

The video explanation of this resource is linked here, and below.

The beginning of the process

The firstl stage of thinking about the ToK Prescribed Titles is foundational for success later in the process. Unfortunately, this initial stage is often an overlooked activity. Giving students individual thinking time to form their own understanding of the ToK Essay is crucial. Forming a solid personal understanding of the essay early helps when they hear other people's interpretations of the essay in the later stages of essay writing. If students who don't have a solid personal understanding of the essay they may be tempted to use other people's interpretations. Accordingly they will then, probably, find it harder to develop in terms of analysis, evaluation and implications. The higher order analysis of knowledge arguments is easier for the student to develop if the original knowledge argument has been developed by the student themselves. This is why spending individual time at the beginning of the essay process is foundational for future success.

ToK Essay Activators are a set of questions that students can use to improve their understanding of the ToK Essay.

The ToK Essay Activators are questions that students can use to guide their thinking. They are useful at the beginning of the process. The questions help to develop personal knowledge arguments relating to the prescribed title.

The ToK Essay Activators are available (for free) at:

PDF Version link

Google Slides Version link

Google Slides as PDF

Students who are looking for more help to write the ToK Essay check out our Student Support Page, and the Ebook "How to write the ToK Essay in 6 easy steps".

Notes on May 23 ToK Essay Titles are coming soon (Mid September), and will be available from this link.

There are also some great tips at this blog.

If there are further resources that you would like me to develop do not hesitate to get in touch. I can also help with curriculum planning: Daniel@TokToday.com.

Daniel, Lisbon,
Aug 2022

What makes some ToK Essay Questions more difficult ?

and conversely, what makes some ToK Essay Questions easier than others ?

The May 2023 ToK Essay titles are out, students are choosing their preferred title, and teachers are giving their advice. We often implicitly know that some titles will be more difficult than others, I decided to try to articulate some of that 'implicit knowledge'.

The video about this post is linked here, and below.

The relativism bit.

I feel obligated to get the "relativist" bit out of the way at the beginning of this post:

• how difficult a student finds a question will vary by student.

• how difficult it is to support a student writing a particular question will vary by teacher & student.

• more popular questions may be marked more stringently by some examiners

• Terms such as 'easy', 'difficult', 'challenging' are relative.

OK, with the relativist bit out of the way, we're going to pretend that our world view is a close representation of other people's world view - just for the sake of simplifying(ish)the world.

NB - IB own the copyright to all PTs, and don't allow them to be reproduced without written permission. Therefore I have attenuated, or changed the PTs presented here. The points made about the original PTs remain the same despite this, but if you want the actual full PT you will need to see the TRM on the PRC.

6 Factors which influence the difficulty of a ToK Prescribed Title:

1. "Closed Ended" vs Open Ended.

We know that all the questions are open ended questions (the command term is usually "Discuss"), but the Knowledge Question, or Claim, upon which they are founded is not always open ended. For example May 2022 #3 "Is there solid justification for regarding knowledge in Natural Sciences more highly than knowledge in [another] AoK?". In this case the student can start thinking about the essay in terms of answering "yes there is...," or "no there isn't...,". This makes writing claims and counterclaims far more straightforward, especially for those students who struggle with ToK.

The most 'closed ended' PT's contain absolute statements (eg #3 Nov 21:  “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact” (Arthur Conan Doyle)). This absolute statement gives the student a fairly stable base on which to start developing their essay. For example with #3 Nov 21 students can start to think what Doyle meant by an "obvious fact", and therefore think about why it might be the most deceptive thing. It's a fairly solid base from which to develop the essay.

2. Assumptions.

Some of the PTs contain assumptions, sometimes these assumptions are explicit, sometimes they're implicit. Further some PTs contain both explicit and implicit assumptions. For example:

• Explicit assumption: #3 May 2020: Does it matter that your personal circumstances influence how seriously your knowledge is taken?

• Implicit assumption: #5 Nov 2021: “If all knowledge is provisional, when can we have confidence in what we claim to know?” (implicit assumption that we ever have confidence in what we know).

• Both explicit & Implicit assumptions: #1 Nov 2021: "Why is it so difficult to identify a clear line between accepted and disputed knowledge within a discipline?"

OK, these dividing lines between explicit & implicit assumptions may not be as stark as shown here, but I assume that you get the idea.

The potential problem of assumptions is whether students should tackle them in the answer, and whether they NEED to tackle them to form their answer. The guidance is that students need to focus on the PT as given, and not change it. Therefore to spend too much time tackling the assumptions would be a diversion from the PT (as given), it's a loss of the required focus on the PT.

