THE ESSAY From Nicholas Alchin and the guide

THE ESSAY From Nicholas Alchin and the guide p 52 - 56 HELP AGAIN!!! 1

Familiarise yourself with the assessment criteria Your examples should be varied and culturally diverse. You will lose marks if you do not properly cite any sources you use, and You need a clear introduction and conclusion. http: //prog 13. free. fr/misc/tpe/conclusion. jpg 2

A. Understanding knowledge issues 9 - 10 The essay consistently maintains as its focus knowledge issues that are relevant to the prescribed title. Effective links and comparisons between areas of knowledge and/or ways of knowing are elaborated, so that the essay demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the knowledge issues under consideration. 3

http: //www. chabad. org/media/images/66/Nkvy 666279. jpgdc http: //www. northshore 305. com/photos/beach_pool. jpg Your essay MUST focus on a relevant knowledge issues that relates directly to the prescribed title, or is shown to be important in relation to it And it must show demonstrate depth and breadth of the understanding. 4

Depth of understanding is often indicated by drawing distinctions within ways of knowing and areas of knowledge, or by connecting several facets of knowledge issues to these. Metaphor Irony Connotation 5

Breadth of understanding is often indicated by making comparisons between ways of knowing and areas of knowledge that are linked to your chosen title. You essay must show an awareness of the connections between knowledge issues, areas of knowledge and ways of knowing? 6

B. Knower’s perspective 9 – 10 • The essay shows much evidence of independent thinking about the knowledge issues related to the prescribed title. • The student has shaped the essay in a way that shows both a personal, reflective exploration of the knowledge issues and significant selfawareness as a knower. • There is serious consideration of different perspectives. • Examples chosen are varied and effectively used. http: //www. mathsisfun. com/geometry/symmetry-reflection. html 7

The knowledge issues must show connection to your own experience as a learner? You must show an awareness of your own perspective as a knower in relation to other perspectives due to different academic and philosophical traditions, culture or position in society (gender, age, and so on)? Examples should reflect your individuality http: //content. answers. com/main/content/wp/en/f/f 0/Compare_Arabic_Hebrew_etc 2. png http: //www. umma. umich. edu/images/vi ew/2003/Arabic. Calligraphy_11_2002. jpg 8

C. Quality of analysis of knowledge issues http: //www. plasmadesign. co. uk/widescreenaqua. htm http: //www. theneedlesbattery. org. uk/Images/weather 01. jpg 9 – 10 • The inquiry explores with a high degree of insight, in considerable depth and/or detail, knowledge issues. • All main points are justified and arguments are coherent and compelling. Counterclaims are explored and evaluated. • Implications and underlying assumptions of the essay’s argument are identified. 9

You must use ONLY knowledge issues that are relevant to the title. The main points of your essay must be clearly stated and well justified? Your arguments must be coherent and compelling and you MUST consider the other side. You have to identify the implications and underlying assumptions of all the arguments. http: //www. damninteresting. net/content/Pillarsof. Creation_sm. jpg 10

D. Organization of ideas 9 – 10 • The essay on the prescribed title is very well structured, with an effective overall organization. • Concepts are used clearly and, where appropriate, refined by helpful explanations. • Factual information used to support arguments is correct. Sources of information and ideas are acknowledged; all referencing permits tracing of sources. • The word limit has been met. http: //www. chabad. org/media/images/66/Nkvy 666279. jpgdc 1200 -1600 http: //www. theneedlesbattery. org. uk/Images/weather 01. jpg http: //prog 13. free. fr/misc/tpe/conclusion. jpg http: //www. umma. umich. edu/images/view/2003/Arabic. Calligraphy_11_2002. jpg http: //www. mathsisfun. com/geometry/symmetry-reflection. html http: //www. northshore 305. com/photos/beach_pool. jpg 11

Your essay must be well organized and relevant, that means Written in a way that helps understanding Central terms are explained and developed to help comprehension Factual information is accurate and referenced? Sources are properly referenced in a way that allows them to be traced If your essay is outside the word limit of 1, 200– 1, 600 it will get a maximum of 4 here And if it does not hit the knowledge issue it will get 0 here. http: //kwcg. humanists. net/CMS/images/stories/calvin & hobbs. jpg 12

Do not get bogged down with definitions http: //www. theartoftheblog. com/blog/images/ed car/moral%20 high%20 ground-thumb. gif While it is important to know what you are talking about, you could waste a whole essay in trying to, say, define ‘truth’. Also, dictionary definitions are not always helpful – if a dictionary says that ‘reality is that which is real’ then what does this tell you? 13

Make distinctions between different areas of knowledge and different ways of knowing You should avoid making claims that apply to all aspects of knowledge Different areas of knowledge or ways of knowing ‘work’ differently, and what is true for e. g. maths in unlikely to be quite right for e. g. biology. http: //darkwing. pandemonium. de/Calvin. Hobbes. History. jpg 14

