What is the RRS? (DP IB Extended Essay): Revision Note

How should students use the RRS?

Defining the reflection space

• The Researcher’s Reflection Space (RRS) is a personal learning environment that can be physical or virtual depending on student preference

  • It is a journal or digital tool used to record thoughts, reading and progress throughout the inquiry

• The RRS helps students understand and articulate their experience and research decisions more clearly

• Use of the space is an expression of the student's voice and shows personal ownership of the project

• The IB strongly recommends keeping an ongoing RRS

• Maintaining the space is a core part of the self-management process

  • Self-management refers to the ability to independently navigate a substantial task, manage timelines and handle workloads

• The RRS is not submitted to the IB and is not directly assessed; it supports your reflections and helps you write a stronger 500-word reflective statement (Criterion E)

Practical ways to use the space

• Use the RRS to record notes, usable ideas and questions that emerge during reading

• Students should use the space for:

  • Mind maps or drawings to help visualise their thinking

  • Recording responses to artefacts such as photographs, newspaper clippings or social media feeds

  • key changes to the research question and why

  • decisions about including/excluding sources (with reasons)

  • problems encountered and how they were solved

  • moments where your perspective changed (what caused it)

  • how your evidence shaped your argument

• Some students find it helpful to keep an annotated bibliography in their RRS

  • This could include keeping a list of citations to books and articles where each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph

  • Your formal bibliography still belongs in the essay itself

Tracking thinking and development

• The RRS tracks the evolution of the student’s thinking as it relates to the line of argument

• Students should document key research decisions and how their perspective on the topic has changed

Role in assessment and supervision

• The RRS itself is not submitted for assessment or marked by examiners

• It serves as a planning tool to prepare for the three mandatory reflection sessions

• Using specific examples from your RRS in the viva voce can help you write a more evaluative reflective statement afterwards

  • The viva voce is the concluding interview to celebrate the completion of the essay and verify the authenticity of the work

• The RRS helps you generate specific examples you can use in your reflective statement, which is what is assessed for Criterion E

• Excerpts and reflections from the RRS are used to write the 500-word reflective statement on the RPF

  • Reflection and Progress Form (RPF)—a mandatory document used to record the reflection process and formal supervisor meetings