However, the higher marking bands of the assessment rubric also requires students to develop arguments pertaining to the KQ inherent in the PT. It is in this area that, with some PTs, students have the latitude to challenge the assumption(s) in the PT. The greater challenge comes when there are multiple assumptions in the PT. For example:

#3 May 2021: “Labels are needed* in the organization of knowledge, but they also constrain our understanding.”

Assumptions:

1. Labels are used in the organisation of knowledge.

2. Understanding can be constrained .

3. That there is organisation of knowledge.

In such circumstances I have advised my students to state which assumptions they are accepting as given, and which assumptions they will be critically interrogating. Further, if they have sufficient words they could give a rationale for their approach. This strategy has seemed to have worked well over the years.

Posing rhetorical questions within responses.

One of the particular holes that weaker students can fall into when dealing with a PT containing multiple assumptions is to write the assumption as a question in their response, and then to leave that question unanswered. For example, a student answering #3 May 21 (above) may pose the question "how do we even know that knowledge is organised, or is knowledge construction the organisation of disorganised data ?". In this instance we have a number of problems. The first being that PT isn't primarily about the organisation of knowledge (nor data), but about labels. As such the student is moving their focus off the PT. The student needs to directly link that question to the PT (about labels) for it to 'add' to the response. Secondly, by leaving a question hanging the essay reads like an incomplete, or incoherent, piece.

3. Quotes

Some of the questions contain a quote, often from a renowned writer. Eg #2 May 2022 "there’s a world of difference between truth and facts" May Angelou. Whilst this does not automatically make the question more difficult I have often found that it can introduce extra (confusing) variables into the process, particularly for students who find ToK difficult.

Obviously the student is required to interpret the quote in terms of ToK, and then to look at arguments pertaining to their ToK-interpretation of that quote. However, I have found that some students can get hung up on the author of the quote, and spend time trying to find a contextual meaning for the quote by investigating the life and works of the author. I assume that such students are bringing well learned skills and expectations from Grp 3 subjects such as History, or Global Politics, to their ToK. Of course, in some cases the quote can be a good platform for the student, but more often than not I have found it an added obstacle for students who are challenged by ToK.

4. Definitions.

Invariably the PTs require the student to develop definitions of concepts and key terms. Let's look at ToK Concepts first. ToK concepts should be easier for the student to define well (having studied the ToK course) than non-ToK concepts. Further some of the ToK Concepts will be easier to define than other ToK Concepts when they are readily apparent / clear in the corresponding AoK Knowledge Framework. For example in May 2022 #5 the concept of Interpretation in the Arts and one other AoK should have been relatively easy to draw from the Knowledge Framework. However, some ToK Concepts may not have been readily apparent to students even with interrogation of the corresponding knowledge framework eg #1 May 2022 the concept of Culture within AoK Maths will have required some further thought by many students.

However, this can become far more challenging when considering the need to define concepts/terms which are not included in the 12 ToK Concepts (which is not to say that they're not ToK concepts, it's just that they're not on the list on 12 defined by IB). A few examples: # 4 May 2022 - Stories. #6 May 2022 - Acceptable. #4 Nov 22- Indisputable. In these cases I often find that students will initially reach for a dictionary definition of the term, which usually takes them away from a ToK interpretation of the concept, and restricts the depth of their response. Further, weaker students find it difficult to apply the non-ToK concept to Knowledge Framework of the chosen AoK. The classic resent example was the concept of Story in #4 May 22. Many students found it difficult to interpret the idea of a story in Human Sciences, and to develop the notion of story in AoK History.

5. Clear claim or unclear claim?

All of the PTs include at least one 'claim', some PTs have multiple claims. Some PTs contain a single, clear, directional claim eg #5 Nov 2020: "Reliable Knowledge can lack certainty". In this case the student only has to deal with a single proposition, and the direction indicated by that proposition is clear. However, some PTs contain multiple claims Eg . #6 Nov 22: “If artists have freedom to interpret the past in ways that denied to historians, is this a benefit or barrier to our understanding of the past?" Discuss with reference to the arts and history (slightly changed to avoid copyright problems). With this PT the claim is a question in itself, that needs to be dealt with alongside the main thrust of the PT, namely the asset or obstacles to understanding the past. On top of this is the implicit assumption that an (the ?) aim of artistic knowledge is an understanding of the past.

Prescribed titles with a single, straightforward, claim tend to be easier for students to answer than those with multiple claims.

6. Freedom of Area of Knowledge.

Until May 2022 most Prescribed Titles give students a free choice as to which AoKs they want to write about, ostensibly this 'freedom' would seem to make it easier to answer these PTs than those that specify one (or sometimes both) PTs to be considered. However, in my opinion, the PTs which specify a PT are usually easier than those that give a free choice.

