This comprehensive guide will ensure you understand and efficiently execute everything expected of you in a seamless manner.
This one is for all the future world leaders out there!
Let's talk about IB Global Politics IA.
You're an IB Global Politics student (the GloPo kid), a leader in the making with a curiosity to better comprehend the challenges of the changing world and become aware of how you partake in it as a global citizen. But there's a catch. Your IB Global Politics Engagement Activity (IB Global Politics IA) holds you back. You don't know which Political Issue will be your best bet, and the structure of the entire thing is throwing you off.
This is where we come into the picture ;)
Nail IB presents a detailed compilation of everything IB Global Politics IA. A lot goes into preparing a Global Politics IA that takes care of all the points that could make or break your work. This comprehensive guide will ensure you understand and efficiently execute everything expected of you in a seamless manner. Be it how to focus your scope on a Research Question based on a political issue of interest or perfecting the three pillars your work stands on, mainly- Engagement, Research, and the Written Report, we have you covered. This IA guide is a gamechanger, one you can't afford to miss! Your path to a neat 7 is now clear!
Before we dive deeper, it would help you refer to this IB DP Global Politics document published by the IB. This document will clear things up and assist you even if you're starting from scratch.
Below is the contents list of all the topics this article will encompass. Every sub-section you want to access is a click away for your convenience.
It makes sense to begin at the very basics. When we talk about the IB DP Global Politics course, the unifying theme of- People, Power, and Politics comes to mind. The IB states the nature of this course to be dynamic, one that "draws on a variety of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, reflecting the complex nature of many contemporary political issues."
That means that students are encouraged to engage in dialogue, discussion, and debate to broaden their understanding of varying viewpoints in the political context. This is done by incorporating case studies and contemporary examples, fostering active and personal learning.
For SL and HL students, the four compulsory core units included in the syllabus are:
The Engagement Activity - IB Global Politics IA - is based on a political issue of personal interest, complemented with research, and is submitted by both SL and HL students for their Internal Assessment. While this report makes for 25% of the overall grade for SL students, its weightage is 20% for HL students. Skip to our subsection on IB Global Politics IA to dive headfirst into the same.
In addition to this, as a part of their Internal Assessment, HL students have to also produce two video-recorded oral presentations (10 minutes maximum each) on two case studies out of the six global political challenges (HL extension topics) as listed below:
To better understand SL and HL Global Politics courses, give these IB documents for SL and HL a good read as required.
The Engagement Activity, aka the IB Global Politics IA, is an experiential exploration of a political issue of interest undertaken by SL and HL students as a part of their Internal Assessment.
The basic Engagement Activity workflow for Global Politics is as follows:
The typical workflow is as above, but you may have to switch back and forth between stages throughout the process - conducting preliminary research on the political issue you have chosen before getting involved in the groundwork. Continuous secondary research is also a must throughout the process.
While the assessment is done based on the final Written Report submitted, all the stages are equally significant. They synchronize the student's choice of topic, planning, actions, research, and finally, the execution.
This Engagement Activity aims to encourage and bridge the gap between active and reflective engagement. For instance, a global political issue that has caught your attention can be investigated on a local level by you. This can be done by engaging with primary sources and relating this information with concepts learned in the classroom before compiling it as a report.
The written report is a 2000-word compilation on the same political issue explored through engagement and research that is finally submitted for internal assessment and external moderation by the IB at the end of the course.
This report must talk in detail about:
The report is marked out of 20 using the assessment criteria laid out by the IB. You may want to go through this section on the Assessment Criteria to get a better feel of the level descriptors for Global Politics IA first-hand.
The Engagement Activity should be approached in parts:
Now that you have a pretty good idea about the IB Global Politics IA let us jump straight into the different components of your Engagement Activity in detail. The following sections will give you a detailed insight into the various stages of your workflow.
Getting your Research Question right is a challenge you cannot avoid. A clear and specific Political Issue makes way for appropriate engagement and can make or break your IA. Selecting an issue of interest is vital as you need to justify your choice in your report via a particular engagement. To ensure your work is as honest as possible, do lots of preliminary research beforehand.
Before you kickstart with an appropriate engagement, you must identify and acknowledge some broad areas of personal interest. From Justice to Sustainability, find what interests you and explore more about it. The concepts you learn in class will help you narrow down your focus to a political issue for your IA.
A basic outline of this stage should look like this:
This stage requires proper background research. The IB states that the political issue should affect a community or society the student has some involvement with or experiences in. That is not to say you can't select an issue not directly relating to you or your local community. For instance, you wish to dig deeper into the area of Human Rights in the context of an exploited/wronged female community on the other side of the world. Here you can show your experiential perspective by working and engaging with an NGO that is closely working for the cause of this community.
We have prepared a list of IB Global Politics Engagement Activity ideas to get the ball rolling. Skip to this section to get your creative juices flowing!
Next, let us move on to the selection of an appropriate engagement.
Active engagement is the backbone of your IA as it helps you get an experiential perspective on a political issue that you cannot achieve in the confines of the classroom. This engagement makes your IA a personal exploration. You can't mess it up.
So what does the IB expect?
It expects the engagement to give you room to participate in the dynamics of real-world politics and hence experience it first-hand. It also expects the engagement to initiate contact with the stakeholders/experts in the given context.
How do you know which engagement is appropriate and which isn't?
First, let's clear something up. You can't do away with a single interview for the engagement process. It needs to be elaborate with multiple and diverse perspectives recorded. This can be done in the form of:
Before finally settling on an engagement, answer these questions to get a confirmation on whether it is the right choice or not.
The following vital piece of your Global Politics IA puzzle is Complementary Research.
To put it simply, Complementary Research is additional research that complements your active and reflective engagement. You can't analyze and reflect on your experiential learning without lots of credible background information. Further reading makes this possible. It helps create a link between what you have seen and learned. Besides, your primary research has its limitations as the scope is smaller. Exploring additional information broadens your take on the issue and gives you a birds-eye view of the same.
The secondary material you collect can be from:
The research is not the focus of your IB Global Politics Engagement Activity, rather a tool to bolster your experiential learning and is a continuous process throughout your IA making.
Next comes the Written Report, the most important aspect of your IA since all your efforts boil down to the execution.
The Written Report is the synthesis of your experience and research, combined to address the political issue and derive an answer to the research question with the help of the Analysis you perform.
There is no prescribed format for the report. But a general rule of thumb is to follow a typical structure, including an Introduction, a Body, a Conclusion, and the Bibliography. The assessment criteria point out no particular subheadings, and hence you can opt to write the report how you want to.
The IB Global Politics Engagement Activity is marked against the following assessment criteria set by the IB.
We have compiled a list of Global Politics IA political issues' ideas as shared by the IB to stimulate your grey cells. Use these as a reference and an extra help ;)
Here's a complete IB DP Global Politics Guide published by the IB to wrap things up. It will come in handy throughout your Global Politics course journey.
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