History Extended Essay structure: sections, criteria and word count

At a glance

The structure, section by section

1. Title page

Required by the IB · Criterion: A (structure) · Outside the word count

Your personal code, the research question, the subject and the word count, plus a statement when explanatory footnotes are counted.

1. Enter your IB personal code.
2. Leave out your name, your supervisor's name, your session number and your school.
3. Paste the research question exactly as it stands in the introduction.
4. Name your subject: History.
5. Insert the word count from the counter.
6. Add the footnote statement if you used explanatory notes.

2. Acknowledgements or dedication

Common practice (Optional, uncounted and unassessed) · Outside the word count · Only when it applies

Thanks or a dedication with no identifying names.

1. Decide whether you need it.
2. Remove any name that identifies you, your supervisor or your school.
3. Keep it to a few lines.

3. Contents page

Required by the IB · Criterion: A (structure) · Outside the word count

Headings with page numbers.

1. Generate it from your headings.
2. Start page numbers on the page after it.
3. Regenerate it after your last edit.

4. Introduction

Required by the IB · Criterion: A

The research question, its context and scope, and your sources and approach.

1. Narrow the topic until 4,000 words can answer it.
2. State the question.
3. Name the concept that frames it, such as causation or consequence.
4. Outline your sources and approach.
5. Revise this section once the body is done.

5. Historiography (literature review)

Required by the IB (Required as content; a separate heading is Convention) · Criterion: B, D

How historians have interpreted the question.

1. Survey the main interpretations.
2. Note where they disagree.
3. Show where your question sits among them.

6. Analytical body

Required by the IB (The body is required; headings are Convention) · Criterion: C

An argument built from sub-claims, each supported by primary and secondary evidence.

1. Plan 1 heading per sub-claim.
2. Support each sub-claim with primary and secondary evidence, using primary sources for first-hand access to the period and secondary sources for interpretation.
3. Tie every heading back to the question.
4. Label each map, image or table, give a map a scale and key, and refer to each in the text.

7. Source evaluation within the argument

Rewarded by a criterion · Criterion: D

The value and limitations of the main sources wherever they affect the argument.

1. Evaluate a source wherever its origin or purpose changes how far you can use it.
2. Use the OPVL grid to note a source's origin, purpose, value and limitation before you write about it.
3. Weigh conflicting interpretations against each other.

8. Conclusion

Required by the IB · Criterion: C, D

The answer, consistent with the evidence, and the limitations of the research.

1. Answer the question directly.
2. Check that the answer follows from the evidence you presented.
3. State the limitations of your research.

9. References or bibliography

Required by the IB (Also an academic integrity rule: every source must be acknowledged) · Criterion: A (structure) · Outside the word count

Every source used, in 1 standard style chosen by the school.

1. Use 1 style throughout.
2. List every source you cited, including images, data and AI output.
3. Add URLs and access dates for online sources.
4. Check that each in-text citation has an entry.

10. Appendices

Common practice (Optional, and examiners need not read appendices; the signed external mentor form is the one required item) · Outside the word count · Only when it applies

Supporting material only: raw data, full texts and the mentor form.

1. Include only material the argument can stand without.
2. Refer to each appendix from the body.
3. Insert the signed mentor form if you had a mentor.

11. Reflection sessions log

Required by the IB (The 3 sessions are mandatory and are recorded on the RPF, which is uploaded separately from the essay) · Outside the word count · Submitted separately

The 3 formal reflection sessions, each with its month, your DP year (1 or 2) and your supervisor's initials.

1. After the first reflection session, log its month and your DP year.
2. Log the interim session the same way.
3. Log the viva voce as the third session; it runs 20 to 30 minutes, after your supervisor has read the final version.
4. Ask your supervisor to initial each row; the form carries initials only.
5. If you are retaking, record the current year as DP year 2.
6. Leave informal check-ins off the log.
7. Check that all 3 rows are complete before your supervisor initials and dates the form.

12. RPF reflective statement

Required by the IB (A mandated form, uploaded separately from the essay and marked under criterion E) · Criterion: E · Outside the word count · Submitted separately

Up to 500 words, written after the viva voce, evaluating how the EE shaped you as a learner and which skills you will carry forward.

1. Keep dated notes after each session, ideally in a researcher's reflection space.
2. Reread them after the viva.
3. Evaluate specific decisions and turning points, and keep any account of the process brief.
4. Show how you grew and where you will use the skills.
5. Write every word yourself; an AI-written reflection counts as fabrication.
6. Write in the essay's language and stop at 500 words.

What counts toward the limit

Counted: the introduction, body and conclusion, including quotations and explanatory footnotes or endnotes. Left out: the title page, acknowledgements, contents, page headers, maps, charts, diagrams, annotated illustrations, tables, equations, calculations, citations, reference notes, the bibliography, appendices, the RPF statement and a footnote that gives a quotation's original-language text. The guide does not mention section headings, captions or table titles, so the counter leaves them out as well.

The limit: 4,000 words, plus a 500-word RPF statement. Examiners stop reading at the limit. RPF statement: up to 500 words, counted apart from the rest.

Graphs and visuals

• Reproduced sources such as photos, cartoons and posters Image, occasional
  Label each one, acknowledge its source and refer to it in the text.
• Maps Map, occasional
  Rare to Occasional (an estimate). Give every map a scale and key and refer to it in the text; maps sit outside the 4,000 words.
• Tables of historical data Table, rare
  Label and refer to each in the text; tables sit outside the 4,000 words.
• Charts of historical statistics Plotted, rare
  Label and refer to each in the text; charts sit outside the 4,000 words.
• Timelines Drawn, rare
  Label and refer to each in the text; diagrams sit outside the 4,000 words. Frequencies here are estimates; no exemplar counts exist.

The frequencies are our estimates, from what the IB guide expects and what teachers advise. We did not count them in marked work.

Citations

No style is prescribed. Chicago footnotes are the usual History practice, according to teacher guidance written for the IA. Footnotes that only give references are left out of the count, and footnotes that carry commentary are counted.

The workspace keeps your sources and writes the bibliography in Chicago notes (footnotes) to start with. You can switch to APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago author-date or Harvard at any point.

Pitfalls

• Handling the topic without history's concepts and methods, or asking a question that is too broad for 4,000 words.
• Summarising textbooks with little analysis of sources.
• Applying the old 10-year rule, which the 2027 guide dropped.
• Reusing material from your History IA.
• Writing past 4,000 words, or past 500 in the RPF statement: examiners read no further.

The workspace is free with an account, and it never writes or rewrites your text. What we will and will not do with your coursework →

Sources

• Extended essay guide, first assessment 2027 (IB; published Feb 2025, updated May, Aug, Nov 2025)
• IB, Extended essay guide, first assessment 2027 (published Feb 2025; updated May, Aug, Nov 2025)
• Extended essay guide, First assessment 2027 (IB, published Feb 2025, updated May and Aug 2025)
• IB, Extended essay guide, first assessment 2018 (published Feb 2016, updated May 2019), including subject-specific guidance
• History: Subject-specific guidance (Extended essay guide, first assessment 2018)
• History guide, First assessment 2028 (IB, published Feb 2026)
• IB, "Read curriculum updates" (page last updated 24 March 2026)

The IB documents behind this page, checked 29 October 2026. The linked ones are on ibo.org; the others are IB documents we read in copies hosted elsewhere, so we name them without a link. Everything above is in our own words: the official wording is in your subject guide, which your coordinator can give you. LimeAdmissions is independent of the International Baccalaureate Organization, which has not endorsed this page. Every coursework structure →