Do not make grandiose but rather meaningless claims. For example "Since the The same sentiment would be much better put as "Humans are a curious species, always seeking the truth" (which may still be an exaggeration). http: //www. artloversnewyork. com/zine/wp-content/photos/Look_Behind_You. jpg dawn of the universe, truth has haunted mankind". 15

In your introduction spend a few lines explaining the question, and clarifying how you are going to interpret it. You could start by offering a position that you know is wrong, and explain why it is wrong, perhaps developing it into a better one. For example, one essay title was based on a quote from CS Lewis 16

"What I tell you three times is true". CS Lewis A start may be Lewis’s quote seems, at first sight, to be ridiculous. If I tell you three times that I am an alien, or that 1 + 1 = 5, you are unlikely to believe me. Mere repetition is not enough. However, if I ask you how you know that Canberra is the capital of Australia, it may well be that you know it simply because you have heard it several times. In other words in this case, repetition is enough. So perhaps there is some merit in the claim, depending on the particular area of knowledge in question. http: //www. rusf. ru/fc/img/big/snark. jpg 17

In your introduction try to provide some ‘signposts’ that indicate what you will be trying to do in your essay. It is much easier to follow an argument when you have a vague idea where it is headed, but you should not spell out the whole thing. Following on from the last example, the essay may continue In this essay I shall attempt to see under what circumstances repetition becomes convincing, and by looking at the natural sciences and empirical knowledge in general, I hope to show that Lewis is absolutely right in certain areas of knowledge, and completely wrong in others. 18

Use your own original examples to make your points. These can be taken from your IB subjects, your everyday life, newspapers and so on. http: //www. mesquiteisd. org/library/mhs/images/science. gif Avoid the rather over used examples like the flat earth as an example of an error that everyone believed, Hitler as an immoral person. 19

http: //www. cg. tuwien. ac. at/~helwig/diss/pics-big/1012 -Complex. 2. jpg Also the best essays do not spend a great deal of space describing examples, but use them often almost in passing to make an analytical point which can then be developed. 20

http: //affordablehousinginstitute. org/blogs/us/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/imagesinterconnected-octahedron-small. jpg Remember that your essay is an extended argument– not a collection of several loosely related points. Your essay should move from point to point while always extending the argument and clarifying the nature of your answer. Try to develop a narrative or theme that will link paragraphs and points together smoothly. This may well not be a simple matter and is likely to require a great deal of thought, but it does mean that you can make the essay your own. Find your own theme and address the issues in a manner that interests you and means something to you. 21

Try to develop an abstract as you write your essay. This is really to help you with the last point. An abstract is a one-paragraph summary of your argument- and if you cannot explain your argument briefly then the reader will have no chance of understanding it. The abstract will not be included when you have finished the essay, but the act of writing it should help you retain clarity over what it is that you are trying to do. It is very easy to get lost in TOK essays; the abstract is a way of sticking to the argument that you want to make. 22

In your conclusion try to summarise (very briefly – one or two sentences) what you have said, and try to end with a forward-looking view. This might be an explanation of exactly why you were unable to answer the question, or what you would need to know in order to answer the question. Do not just reiterate your arguments. The final paragraph should ‘feel’ like conclusion and not leave the reader hanging in mid-air. It seems then, that the nature of our senses implies that we will never have access to the ‘real world’ (though as we have seen, ‘real world’ is a highly problematic phrase). Some people may feel this is a great disappointment, while others may not care, but it is certainly humbling to note that even in this advanced age, for all our scientific expertise and high-tech machines, we will never know reality. 23

Given that several of the knowledge issues that you identify may apply to the essay you are writing, you may wish to acknowledge the irony of taking up a position at all. http: //www. bwog. net/uploads/ironicparadox. jpg 24

Essays for May 2009 1. “Science is built of facts the way a house is built of bricks: but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a pile of bricks is a house” (Henri Poincaré). Discuss in relation to science and at least one other area of knowledge. 2. When should we trust our senses to give us truth? 3. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of reason as a way of knowing. 4. “Seek simplicity, and distrust it” (Alfred North Whitehead). Is this always good advice for a knower? 5. “In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance” (Henry Miller). Is this true? 25

6. Compare and contrast our approach to knowledge about the past with our approach to knowledge about the future. 7. “Moral wisdom seems to be as little connected to knowledge of ethical theory as playing good tennis is to knowledge of physics” (Emrys Westacott). To what extent should our actions be guided by our theories in ethics and elsewhere? 8. To understand something you need to rely on your own experience and culture. Does this mean that it is impossible to have objective knowledge? 9. “The knowledge that we value the most is the knowledge for which we can provide the strongest justifications. ” To what extent would you agree with this claim? 10. “There can be no knowledge without emotion…. until we have felt the force of the knowledge, it is not ours” (adapted from Arnold Bennett). Discuss this vision of the relationship between knowledge and emotion. 26