Language B 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 B subject; the essay is never written in a language you take as Language A.
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 its importance, the background a reader needs, the focus and scope, your sources and approach, the research question and a preview of the argument.

1. State the topic and why it is worth investigating.
2. Give only the background a reader needs.
3. Write the research question as a question.
4. Set out scope, approach and main sources.
5. Preview the line of argument.
6. Revise this section once the body is done.

5. Statement of fit

Required by the IB (Part of the introduction) · Criterion: A

How the topic meets the subject's requirements, the area or areas used, and why the topic is worth investigating.

1. Name the area or areas your essay uses: literary analysis, language use and development, or the culture itself.
2. Explain how the topic fits the Language B requirements.
3. Say how the question develops your knowledge of the language and its culture.
4. Say why it is worth investigating.

6. Literature review and context in the target culture

Rewarded by a criterion (The review itself is required in every EE; this section also holds the cultural context) · Criterion: A (methods), B

What existing sources establish, and the cultural context your analysis needs.

1. Summarise the secondary sources that bear on your question, mostly in the target language.
2. Relate each source to your question.
3. Give only the cultural context your analysis uses.
4. Keep that context specific to the target language and culture.

7. Analysis of primary texts or artefacts

Rewarded by a criterion (This is the body, which the IB requires; its form follows the area or areas you chose) · Criterion: B, C

Texts originally in the target language, or concrete artefacts, supported by secondary sources.

1. Check that every text was originally written or spoken in the target language, since translated texts are not acceptable sources.
2. Analyse each text or artefact with precise references.
3. In a literary essay, choose works originally in the target language, set anywhere, and analyse a screenplay only as literature.
4. In a language-use essay, tie 1 aspect of the language's development, structure or use to its cultural context or a specific text.
5. In a culture essay, investigate an issue specific to the target language through its effect on the language, or through customs or artefacts specific to the country.
6. Support your analysis with secondary sources, mostly in the target language.
7. Translate any quotation or title that is outside the target language, and for poetry or lyrics keep the extracts you analyse in the body.

8. Discussion and evaluation

Rewarded by a criterion · Criterion: D

Other interpretations and the limits of the evidence.

1. Weigh other interpretations against yours.
2. State the limits of your evidence.
3. Prefer published material to a questionnaire of your own, which the guide discourages.

9. 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.

10. 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. Translate any quotation or title that is outside the target language.
4. Add URLs and access dates for online sources.
5. Check that each in-text citation has an entry.

11. 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

Optional supporting material, such as the full text of a poem or song lyrics, and the mentor form.

1. Add full texts only if they help the reader.
2. Keep the extracts you analyse in the body.
3. Insert the signed mentor form if you had a mentor.

12. 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.

13. 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

• An analysed advertisement or artwork Image, occasional
  Use an image only when the analysis needs it, and reference every image.
• Decorative images Image, rare
  Images are generally out of place in the body of a Language B essay.
• Survey charts Plotted, rare
  Questionnaires you write yourself are discouraged, so charts from them are rare.

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. Translate any quotation or title that is outside the target language; the general rules for sources in other languages apply.

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

• Using a translated text, or literature originally written in another language.
• Choosing a topic shared by many cultures, a general language-learning topic, or a focus on film technique.
• Building evidence on a questionnaire you wrote yourself.
• Leaving a quotation or title outside the target language untranslated.
• Using grammar or rewriting tools on assessed text: the IB bars them in language acquisition, and its guidance does not say whether the EE is exempt.

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)
• Academic integrity policy, Appendix 6: Guidance on the use of artificial intelligence tools (© IBO 2023)

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 →