Extended Essay topics: how do you choose a starting point?
Choose a topic that can be narrowed into a research question and supported with evidence suitable for your subject.
Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
- • The effect of a specific environmental variable on the activity of one named enzyme
- • Comparing the antioxidant capacity of a food across preparation methods, by titration
- • How a structural parameter (span, depth, material) affects the load a model bridge holds to failure
- • The relationship between a physical variable and the efficiency of a small solar or thermoelectric cell
- • How storage conditions affect the degradation rate of vitamin C in a real product
- • Modelling and testing the drag on a shape at low speed using a home wind channel
- • The effect of water hardness on the effectiveness of a named surfactant
Narrow it: Pick one independent variable and one quantitative dependent variable you can measure in a school lab, over at least five levels with repeats.
Mathematics
- • Modelling a real population or resource with a logistic differential equation and evaluating the fit
- • Which infinite-series approximation of a constant (π, e) converges fastest, and why
- • Optimising a real design (a can, a ramp, a packing problem) with calculus and comparing to reality
- • Using a Markov chain to model a game or a queue and finding its long-run behaviour
- • Fourier approximation of a periodic signal and the error as terms are added
- • A statistical investigation into fairness (a die, a game, a dataset) using a goodness-of-fit test
- • Reconstructing a curve or font outline with Bézier curves and quantifying the fitting error
Narrow it: State the exact technique and the exact object of study. The maths must be a genuine tool, and there should be something real to check the result against.
History
- • The relative importance of two named causes of a specific 20th-century event
- • The extent to which one policy or decision produced a particular outcome
- • How and why interpretations of a specific event changed over time
- • The significance of one individual to a specific short-term development
- • The effectiveness of a named piece of legislation or reform within a defined period
- • A comparison of two responses to the same crisis by different states
Narrow it: Frame it as a single arguable question ('To what extent…', 'How significant…'), bounded in time, at least ten years in the past, with sources you can actually access.
Economics
- • The welfare effects of a specific tax or subsidy in one market
- • The impact of a minimum-wage change in one country on a defined labour market
- • Whether a named firm's pricing behaviour is consistent with a particular market structure
- • The effect of an exchange-rate movement on a specific export industry
- • The distributional effects of a named policy using real data
- • The extent to which a piece of infrastructure spending met its stated economic aims
Narrow it: Anchor it to real, recent data and one clearly drawn diagram or model. Keep the market and the time period specific.
Psychology
- • The extent to which a named cognitive bias appears in a specific real-world decision context
- • A critical evaluation of the evidence for one memory model
- • How situational vs dispositional explanations account for a specific behaviour
- • The role of one factor (sleep, stress, framing) in a defined type of performance
- • An evaluation of the cross-cultural validity of a well-known study
Narrow it: The EE is an argument from published research, not an experiment. Choose a debate where studies genuinely disagree.
Language & Literature
- • How one technique is used to construct a specific theme across two works by the same author
- • The effect of narrative perspective on the reader's sympathy in a named text
- • How a translation choice changes the meaning of a specific passage
- • The presentation of one idea (memory, power, exile) in two texts from different periods
- • How form (sonnet, free verse, epistolary) shapes meaning in a specific work
Narrow it: Keep it to one or two texts and one clearly defined literary feature. The question should demand analysis, not summary.
Sources & verification
Primary-source references used to verify key assessment facts on this page. Last source check: September 22, 2026.
The topic ideas on this page are original iBacalao starting points, not official IB titles. The current Extended Essay guide and its subject-specific guidance control whether a proposed question is suitable for your subject and session.
- IB - Extended Essay guide (first assessment 2027)Primary current guide for choosing a pathway, focusing a topic, developing a research question and using subject-specific guidance.
- IB - What is the Extended Essay?Official overview of the 4,000-word independent research component and subject/interdisciplinary routes.
- IB - Extended Essay examplesOfficial public examples illustrating the range of valid Extended Essay topics.
Turned a topic into a full draft?
iBacalao reviews a provided Extended Essay draft against the configured criteria and suggests what to revise. Signed-in free accounts refill continuously toward 60 Shells over 7 days. Its feedback is practice guidance, not an official grade.
Open EE feedback →What questions do students ask about Extended Essay topics?
A topic is only a starting point; confirm that your narrowed question fits the subject guide and your available evidence.
Is a topic the same as a research question?
No. A topic is an area ('memory and eyewitness testimony'). A research question is a single arguable or investigable question inside it. You are marked on the question, so the narrowing step is where most of the work is.
How do you narrow an Extended Essay topic into a research question?
Start with what you can actually investigate. “Propaganda at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” is still a topic; a defined audience, source set, period, and question gives you something you can argue with evidence. The final wording should point toward one investigation rather than a tour of the whole subject.
Should source availability change your Extended Essay topic?
Check this before locking the question. If the archive is inaccessible, the dataset has three usable rows, or the experiment needs equipment your school does not have, change the scope now. Source access is part of topic feasibility, not a problem to discover halfway through the essay.
Which subject should I choose for my EE?
Pick a subject you already study and enjoy, where you can access appropriate research materials, and where you have a supervisor who knows the field. A brilliant question in a subject you cannot support will still score badly.
Can these topics be used for the 2027 interdisciplinary EE?
Some can, if genuinely integrating two DP subjects answers the question better than one. See the Extended Essay 2027 guide for the subject-focused vs interdisciplinary decision and the five frameworks.