Your EE Research Question Can Make or Break the Essay

A weak Extended Essay research question creates problems long before you reach the conclusion.

If it is too broad, you spend 4,000 words summarising. If it is too narrow, the answer becomes obvious after a few paragraphs. If it asks for evidence you cannot realistically obtain, the entire research plan starts collapsing halfway through the process.

That is why choosing an EE topic and writing an EE research question are not the same task.

“Social media and mental health” is a topic.

“To what extent is passive social media use associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents aged 13 to 18?” is a question that begins defining what evidence the essay needs.

The difference matters directly to assessment.

What Criterion A Actually Rewards

For Extended Essays first assessed from May 2027, the assessment model totals 30 marks. Criterion A, Framework for the essay, is worth 6 marks. It considers three connected elements: the research question, research methods and structure.

For the 5 to 6 mark band, the IB expects the research question to be relevant, clear and focused in relation to the scope of the essay. The research methods should also suit the question and be applied effectively, while the structure should support communication of the research.

So a weak question does not automatically determine your entire Criterion A result. But it makes everything that follows harder.

Your method grows from the question.

Your source selection grows from the question.

Your structure grows from the question.

Your argument should answer the question.

The IB also describes the Extended Essay as a 4,000 word independent research paper and identifies formulating an appropriate research question as one of the central skills developed through the process.

If your assessment session is November 2026, check the previous EE framework with your supervisor because the older 34 mark criteria still apply.

Run the Scope Test Before You Start Writing

Before committing to a question, test it in four ways.

1. Can you answer it properly in 4,000 words?

A question about the causes of an entire war, the effect of social media on society or the representation of gender across twentieth century literature is usually too large.

Lanterna makes the same practical point in its EE proposal guidance: 4,000 words disappear quickly, so vague questions become difficult to answer adequately.

2. Is there enough room for an argument?

A question can also become too narrow.

If the evidence leads to an obvious answer after one calculation, one experiment or two sources, you may not have enough material for sustained analysis, discussion and evaluation.

The question needs limits without eliminating complexity.

3. Can you access the evidence you would need?

A theoretically excellent question can still be a bad EE question if its answer depends on inaccessible archives, expensive laboratory equipment, proprietary company data or research in a language you cannot analyse confidently.

RevisionDojo recommends checking source availability before committing to the question rather than discovering the problem deep into the research process.

4. Does the question belong clearly to your EE subject?

Different subjects investigate questions differently.

A Psychology EE is not a Biology EE about the brain. An English A EE should remain focused on textual analysis rather than turning a novel into evidence for a sociological claim. The current IB guidance for Language A, for example, requires the essay to analyse one or more texts and examine how textual choices create effects.

Your question should make the subject visible.

Ten Weak Questions Rewritten Across Six Subjects

The examples below are illustrative. They are not approved EE questions and should not be copied. Their purpose is to show how changing scope, variables, evidence and wording can turn an area of interest into something more researchable.

History

1. Weak: What caused the Cold War?

The question covers an enormous historical debate across multiple countries, leaders, ideologies and events.

Stronger: To what extent did the Berlin Blockade of 1948 to 1949 intensify Soviet American tensions in Europe?

Now the essay has a defined event, period, relationship and evaluative task.

The word “intensify” also creates room to examine both the blockade itself and competing explanations for worsening tensions.

2. Weak: Did Truman dislike Stalin?

This is narrower, but it risks becoming speculative and overly dependent on judging a leader’s personal feelings.

Stronger: To what extent did Truman’s interpretation of Soviet intentions influence United States policy towards the USSR between April 1945 and March 1947?

The revised question shifts the focus towards historically observable evidence: policy decisions, correspondence, speeches, diplomatic records and historians’ interpretations.

The lesson is simple: narrow the historical problem without reducing it to trivia.

English A

For the current subject focused pathway, a Language A EE should be based on clearly defined texts and centre on literary or language analysis. If you explore a social or political issue, the focus must remain on how the text treats that issue.

3. Weak: How is power shown in Never Let Me Go?

“Power” is too broad, and “shown” does not identify what kind of analysis the essay will conduct.

Stronger: How does Kazuo Ishiguro use restricted narration in Never Let Me Go to shape the reader’s understanding of institutional control?

Now the question identifies the text, authorial method and interpretive effect.

4. Weak: How are women represented in modern poetry?

The possible source base is almost unlimited.

Stronger: How do changes in poetic voice and dramatic monologue construct female agency in a defined selection of poems by Carol Ann Duffy?

The revised version narrows the corpus and places authorial choices at the centre.

