History IA structure: sections, criteria and word count

At a glance

This piece has 2 versions, each with its own structure below. Write the one for your session.

The structure, section by section: May and November 2027, 2017 guide

Sessions: May 2027 and November 2027.

1. Title page

Common practice · Outside the word count

The question, your personal code and the word count.

1. Enter the approved question.
2. Add your personal code.
3. Let the counter fill in the word count.

2. Contents

Common practice · Outside the word count · Only when it applies

The section list; optional, and not mentioned by the guide.

1. Generate it from the section headings.
2. Refresh it before export.

3. Section 1: Identification and evaluation of sources

Required by the IB · Criterion: A

The question, written as a question; the 2 sources chosen for detailed analysis, primary or secondary, and why each matters to the question; the value and limitations of each, argued from its origin, purpose and content.

1. Write the question and get it approved.
2. Choose the 2 sources that carry most weight in your argument.
3. Record the origin, purpose and content of each.
4. Explain how each one bears on the question.
5. Weigh each source's value against its limitations for this question.

4. Section 2: Investigation

Required by the IB · Criterion: B

An organised, critical analysis focused on the question, drawing on a range of primary and secondary evidence; the format is free.

1. Outline the argument as a sequence of sub-claims.
2. Support each sub-claim with referenced evidence from several sources.
3. Set the views of historians or contemporaries against each other and evaluate them.
4. Cut any narrative that does not serve the argument.

5. Conclusion (end of Section 2)

Required by the IB · Criterion: B

Your answer to the question, consistent with the evidence presented; the guide places it inside Section 2.

1. Answer the question directly.
2. Check that each claim rests on evidence already presented.

6. Section 3: Reflection

Required by the IB · Criterion: C

What this investigation showed you about the methods historians use and the challenges they face, linked explicitly to the investigation.

1. List the methods you used.
2. Note the difficulties you met, such as gaps, bias, selection or conflicting accounts.
3. Relate each point to the work of historians.
4. Tie each point to a specific moment in your investigation.

7. Bibliography

Required by the IB · Outside the word count

Every source used, in one style; not counted, not assessed.

1. Build it from your sources log.
2. Keep one style throughout.

The structure, section by section: May 2028 onward, 2028 guide

Sessions: May 2028 onward.

1. Title page

Common practice · Outside the word count

The question and your personal code; recommended by teacher guidance, not counted.

1. Enter the question and your personal code.
2. Place the word-count statement here.

2. Word-count statement

Required by the IB · Outside the word count

An accurate word count at the start of the IA.

1. Let the counter fill it in.
2. Recheck it before export.

3. Section 1: Historical inquiry question

Required by the IB · Criterion: A

The question; why it suits historical inquiry, with room for analysis and diverse perspectives; for a recent topic, how you treat it historically; the concept that frames it and how that concept shapes the inquiry. The guide names "cause and consequence", "continuity and change", "perspectives" and "significance", and allows another concept.

1. Choose a topic and get it approved.
2. Draft the question, and redraft it as sources turn up.
3. Name the concept and explain how it steers the inquiry.
4. Explain why the question calls for analysis and more than one perspective.
5. For a topic from the last 2 decades, state how you treat it historically.

4. Section 2: Sources and perspectives

Required by the IB · Criterion: B

How the chosen sources, 7 at most, give diverse historical perspectives, and how those perspectives will help answer the question; organised by perspective.

1. Log every source you find.
2. Choose up to 7 that cover different perspectives and source types.
3. Group them by perspective.
4. Explain what each perspective adds to your answer.
5. Check that Section 3 uses the same sources.

5. Section 3: Synthesis and evaluation

Required by the IB · Criterion: C

An analytical answer drawing on the Section 2 sources, in whatever proportion the argument needs, with targeted evaluation of a source wherever its context affects the argument.

1. Plan the argument as sub-claims.
2. Draw evidence for each from your Section 2 sources.
3. Evaluate a source wherever its context changes how far you can use it.
4. Weigh the perspectives against each other.

6. Judgement (end of Section 3)

Required by the IB · Criterion: C

A reasoned judgement that follows from the analysis.

1. State your judgement on the question.
2. Check that it follows from the analysis above it.

7. Bibliography

Required by the IB · Outside the word count

At most 7 sources, in any format; not counted, not assessed.

1. Build it from the sources used in Sections 2 and 3.
2. Keep one style throughout.

What counts toward the limit

May and November 2027, 2017 guide (May 2027 and November 2027)

Counts: the prose of the 3 sections, quotations included. Does not count: the bibliography and the referencing, and, on the safest reading, the title page, contents and headings; the guide is silent on explanatory footnotes, tables and appendices.

The limit: 2,200 words. Examiners stop reading at the limit.

May 2028 onward, 2028 guide (May 2028 onward)

Counts: the prose of the 3 sections, with quotations and, by analogy with the Extended essay, explanatory footnotes. Does not count: headings, references in notes or in the text, the bibliography and the title page; the guide is silent on tables and captions.

The limit: 2,200 words, with at most 7 sources. Examiners stop reading at the limit.

Graphs and visuals

• Reproduced visual source: photo, poster, cartoon, document facsimile Image, rare
  Use it when it is among the chosen sources, with a caption that carries a full citation.
• Map: territory, campaign, site plan Map, rare
  Place it near its first mention, label it sparingly and caption it with a citation.
• Table of historical figures: election results, output, casualties Table, rare
  Keep it in the body with relevant data only. Neither guide says whether table text counts, so the counter leaves it out.
• Chart from historical statistics Plotted, rare
  Axis titles with units and a source line (general practice; the guides set no rule).
• Timeline Drawn, rare
  Optional; neither guide mentions it.

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

Citations

Neither guide prescribes a style. Teachers commonly recommend Chicago footnotes with an alphabetical bibliography, and interviews are referenced by interviewer, interviewee, date and place.

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

May and November 2027, 2017 guide (May 2027 and November 2027)

• Describing the 2 sources without weighing their value and limitations for the question.
• A narrative investigation with listed evidence and unevaluated perspectives, or a reflection with no tie to this investigation.
• A topic from the last 10 years, or encyclopaedias and general textbooks as sources.

May 2028 onward, 2028 guide (May 2028 onward)

• More than 7 sources, which the guide calls likely self-penalising, or a Section 3 that uses sources Section 2 never presented.
• A source-by-source Section 2, a concept named and never explained, or a judgement that does not follow from the analysis.
• A recent topic handled as current affairs, for example by covering its consequences.
• Old templates carried over, with the 2-source evaluation section (now folded into Section 3) or the reflection (now removed).

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Sources

• IB, Examiner Instructions 2027: History
• IB, "History updates" (last updated 19 February 2026)
• IB, "History updates" (last updated 19 Feb 2026)
• History guide, First examinations 2017 (IB, published Jan 2015)
• History guide, First assessment 2028 (IB, published Feb 2026)
• Extended essay guide, First assessment 2027 (IB, published Feb 2025, updated May and Aug 2025)

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 →