Choosing a Topic
It is vitally important that you choose a topic that is of genuine interest to you. The EE is challenging, that’s what makes it so worthwhile. If you choose your topic wisely it can also be interesting, exciting and motivating.
It is a good idea to explore local issues.
Is there a topic that needs a solution?
Can your research help you to discover a better outcome for something?
Considering the following may help you to choose a topic:
- What are your personal interests?
- Read the local newspaper and identify any issues that interest you
- What speakers have you heard that were interesting?
- What novels are you reading?
- What is in your CAS portfolio?
- What significant events have occurred? For example Shark Culling
- What scientific experiments have you heard of that interest you?
- Contact local community groups to identify any research projects
- Are there any historical events that have caught your imagination?
- Are there any innovations, phenomena or theorems you have heard of lately?
Steps to Keep in Mind
- Choose according to interest. You will be working on your Extended Essay for a long time so make sure that you’re not likely to get bored as boredom generally leads to procrastination.
- Don’t choose a topic just because you think you can answer it already. Originality is rewarded. Be prepared that you will need to go beyond the core syllabus.
- Make sure that your idea can be treated successfully with the amount of time and word count. Don’t make your topic too broad.
- Don’t make your topic too narrow or specialized either. Remember that you will need to be able to find accessible sources to provide evidence for your article.
Matipwili
Possible Local Topics
- Track the grassroots community development relationship between Scotch College and the village of Matipwili in Tanzania to establish the impact that support has had on the development of the village. (Geography)
- The Environmental group Friends of Lake Claremont have a well established programme and many experts offering assistance for environmental concerns. They have a number of research projects that need investigating (Biology)
- The concept of ‘pop-up’ shops has taken Perth by storm. This relatively new phenomena has been very successful and provided a variety of economic opportunities for businesses. (Economics or Geography)
Topic Examples
Below is a list of research questions completed by Scotch students to help give you ideas about the type of topics you could investigate.
- History To what extent did Australia’s 1967 Constitutional Referendum benefit Indigenous Australians' claims to land rights?
- History Analyze the experience of children at the Moore River Native Settlement between 1919 and 1939.
- Language and Literature - A How do Thomas Keneally in Schindler’s Ark and Elie Wiesel in Night employ patterns of imagery to deepen the reader’s understanding of human experiences during the Holocaust?
- Language and Literature - A In what ways and to what effect do Murakami and Eggers utilize metafictional devices in Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius?
- ITGS What strategies have been implemented to control Australian media piracy over the past five years (2010-15) and to what extent have they been effective?
- World Studies: Environmental sustainability What role can zeolite play in reducing the eutrophication process in waterways affected by excessive fertilizer runoff?
- Biology What is the impact of essential oils, including clove, tea tree, eucalyptus and lavender, on combatting and inhibiting the growth of both Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus niger on nutrient agar at 35˚C over a five day period?
- Physics What is the relationship between the kinetic energy of an impacting body and the size of the crater created and how can an understanding of this be used to predict the environmental impact of such collisions?
- Economics To what extent can the market for clinical psychologists in private practice in Perth be considered perfectly competitive?
- Chemistry What concentration range (ppm) of cyanuric acid allows for optimisation of hypochlorite ion and hypochlorous acid levels in swimming pool water?
- Chemistry What are the optimum conditions for storing ascorbic acid; specifically air exposure time, storage material and temperature?
- Visual Arts How does Takashi Murakami draw the link between traditional Japanese aesthetics and Japanese modern graphics through the art style Superflat?
- History Analyse the effects of the introduction of chemical weaponry technology on Allied soldiers on the Western Front throughout the First World War.
- Language and Literature By what means and to what effect does Ray Bradbury utilize characterization to highlight the consequences of technology and media use in the novel Fahrenheit 451, investigated through the lens of Jean Baudrillard’s media theories?
- Language and Literature How and to what effect is the issue of climate change represented in the documentary Before the Flood and on the social media platform Twitter?
- Geography To what extent does the White Gum Valley project in Perth meet the principles of One Planet Living?
- Film How have contemporary auteur directors interpreted the French New Wave to create an enduring notion of film as art?
- Theatre To what extent are Islamic theatrical traditions a purely original concept or are they adapted from Western theatre traditions?
- Psychology To what the extent does genetic composition impact perceptions of happiness in comparison to the predominant cognitive and social cultural theories?
- Music In what ways are the characteristics of jazz and gospel of the 1960s incorporated into Duke Ellington first sacred song- In the Beginning, God?