Extended Essay Criterion A: Framework for the Essay (2027)

By Michael Thompson · Education Specialist; 10 years teaching the IB at Bromsgrove School · Published 4 October 2026

Extended essay criterion A - titled 'Framework for the Essay' - is worth 6 of the 30 marks available under the assessment model first examined in May 2027. It asks a single governing question: do your research question, research methods and structural conventions together provide an effective framework for your essay? That question matters because a weak research question does not just cost you marks on criterion A; it limits what you can demonstrate across every other criterion. This guide explains what criterion A actually assesses, how it connects to the other four criteria, and what you can do this week to strengthen your draft.

Key Takeaways

In This Article

  1. What the New Extended Essay Assessment Criteria Look Like
  2. What Extended Essay Criterion A Actually Assesses
  3. The Research Question: Focus, Scope and Researchability
  4. Research Methods: Choosing and Justifying Your Approach
  5. Structural Conventions and the Extended Essay's Required Elements
  6. Common Ways Drafts Fall Short on Criterion A
  7. How Criterion A Connects to the Other Four Criteria
  8. What to Do Next

1. What the New Extended Essay Assessment Criteria Look Like

Extended essay criterion A is one of five criteria in the IB's redesigned Extended Essay assessment model, which launched in February 2025 with first assessment in May 2027. If you are sitting the Extended Essay under that model, the full IB extended essay assessment criteria look like this:

CriterionTitleMarks
AFramework for the essay6
BKnowledge and understanding6
CAnalysis and line of argument6
DDiscussion and evaluation8
EReflection4
Total30

Discussion and evaluation carries the highest weighting of any single criterion, at 8 of the 30 marks available. Reflection, at 4 marks, is the lowest.

> Note on the previous model. November 2026 is the last session marked on the old framework, which ran to 34 marks across differently named criteria. Nothing in this guide applies to that model.

One counter-intuitive point worth registering early: the IB will not publish grade boundaries for the 30-mark scale until after the May 2027 results in July 2027. That means no published conversion table exists yet between raw marks and the A-E grade you will see on your results.

The extended essay also combines with Theory of Knowledge for a maximum of 3 additional diploma points, so the extended essay criteria IB examiners use affect more than just the EE grade itself.

2. What Extended Essay Criterion A Actually Assesses

Extended essay criterion A asks one guiding question, quoted directly by the IB: "Do the research question, research methods and structural conventions followed provide an effective framework for the essay?" (IB DP Subject Brief, 2024). That single question covers three distinct components, and it asks whether they work together as a framework, not whether each one is ticked off.

The three components

Why coherence matters more than any single component

The non-obvious point here is that all three components must belong to the same essay. A history question demands historical methods and the conventions of historical writing. Applying, say, a scientific data-collection method to a literature question, or structuring a physics essay like a personal essay, signals a breakdown in framework coherence. Criterion A rewards alignment, not just the presence of each component in isolation.

A note on the structural conventions strand

The previous assessment model included a separate Presentation criterion. Under the 2027 criteria, structural conventions have been absorbed into Criterion A (Hachette Learning). This matters practically: decisions about formatting, citation consistency, and section organisation now carry weight from the very first criterion, not as a finishing task at the end.

Criterion A is worth 6 of the 30 available marks (IB DP Updates). That places it equal with Knowledge and understanding and Analysis and line of argument, and below only Discussion and evaluation (8 marks). A weak research question, however, does more damage than 6 marks' worth: the knowledge, analysis and evaluation credited under Criteria B, C and D all depend on the question the student chose to answer.

3. The Research Question: Focus, Scope and Researchability

The research question is the load-bearing element of Criterion A. According to the IB EE subject brief, the guiding question for this criterion asks whether the research question, research methods, and structural conventions "provide an effective framework for the essay." If the question is weak, the framework collapses before the investigation begins.

A scoring research question is focused, researchable, analytical, and appropriate for the registered subject or pathway. That means it specifies scope: a time period, a named text or corpus, a defined location, or a particular case study. It invites analysis rather than description, and it is answerable within the 4,000-word upper limit, which covers the introduction, body, conclusion, and any quotations.

The counter-intuitive trade-off here is that narrowing the question does not shrink the essay's ambition. A tight question forces more rigorous analysis of fewer sources, which is exactly what Criteria C and D reward. A broad question produces a survey that cannot sustain the analytical depth those criteria require. Vagueness at the question stage cascades: if the question could be answered with a list, the method will be too diffuse, and the line of argument too thin to score well later.