Before using any literary work, confirm that it meets your EE subject requirements and is eligible under the current guide.

Biology

A science question usually becomes stronger when the biological system, independent variable, dependent variable and practical scope are visible.

5. Weak: How does salt affect plant growth?

Which salt? Which plant? What concentration? What measure of growth?

Stronger: How does sodium chloride concentration from 0 to 150 mmol per litre affect the mean root elongation rate of Raphanus sativus seedlings over 72 hours under controlled temperature and light conditions?

The revised question tells you what to manipulate, what to measure and which system to investigate.

It also gives you something to test in a pilot before finalising the exact concentration range.

6. Weak: Does caffeine affect yeast?

The word “affect” could mean almost anything.

Stronger: How does caffeine concentration affect the carbon dioxide production rate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae during glucose fermentation at a controlled temperature?

Now the dependent variable is measurable and the biological process is explicit.

Do not mistake specificity for quality, however. A technically precise question can still be too simple for an EE if it does not create enough scope for meaningful analysis and discussion.

Chemistry

RevisionDojo’s research question guidance uses the same useful principle for Chemistry: define the variable, range, chemical system and measurement method rather than asking a vague question such as how temperature affects reaction rate.

7. Weak: How does temperature affect reaction rate?

This could describe thousands of possible investigations.

Stronger: How does temperature between 298 K and 318 K affect the rate constant for the iodination of propanone under fixed reactant concentrations?

The revised version identifies the reaction and the quantity being analysed.

8. Weak: Which antacid is best?

“Best” is undefined.

Stronger: How does the acid neutralising capacity per gram compare among three calcium carbonate based antacid formulations when determined by back titration?

The improvement comes from defining what “best” means experimentally.

A question becomes stronger when another researcher could understand exactly what evidence would be needed to answer it.

Economics

Economics questions often become unmanageable because students attempt to analyse an entire national economy or use words such as “impact” without defining the variable being affected.

9. Weak: Does minimum wage cause unemployment?

This is an enormous theoretical and empirical debate.

Stronger: To what extent did a specified minimum wage increase affect employment among workers aged 16 to 24 in a defined region during the two years surrounding the policy change?

The revised version creates a defined policy, population, location and time period.

Before committing, check whether reliable employment data actually exist at the required level of detail. If the evidence is unavailable, revise the question before building the essay around it.

Psychology

Psychology requires a particularly important methodological check. IB guidance states that Psychology Extended Essays must use secondary sources. Students cannot collect primary data for the Psychology EE.

10. Weak: How does social media affect teenagers?

Almost every word needs narrowing.

Stronger: To what extent is passive social media use associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents aged 13 to 18?

The revised version defines the behaviour, psychological outcome and population.

It also creates space for an important analytical issue: whether the available research demonstrates causation, correlation or a more complicated relationship involving additional variables.

That is the kind of question a Psychology EE can examine by comparing and evaluating published research rather than conducting a new experiment.

Your Research Question Should Change During Research

Do not become emotionally attached to the first version of your question.

Lanterna’s proposal guidance explicitly notes that research questions can normally be altered later, provided the project does not become an entirely different topic.

That flexibility is useful.

Research often reveals that the first version is impossible.

You might discover that the historical evidence is stronger for a different five year period. Your Biology pilot may show that half your concentration range produces no measurable response. You may find that two literary texts offer less meaningful comparison than one text examined more deeply.

Revision is not evidence that your original idea failed.

It is part of turning an interesting topic into a researchable question.

Use This Final Research Question Checklist

Before taking a question to your supervisor, check whether you can answer yes to each of these.

1. Is the question clearly connected to my registered EE subject?

2. Can I explain exactly what the question is asking?

3. Can it be answered meaningfully within 4,000 words?

4. Is there enough complexity for analysis, discussion and evaluation?

5. Do I have access to suitable sources, data, texts or equipment?

6. Does the question suggest an appropriate research method?

7. Have I avoided combining two major questions into one?

8. Could another reader understand the scope without asking me what I really mean?

9. Can I imagine at least two plausible interpretations or outcomes?

10. Am I prepared to revise the wording when preliminary research changes what is feasible?

Then test the question against the outline of your proposed essay.

If half your planned sections do not directly help answer it, either the outline or the question needs revision.

For the next stage, connect this article to the Koncepts guide on IB Extended Essay Structure: Where the Marks Come From. Students still searching for a subject area can also move to the Koncepts guide on Extended Essay Topics and Ideas before narrowing their choice into a workable question.

For DP study support alongside the EE, explore Koncepts for DP students.