How to write a good essay
How to Write a Good Essay!
Although there are some similarities to History and English essays, TOK essays are unlike any other essay that you will write and there are some specific things that the examiners are looking for and that you are going to have to do if you want to do well.
Some really good essays won’t score high marks because they don’t do exactly what it says in the mark scheme. So before you even put pen to paper you should read the mark scheme so that you know exactly what it is that the examiners are looking for, only then will you be able to give them what they want.
The mark scheme can be found on this page but, broadly speaking, to get full marks in the essay you will need to consider the following four key areas.
In General: think independently: don’t just base your answer on what your TOK teacher said, the ideas of famous philosophers or what is written in Wikipedia; identify and remain focused on the TOK issues raised by a given question, this can take time and be difficult at the start but you must do this before you do anything else as starting to write or even research before you know what the question is really ‘getting at’ can send you off in the wrong direction; offer personal definitions of key terms at the point in the essay at which they become relevant; include footnotes and a bibliography.
Read your Question Carefully:
This may seem obvious but not answering the question as it is precisely set will mean low marks for analysis, TOK issues (as the may not be relevant) and Clarity (as the conclusion will not answer the question) – potentially meaning that up to 25 marks out of 40 could be lost. A good example of this is question 9 from 2004-2005 where the initial statement ‘All ethical statements are relative’ means just that – ‘all’ – and so discussing the relativity of some ethical statements will not be satisfactory;
Pick out the key words from the title, but be aware that the key word is not always a TOK word,
Although there are some similarities to History and English essays, TOK essays are unlike any other essay that you will write and there are some specific things that the examiners are looking for and that you are going to have to do if you want to do well.
Some really good essays won’t score high marks because they don’t do exactly what it says in the mark scheme. So before you even put pen to paper you should read the mark scheme so that you know exactly what it is that the examiners are looking for, only then will you be able to give them what they want.
The mark scheme can be found on this page but, broadly speaking, to get full marks in the essay you will need to consider the following four key areas.
In General: think independently: don’t just base your answer on what your TOK teacher said, the ideas of famous philosophers or what is written in Wikipedia; identify and remain focused on the TOK issues raised by a given question, this can take time and be difficult at the start but you must do this before you do anything else as starting to write or even research before you know what the question is really ‘getting at’ can send you off in the wrong direction; offer personal definitions of key terms at the point in the essay at which they become relevant; include footnotes and a bibliography.
Read your Question Carefully:
This may seem obvious but not answering the question as it is precisely set will mean low marks for analysis, TOK issues (as the may not be relevant) and Clarity (as the conclusion will not answer the question) – potentially meaning that up to 25 marks out of 40 could be lost. A good example of this is question 9 from 2004-2005 where the initial statement ‘All ethical statements are relative’ means just that – ‘all’ – and so discussing the relativity of some ethical statements will not be satisfactory;
Pick out the key words from the title, but be aware that the key word is not always a TOK word,
Bibliography: Books: Damasio, Antonio R., Descartes ' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. Quill Publishing, (2000) Solomon Robert C., The Handbook of Emotions, Pg. 3, The Guilford Press (2004). Zalta, Edward N., "Kant 's Moral Philosophy." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University Press, (1997) Magazines/Journals: Koenigs M, Young L, Adolphs R, Tranel D, Cushman F, Hauser M, Damasio A. R.. "Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex Increases Utilitarian Moral Judgements." Nature 21 March 2007 Greene, Joshua. "An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgement." Science, vol. 293, pg. 2105-2108 (2001) Websites: A study guide of the NIV Bible ,Concerning the 10 Commandments, http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/kn/kn042.htm, 20 February 2008.