Supervisor Guidance & the One-Draft Rule (DP IB Extended Essay): Revision Note

What feedback can your supervisor give you & what are the limits?

The one-draft rule

• A supervisor is permitted to review and comment on only one full draft of the Extended Essay (EE)

  • This usually occurs during the latter stages of the process, after the interim reflection session

  • This draft should be a completed version of the essay so the supervisor can see the full development of the line of argument

• Once this single review is complete, the next version the supervisor sees must be the final version submitted for assessment

  • Your supervisor should also read the final version before the viva voce to confirm authenticity, and your final submitted essay should not be changed after the viva voce

Permitted types of feedback

• Supervisors provide general guidance and support throughout the research and writing process

  • The IB recommends around three to five hours of supervision in total, including the three mandatory reflection sessions and any check-in meetings, as well as time spent reading your draft

• Feedback on the draft must be limited to general comments and pointed, open-ended questions designed to prompt student reflection

  • Supervisors might ask questions such as "I'm not sure I follow your argument here, because..." or "Could you express this point more clearly?"

  • They may also suggest that a student checks a specific page for accuracy of referencing or to improve a specific section

• Feedback on the draft must be limited to general comments and pointed, open-ended questions (the draft must not be heavily annotated or edited)

• Advice and mentorship are also provided during the three mandatory reflection sessions—initial, interim and the viva voce

• Supervisors may also hold additional check-ins; only attendance at the three formal reflection sessions is recorded on the RPF

• If you work with an external expert (an ‘external mentor’), you must still have a school-based supervisor who completes the reflection process and signs the RPF; the external mentor must follow IB limits and complete the required form (included in the appendix)

Explicit limits and prohibitions

• A supervisor acts as a guide and mentor, not a shaper or co-author of the work

• Supervisors are strictly prohibited from performing the following tasks:

  • Editing or rewriting any part of the essay text

  • Proofreading the essay for errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar

  • Correcting specific mathematical calculations or experimental work

  • Indicating exactly where whole sections of the essay should be moved or placed

• It is a common misconception that supervisors should fix language expression or citations; they are not permitted to correct bibliographies or specific referencing errors

Student responsibility for independent improvement

• The EE is a student-led, self-regulated learning experience where the student is responsible for the research and writing

• Students must independently improve the structure, argument and expression of their work following the supervisor's general feedback

• Proofreading is a task that must be done entirely by the student

  • Students are encouraged to use spelling and grammar checkers built into word-processing software to scaffold their communication

  • Other strategies include reading the essay aloud or changing the font colour and size to help spot errors independently