The Prescribed Essay Titles are actually asking students to engage in a discussion about The Knowledge Framework of the Areas of Knowledge. They are asking students to draw upon the knowledge issues arising from the Scope, Perspectives, Methodology and Ethics sections of the Knowledge Framework. Arguably, some knowledge issues are more 'obviously' relevant to certain AoKs than they are to others. When the Examiners are directing students towards a specific AoK they are , in effect, telling us that this knowledge issue is most pertinent in this specific AoK. It's directed guidance which makes it easier for the student to focus on the title, and make relevant links to the essay title. As such it makes it easier for students to access the higher marking bands, especially those students who struggle with ToK. Let's look at a couple of examples:

#5 May 2022: 5. In what ways* can we distinguish between good and bad interpretations? Discuss with reference to the arts and one other area of knowledge. (slightly altered for copyright reasons).

Obviously all AoKs involve interpretation of knowledge, however arguably interpretation is a more salient issue in AoK The Arts than in some other AoKs. In The Arts Interpretation of both the artist (the knowledge producer) and the audience (the knower) is it at the heart of the knowledge production process and knowing (the audience). By asking students to contrast AoK The Arts with one other AoK the examiners are giving students a big hint that they could write an essay contrasting an individualised approach to knowledge (The Arts) with a more standardised approach to knowledge (eg Mathematics, or Natural Sciences). The students could look at the function of the Area of Knowledge, or the acceptability of individualised interpretation within each AoK. They could look at standardised protocols of interpretation in an AoK such as Maths vs less standardised protocols in The Arts etc.

Prescribed Titles that direct students to at least one AoK for consideration give students a greater chance of focussing on salient issues. Therefore such PTs tend to be 'safer' (& maybe 'easier'), particularly for students who struggle with ToK.

A few side swinging Googlys (as in the cricketing sense of the word):

No explicit directive link to ToK:

In the past we used to see the occasional question that had no explicit directive link to ToK. These are becoming more rare in recent sessions, but I thought I'd include this warning here, just in case they reappear in future sessions. An explicit directive link to ToK is a phrase telling the students what to do with the stimulus, eg "Discuss this with reference to two Areas of Knowledge". Here are two examples of PTs that do not have an explicit directive link to ToK:

#2 Nov 2021

“Knowledge gained through direct experience is powerful but can be* problematic.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

#2 Nov 2020

“Too much of our knowledge revolves around ourselves, as if we are the most important thing in the universe” (adapted from Carlo Rovelli). Why could* this be problematic?

Neither of the PTs above explicitly tell the students that they need to refer to the ToK framework, specifically the Knowledge Frameworks of the AoK. I know that teachers will make this clear to the students, but it's still very possible that students may write a more descriptive and anecdotal essay, particularly those students who find ToK more challenging.

Truth.

I used to have a general rule that students should avoid using the word "truth" in my ToK classroom, and in their ToK Essays / Presentations (as they then were). The concept of truth introduced so much complication, and would often be used interchangeably with objectivity or validity. Now that Truth is one of the twelve core concepts in the current guide the truth can no longer "be avoided".

In May 2022 PT #2 put the concept of truth at the heart of the essay title, and many of my students chose to write this title. I had to do some significant extra teaching to help them to develop a range of definitions for the word "truth", and to develop a set of critical approaches to truth. My caution about the concept of truth is that many students treat is an external fixed reality. May 2022 PT #2 was getting to the heart of that mistake, and asking them to interrogate the idea of a separation between external 'truths' ("facts") and internal knowledge ("truth"). Those that chose this essay title did fairly well.., but I remain cautious when it comes to the "truth" !

Existential-type questions

Some PTs refer to the Knower, as such these questions could be interpreted as asking the student to comment upon the Knower as well as the construction of knowledge within an AoK. Commenting upon The Knower is, of course, a laudable aim (The Knower is after all the Core Theme in the current guide). However, for some students who struggle with ToK discussions about The Knower can easily become self referential and anecdotal. They can also fall into being a commentary on relativism - which rarely helps students to achieve a good grade in ToK. In the most concerning incidents discussions about The Knower can lead to 'existential type' responses which question the nature of being, and our function in the universe.

Examples of PTs which invite discussion of the knower:

May 2016

3. “The knower’s perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge.” To what extent do you agree with this statement* ?

May 2020

3. Is it of concern* that your personal circumstances influence how seriously your knowledge is taken?

If you want to watch a video on questions which will help students to understand the ToK Essay title click here.

Students who are looking for more help on how to write the ToK Essay can check out this Ebook.

Summary.

These general observations about factors which make PTs more, or less, challenging for ToK students have been gathered over many years of teaching & supervising the Essay, and marking it for IB. They are very broad generalisations, and of course there are going to be PTs, and students, that don't conform to the observations above. However, I hope that these observations help ToK students and teachers a little more when making the judgment about which ToK PT to write.

