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Extended Essay 专题论文: STEP 10. Viva Voce

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Preparation for the final reflection session

Students should bring the following to this session:

  • extracts from their RRS that illustrate how they have grown as learners through the process of reflection
  • a willingness to share their personal experience and to discuss the skills and development of conceptual understandings that they have acquired through the completion of the extended essay.

Tip:

It is important to note that students must not be allowed to make any changes to their extended essay after this meeting. Once they have submitted the essay as final to their supervisor, it is the supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that changes are not made. This is particularly important for schools who allow candidate upload of the essay.

Final reflection session

The viva voce is a short interview between the student and the supervisor, and is the mandatory conclusion to the extended essay process. Students who do not attend the viva voce will be disadvantaged under criterion E (engagement) as the RPPF form will be incomplete.

The viva voce is conducted once the student has submitted the final version of their extended essay. At this point in the process no further changes can be made to the essay. The viva voce is a celebration of the completion of the essay and a reflection on what the student has learned from the process.

The viva voce is:

  • an opportunity to ask the student a variety of open-ended questions to elicit holistic evidence of the student’s learning experience.
  • an opportunity for the supervisor to confirm the authenticity of the student’s ideas and sources
  • an opportunity to reflect on successes and difficulties encountered in the research process
  • an aid to the supervisor’s comments on the Reflections on planning and progress form.

The viva voce should last 20–30 minutes. This is included in the recommended amount of time a supervisor should spend with the student.

Viva Voce Questions

Interview Duration: 20–30 Minutes

During this interview, supervisors may pose questions such as:

- What conclusions have you drawn from your research for your Extended Essay?
- Were there any findings that surprised you?
- What do you consider to be the most and least rewarding aspects of your research and writing process?
- Did you encounter any contradictions in your research, and how did you address them in your paper?
- What insights have you gained regarding your topic?
- What challenges did you face during your research and writing process, and how did you overcome them?
- How successful were you in answering your research question?

Guiding your reflection

Level of reflection Example of the kinds of questions students may have asked and answered of themselves
Descriptive
  • What did I do?
  • How did I undertake my research?
  • What were the problems I faced?
  • Did my approach or strategies change throughout the process?
  • What have been the high and the low points of the research and writing process?
Analytical
  • Was my research successful?
  • If I changed my approach or strategies during the process, why did I do this?
  • What did I learn from the experience in terms of my understanding of the subject area and/or the skills needed to undertake research?
  • How has my understanding of the topic and research process developed throughout the task?
Evaluative
  • If I were to undertake this research again, would I do it differently—if so, why or why not?
  • What has affected this?
  • If I did do the research again, would I change the theories applied or the methodological approach? Would this have led to a different outcome?
  • What can I conclude from this?
  • Were the strategies I used for undertaking my research the most appropriate for achieving my outcomes?
  • What, if any, questions emerged as a result of my research that I was not expecting? Would these questions influence my approach if I were to undertake the research again?

 

Reflection Prompts

While these suggestions aren’t fail-proof, these sentence starters might helps to encourage more reflection and evaluation, rather than description:

  • This topic about _________ interests me because
  • I chose to write about _________ because
  • I have now modified my research question because__________
  • When researching for secondary source material, I found that
  • When citing secondary sources, I have learned that
  • When structuring my essay, I know I need to
  • At first, I_____however, now I _______
  • Now that I have written a first draft, I understand that
  • So far, my organisational skills have been _____ because
  • I am developing my analytical skills by
  • After my supervisor suggested that I ______ I am now intending to
  • After receiving feedback, I have decided to
  • Next, I intend to
  • Before my final submission, I need to
  • One challenge I have faced is
  • I have had difficulty
  • When editing my essay, I noticed that
  • My time-management skills have
  • One limitation of my essay is that
  • I believe one successful aspect of my essay is that
  • If I were to do the essay again, I would
  • If I had more time, I would have