Language A 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 Language A subject; the essay is written in that subject's language and never in your Language B.
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, B, C

The topic and why it matters, the focus and scope, the texts, your approach and sources, the research question and a preview of the argument.

1. State the topic and why it is worth investigating, keeping the focus on the literature or the language.
2. Give only the background a reader needs.
3. Write the research question as a question.
4. Name your focus and the texts the essay rests on.
5. Set out your approach and main sources.
6. Preview the line of argument.
7. Revise this section once the body is done.

5. Texts and form of study

Rewarded by a criterion (Part of the introduction) · Criterion: A

The form of study; each text with its author, original language and publication date, and the translator of any text read in translation.

1. Pick your form of study: 1 text originally written in your essay's language, a comparison of literary or language texts, or a comparison of a literary text with a language text.
2. Name each text and its author.
3. Give each text's original language and publication date, and the translator of any text you read in translation.
4. Confirm that no text was studied in your Language A course; a different text by an author you studied is allowed.
5. In a comparison, check that at least 1 primary text was originally written in your essay's language; the others may be translations.
6. Choose texts with enough literary merit to sustain analysis and enough material for 4,000 words; for poems or short stories, start from 3 or 4 complementary pieces by 1 author.
7. Define each text clearly, with time boundaries where they matter; for a film, focus on the screenplay, its delivery and its effect.

6. Comparison rationale

Required by the IB (Comparisons only, and part of the introduction) · Criterion: A · Only when it applies

The purpose of the comparison beyond similarities and differences, why these texts, and their time boundaries.

1. State what the comparison is for, which must go beyond listing similarities and differences.
2. Justify why you chose each text.
3. Give each text's publication date and any time boundaries.
4. Say in 1 sentence how you narrowed the choice, and leave out the alternatives you dropped.

7. Literature review, integrated

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

What critics and scholars have said, brought in where the argument meets it.

1. Read the main criticism on each text.
2. Note where critics agree and disagree.
3. Bring each view in where your argument meets it.
4. Answer each view with your own analysis.
5. Check that each text has enough existing criticism; very recent works and some young-adult novels may have too little.

8. Analytical body sections

Rewarded by a criterion (This is the body, which the IB requires; its form follows the criterion notes) · Criterion: B, C

Each element named and its significance or effect explained, with primary and secondary support.

1. Give each section 1 main claim.
2. Keep the focus on the text as literature or language, never as documentary evidence.
3. Quote or reference the text precisely.
4. Name the technique and explain its effect.
5. Support the claim with secondary sources.
6. Link back to your research question.
7. Number any image or table, cite it and refer to it in the text.

9. Discussion of other readings

Rewarded by a criterion · Criterion: D

The strengths and limitations of the argument, with equal attention to each primary text in a comparison.

1. Weigh other readings against yours.
2. State the strengths and the limitations of your argument.
3. Say what your argument cannot settle.
4. In a comparison, check that each text gets equal space.

10. Conclusion

Required by the IB · Criterion: C, D

The answer to the research question, a synthesis, the limitations, the questions left open and no new material.

1. Answer the research question directly.
2. Draw the main findings together.
3. State the limitations.
4. Name questions that remain open.
5. Check that it matches the body and adds nothing new.

11. 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. Keep a source in another language in its original language in the list.
4. For a text you read in translation, cite the translation you used.
5. Add URLs and access dates for online sources.
6. Check that each in-text citation has an entry.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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. Chinese essays are limited to 4,800 characters and Japanese essays to 8,000, without punctuation; Korean essays count words.

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

• Reproductions of analysed visual or multimodal texts (print adverts, photojournalism, web pages) Image, occasional
  Reproduce an image only when you analyse it. Cite it and refer to it in the text; images sit outside the 4,000 words.
• Tables and other visuals Table, rare
  Anything other than a reproduction of an analysed text is Rare, since continuous analytical prose is expected. Tables sit outside the 4,000 words.

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 subject style is prescribed. Quote a source in another language in translation in the body, with the original in an uncounted footnote; the list entry stays in the original language.

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

Pitfalls

• Writing about a text you studied in class, or writing the essay in your Language B.
• Using the texts as documentary evidence, or drifting into biography, history, psychology or sociology.
• Comparing texts with no stated purpose, or giving 1 text most of the attention.
• Choosing poems or stories that are too few to sustain 4,000 words.
• 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)
• IB, Extended essay guide, first assessment 2018 (published Feb 2016, updated May 2019), including subject-specific guidance
• Extended essay guide, first assessment 2018 (published Feb 2016, updated May 2019), including subject-specific guidance
• 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 →