Considering that the Internal Assessment (IA) is worth 20% of the overall grade of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP), it is extremely important to dedicate enough time to its preparation. Writing it, can be quite demanding thus EdQwest is suggesting some tips to follow to be able to submit a great IA of the IB DP History.
Assessment criteria: make sure that you carefully read them, since they provide a framework of the assessment with specific requirements such as the type of work you are expected to provide, the length of the paper and, most importantly, the skills and knowledge that you should be able to demonstrate.
The Topic: that you choose must be relevant to the course and as interesting as possible. It should be specific enough to give you the possibility to focus on a particular historical event, but it should also be broad enough to give you the possible to expand your analysis.
Research: The internal assessment should be based on primary sources which are original documents or pieces of the event you have selected such as letters, diaries, photographs, or newspaper articles; and secondary sources such as interpretations or analyses of primary sources, like books or articles written by historians. It is extremely important that when you do your research for the IA, you use reliable and credible sources that can be found in academic books, articles, primary sources and in interviews with experts of the subject matter. Remember to avoid using sources that can be perceived as biased or that are unsupported by evidence.
Language: ideally you should use a clear and concise language. Try to avoid using complex vocabulary or jargon that may be difficult to understand or that are subject to interpretation. In addition, make sure that your arguments are concise but well-structured and always supported by evidence.
Before submitting your internal assessment, you should dedicate some time to proofread it to avoid spelling and grammar errors, but also to check that your thesis is coherent.
In summary, to write a powerful internal assessment for the IB DP in History you need to carefully think about what you are going to expose, chose a clear and concise language, and allocate some time for a final proofreading.
EdQwest hopes that if you follow these tips, you can improve your chances of writing a high-quality internal assessment that meets the requirements of the IB.
By EdQwest