Do you agree, or disagree, with my observations? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Daniel, Lisbon, Portugal.
August 2022.

• this is not the original word in the PT, it has been changed to ensure that we don't break IB copyright, however the substituted word has broadly the same meaning, arguably.

Choosing your ToK Question

For about 10 years I marked ToK Essays as an IB Examiner. By doing this I learned a lot about what makes a good ToK Essay, and more importantly how students can write a good essay with minimum stress. Choosing the correct ToK Essay Question is key to success. Over the next few blog posts we will be covering the key points to writing a good essay. We will cover

• Choosing your question

• Developing a structure (pathfinding)

• Writing - substance, style and content

• Quick tips for success with less stress.

Let's start with

Choosing your ToK Essay Question.

• The questions are called "Prescribed Titles"(aka PT), as they're not actually questions per se.

• The PTs are released by IB on 1st September (May Session) and 1st March (November Session)

• Do NOT change, nor amend, a single word of the PT. You must address the question exactly as IB give it to you.

Ensure that you get the exact title from your teacher. Non-IB Sites (such as TokToday) are not supposed to publish the exact titles (they're copyrighted by IB).

Take your time choosing.

Choosing the title which is right for you is at least 50% of the 'battle for success' in the ToK Essay, so take your time at this stage. I used to get my students to spend 4-6 weeks on choosing the title, it's super important to get this stage correct. In deciding which title to write you are should be trying to clarify:

• What does this question mean to me?

• Do I have an initial instinctive view about this question?

• Do I have some ideas about arguments that would help me to answer this question?

• Do I have a destination for my answer? (this may change later on, but something at an initial stage will be helpful).

These questions smoothly segue into our second tip on how to choose your ToK Essay Question: Blank Slate.

Know Yourself: Blank Slate those titles.

Try not to be too influenced by other people's voices at this stage of your essay writing process, try to hear your own voice.

Try to know your own mind, try not to be influenced by the voices of others. Try to keep your mind as a 'blank slate' in relation to your views on the Essay Titles.

Eventually you will have to write your own, original, response to the question. Therefore you don't want to be too influenced by other people's views at this stage (you can explore their views later). You need to be developing your own view(s) at this stage.

Many of the best essays that I have read have been where the student developed their own original, and quite novel, argument at this early stage. Now, it may seem rather self defeating for me to tell you to stay away from internet advice sites either before or during the essay, however the particular type of content that I think you should be wary of is content that tells you what the arguments (claims / counterclaims) could/should be, or what real life examples you should use. This directive content doesn't improve your skills & understanding in ToK because you don't have to think for yourself.

Develop your own arguments, and think of possible real life examples to illustrate these arguments, before you start exploring the internet. Once you have your own original framework down you'll be in a good place to start further research. You can now use academic sources, non-academic sources and ToK specific sources to further develop your ideas and range of sources cited. If you wait until you have developed your own ideas before you go to the Internet (& other sources) then you won't be negatively influenced / swayed by the sources that you find. By developing your own ideas you will find writing the essay far easier than trying to develop other peoples ideas. This is why it's so important to spend time early in the essay writing process working on your own claims counterclaims and real life examples.

Know your destination.

Before you finally settle on a question it is very useful to have a rough idea of how you will resolve that question, that is a vague idea of what your final answer to the question might be (in other words you have some idea of the destination of your essay). You don't have to know exactly how you are going to resolve the question before you choose the question (as many new ideas and perspectives will be developed during the planning and writing stages.

A rough idea of destination guides the writer, like it guides the walker.

As you write the essay you will develop new ideas, make new connections and develop new perspectives. You will refine your arguments, and you may even change your arguments. This is a normal, and healthy, aspect of the writing process. You may even change your chosen final destination, but the important thing is when choosing a question you have a direction and destination in mind. Far too often I have met with students who are "stuck", when I ask them what their approximate final destination is they have said they're not sure, they didn't work on a solution or resolution before they chose a question. - not a good place to be.

A few 'easy ways' to check your understanding of the title:

• Explain the question to a non-ToK student.

• Bring in your Mum, Dad, sibling (or even dog) and explain the title to them.

When they can understand your explanation of the question you can be sure that you now have a solid understanding of the question.

More help is available:

• Check out the ToKToday YouTube Channel for tips (especially the Student Playlist).

• Pick up the E-book How to Write the ToK Essay in 6 Easy Steps.

If you need more help to choose your question, or to develop your question then get in touch (daniel@toktoday.com) or click here to book a ToK Coaching session.

Daniel,
Lisboa, Portugal,
August 2022