Your theory of knowledge essay for examination must be submitted to your teacher for authentication. It must be written on one of the ten titles (questions) provided below. You may choose any title, but are recommended to consult with your teacher. Your essay will be marked according to the assessment criteria published in the Theory of Knowledge guide. Remember to centre your essay on knowledge issues and, where appropriate, refer to other parts of your IB programme and to your experiences as a knower. Always justify your statements and provide relevant examples to illustrate your arguments. Pay attention to the implications of your arguments, and remember to consider what can be said against them. If you use external sources, cite them according to a recognized convention.

Note that statements in quotations in these titles are not necessarily authentic: they present a real point of view but may not have been spoken or written by an actual person. It is appropriate to analyse them but it is unnecessary, even unwise, to spend time on researching a context for them.

Examiners mark essays against the title as set. Respond to the title exactly as given; do not alter it in any way.

Your essay must be between 1200 and 1600 words in length.

1. Knowledge is generated through the interaction of critical and creative thinking. Evaluate this statement in two areas of knowledge.
2. Compare and contrast knowledge which can be expressed in words/symbols with knowledge that cannot be expressed in this way. Consider CAS and one or more areas of knowledge.
3. Using history and at least one other area of knowledge, examine the claim that it is possible to attain knowledge despite problems of bias and selection.
4. When should we discard explanations that are intuitively appealing?
5. What is it about theories in the human sciences and natural sciences that makes them convincing?
6. 'It is more important to discover new ways of thinking about what is already known than to discover new data or facts'. To what extent would you agree with this claim?
7. 'The vocabulary we have does more than communicate our knowledge; it shapes what we can know'. Evaluate this claim with reference to different areas of knowledge.
8. Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of using faith as a basis for knowledge in religion and in one area of knowledge from the ToK diagram.
9. As an IB student, how has your learning of literature and science contributed to your understanding of individuals and societies?
10. 'Through different methods of justification, we can reach conclusions in ethics that are as well-supported as those provided in mathematics.' To what extent would you agree?

A guide to the essay

The theory of knowledge ('TOK') course is assessed on the basis of your presentation (20 marks) and your essays (40 marks). You must opt to answer one of the ten prescribed titles and write an essay of between 1,200 and 1,600 words.

The IBO stresses the importance of the 'student voice'. That is, your efforts to engage reflectively and critically with the question should come through in the work. Don't worry. That will happen if you research the question and structure your answer carefully. Whichever essay you select remember to consider carefully what is meant by knowledge and how the essay raises issues and points to connections between different areas and approaches.

A good starting point for each of the essays is Nicholas Alchin's book, Theory of Knowledge (John Murray, 2003) ISBN 0 7195 7866 3 or Richard van den Lagemaat, Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma (Cambridge University Press, 2005) ISBN 978 0 521 54298 2. If you have not already acquired or ensured that you have access to one of these I recommend that you do so. Reliable and very useful websites are:

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The Richmond Journal of Philosophy

As the course progresses you shall work on drafts of the essays. Producing a first draft is invariably a difficult, sometimes a rather dispiriting, but crucial exercise - I speak from experience! Don't worry. However dazzling or obscure you believe the draft to be, once you have it then you have the basis to develop your ideas and arguments. Once you have some drafts in place you'll be in a position to decide which essay to focus on for the final submission. In order to be able to produce a well structured and interesting essay and to have a good go at the presentation it is important that you have a decent appreciation of the wide range of issues which arise in TOK. To achieve this we cannot simply pick an essay or two and work on them.

Your essay must be properly formatted. All works cited must be appropriately referenced and listed. See our guide to references and the bibliography for advice.

It is vital that the essay is your work. The IB examiners have a very sensitive eye for plagiarism. Students have been caught out and this has led to them failing the IB. Don't let this happen to you! See our plagiarism guide to find out more about the difference between discussing someone's words and simply copying them.

Assessment of the essay

The essay is awarded a mark out of 40 and assessed in the light of four criteria.

A   Understanding Knowledge Issues (0-10)

B   Knower's Perspective (0-10)

C   Quality of Analysis of Knowledge Issues (0-10)

D   Organisation of Ideas (0-10)

The essay criteria:

A   Understanding knowledge issues

This criterion is concerned with the extent to which the essay focuses on knowledge issues relevant to the prescribed title, and with the depth and breadth of the understanding demonstrated in the essay.

• A relevant knowledge issue is one that directly relates to the prescribed title undertaken, or one that the essay has shown is important in relation to it.
• Depth of understanding is often indicated by drawing distinctions within ways of knowing and areas of knowledge, or by connecting several facets of knowledge issues to these.
• Breadth of understanding is often indicated by making comparisons between ways of knowing and areas of knowledge.

Since not all prescribed titles lend themselves to an extensive treatment of an equal range of areas of knowledge or ways of knowing, this element in the descriptors should be applied with concern for the particularity of the title.

• Does the essay demonstrate understanding of knowledge issues that are relevant to the prescribed title?
• Does the essay demonstrate an awareness of the connections between knowledge issues, areas of knowledge and ways of knowing?

B   Knower's perspective

• To what extent have the knowledge issues relevant to the prescribed title been connected to the student's own experience as a learner?
• Does the student show an awareness of his or her own perspective as a knower in relation to other perspectives, such as those that may arise, for example, from academic and philosophical traditions, culture or position in society (gender, age, and so on)?
• Do the examples chosen show an individual approach consciously taken by the student, rather than mere repetition of standard commonplace cases or the impersonal recounting of sources?

C   Quality of analysis of knowledge issues

• What is the quality of the inquiry into knowledge issues?
• Are the main points in the essay justified? Are the arguments coherent and compelling?
• Have counterclaims been considered?
• Are the implications and underlying assumptions of the essay's argument identified?

This criterion is concerned only with knowledge issues that are relevant to the prescribed title. Analysis of knowledge issues that are not relevant to the prescribed title is not assessed.

D   Organization of ideas

• Is the essay well organized and relevant to the prescribed title?
• Does the use of language assist the reader's understanding and avoid confusion? Are central terms explained or developed clearly in a way that assists comprehension?
• When factual information is used or presented, is it accurate and, when necessary, referenced? 'Factual information' includes generalizations.
• If sources have been used, have they been properly referenced in a way that allows them to be traced (Internet references must include the date on which they were accessed)?

An essay that fails to meet the word limit of 1,200-1,600 words will not score above level 4 on this criterion. An essay that has no relevance to the prescribed title will score 0 on this criterion.

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