1. “Read your sources. Seriously.”
Advice from this year’s seniors regarding starting your Extended Essay:
“Make sure you pick a topic that you’re really interested in.”
“Read your sources. Seriously.”
“Meet your deadlines.”
Understand the requirements of your particular category.”
“JUST START!”
Easier said than done, right? However, you know what? It’s true.

2. T = thesis/research question A = annotate (Yes, again.) R = reflect
S = sources
Read them. Understand them. Annotate them.
T = thesis/research question
Have one. Make sure you understand it.
A = annotate (Yes, again.)
Note questions you have, repetitive terms, categories of info
R = reflect
What is your emotional reaction to the info? What have you learned? Are your opinions shifting, changing, confirmed?
Having learned more, do you need to rewrite/adjust?

3. Creating a Detailed Outline
Before you outline,
1. identify as many categories of information as you can.
2. understand their relationship to each other. How do they relate? Are some of the categories tucked within larger concepts?
3. sketch this out without worrying about the organization of A. B., C., etc.
Big category (i.e., technological advances in social media in the past ten years)
--smaller category that relates to/helps illuminate big category
--smaller category related to the first smaller category that helps illuminate big category
--and so on…
Big category (i.e., examples of the violation of privacy by Facebook)
C. Big category

4. Create a system of organizing the information in your sources into the categories you’ve designated. You can
--color code (pink highlight = technological advances in social media in the past ten years
yellow highlight = examples of the violation of privacy by Facebook
blue highlight = gender bias evident in social media).
--use shapes (technological advances in social media in the past ten year =
--go old school and copy down notes and quotes on cards so you can shift them around and arrange your ideas. It truly does work!
5. Go back through your sources and apply your system.

5. Sample of a Detailed Outline (incomplete)
Thesis: Despite many hoaxes, historical documentation, reliable first-hand sightings, and scientifically evaluated physical evidence indicate that a Bigfoot type creature may indeed roam the woods of North America.
A. Native American myths that describe a Bigfoot type creature
1. Bigfoot in Lillooet mythology (Northwest)
a. Lilooet Tribe story and stone foot example
petroglyphs and the tale of the “Cannibal Giant”
2. Bigfoot in Puebloan mythology (New Mexico)
a. Pueblo legend of Gashpeta
b. Puebloan petroglyphs
3. Compare Lillooet and Puebloan stories and explain why
they show that Bigfoot could be a real animal
. Early European settlers/western pioneers describe a Bigfoot type creature
pioneer journal writings about “The Wildman of the Wilderness”
(use quote from journal on
C. Modern visual sightings of Bigfoot (includes descriptions of sound and smells)
1. Explain sighting at Crater Lake in 1961
a. “It was huge and hairy; it looked like a bear, but something inside me sensed it was not an animal I’d ever seen before” (Thompsen)
2. Explain sighting in Yosemite in 1978
Explain sighting outside Vancouver, B.C., in 1983
Cover sightings in Washington state from
The structure of the outline is very personal—you need to organize it in a visual pattern that makes sense to you.

6. Strategies for writing a 4000 word paper
Start with a free write on your primary categories. Find out how you feel about those topics via casual, free flowing writing. Your commentary and analysis will emerge if you do this, I promise.
Think about each section as a smaller essay. You don’t have to write this paper in the order of paragraphs you have on your outline. Write the sections you know best, first.
Write clear topic sentences. They will guide you as you make your way through each paragraph. Check regularly to make sure that your topic sentence matches the content of your paragraph-if it doesn’t, either the content should change, or the topic sentence should!
Give yourself enough time to think and write. You really can’t pull this one off the night before it’s due. You need time to read information, think about it, ask questions, form opinions, and then write.

7. I think the biggest obstacle students encounter when they write their EE is that they don’t allow themselves enough time to really reflect deeply on their topic.
You need to understand your opinion(s) and beliefs about your research question.
The more time you give yourself to thoroughly read sources and internalize them, the more easily you will find the writing process—you need to know what you’re writing about before you write.