Three self-check questions written for this guide:

To see the difference in practice, consider two research questions written for this guide (not real student work):

Question (written for this guide)Comment
"How has climate change affected the Arctic?"No time period, no location precision, no analytical framing
"To what extent did Arctic sea-ice loss between 2000 and 2020 affect the hunting behaviour of polar bears in the Barents Sea?"Specifies time period, named location, named subject, invites evaluation

The second question constrains both the method and the structure. That alignment between question, method, and section headings is what examiners look for when assessing whether the three components of Criterion A belong to the same coherent essay.

4. Research Methods: Choosing and Justifying Your Approach

The IB EE subject brief lists "apply relevant research methods to respond to the research question" as a direct assessment objective. That phrasing matters: the method must do something visible, not sit in the introduction as a declaration and then disappear.

Identifying the method is only the first step. You also need to justify it: explain why this approach is the right fit for this question in this subject. A method named but not justified reads as procedural box-ticking. A method justified but then silently dropped reads as the same problem from the other direction.

Subject variation

The appropriate method differs considerably by subject, and the IB's subject-focused and interdisciplinary pathways each carry their own expectations. A few contrasts:

Subject-specific guidance from the IB sets the standard for what counts as an appropriate method in each case. Follow it rather than inventing a hybrid approach that fits neither subject's conventions.

One counter-intuitive point

A sophisticated method does not automatically score well if it creates a scope problem. A history EE student who commits to analysing twelve primary sources across three archives may have a rigorous method but an unmanageable scope at 4,000 words. The method has to be appropriately sized, not just intellectually defensible.

Practical self-check

Before submitting any draft, ask yourself:

If any answer is no, the method section needs revision before the essay's other sections can fully function.

5. Structural Conventions and the Extended Essay's Required Elements

The IB EE subject brief names six required elements for the final submission: title page, contents page, introduction, body of the essay, conclusion, and references and bibliography. The 4,000-word upper limit covers the introduction, body, conclusion, and any quotations.

Structural conventions now sit inside Criterion A, not in a separate presentation criterion. That is one of the clearest changes from the previous model. Heading style should suit the registered subject, and citations and bibliography should follow one recognised referencing style, applied consistently. A history essay will often use footnotes; a physics essay will usually use an author-date scientific style. Inconsistency across those elements is a Criterion A problem, not a cosmetic one.

The introduction deserves particular care. According to Hachette Learning, a well-constructed introduction contains five elements:

One counter-intuitive point: Hachette Learning recommends writing the introduction in full at the planning stage, before drafting the body. Doing so early forces the scope and methodology into plain language, which often reveals register problems and logical gaps while there is still time to fix them.

Practical self-check for this section:

6. Common Ways Drafts Fall Short on Criterion A

Five weaknesses appear repeatedly in early drafts, and each one is fixable once you know what to look for.

The research question sits at the wrong scale. A question covering an entire war, movement, or branch of physics cannot be answered analytically in 4,000 words. The result is a narrative sweep rather than an argument. The opposite problem is less obvious: a question so narrow that it only permits description produces a report, not an essay. The question needs a boundary tight enough to argue within but open enough to require genuine analysis.

The method is named, not justified. Plenty of drafts state "I used a comparative analysis" or "I conducted an experiment." What they don't explain is why that approach suits this particular research question. Criterion A asks whether the method is appropriate to the subject, not just present. A sentence naming the method and a second sentence tying it to the question's demands is the minimum.

Structural conventions belong to the wrong subject. A literature essay formatted like a lab report, with numbered method and results sections, looks incoherent. Headings and section structure should suit the registered subject, and whichever recognised referencing style you choose should be applied consistently. Borrowing conventions from a different discipline signals that the student hasn't engaged with how their subject presents knowledge.

The introduction omits scope. Per Hachette Learning, the introduction should state both what the essay covers and what has been deliberately excluded. Without that, an examiner cannot tell whether gaps are intentional choices or oversights.

Citations are inconsistent or the bibliography is missing entirely. Structural conventions include references and bibliography as required submission elements. Gaps here affect the structural strand of Criterion A directly, not just presentation.

7. How Criterion A Connects to the Other Four Criteria

Think of Criterion A as the frame around a picture. The other four criteria fill in the detail, but they can only work within the boundaries the frame sets.

Criterion A is the foundation. The research question, method, and structure chosen at the start determine what is even possible in the 4,000 words that follow. A question that is too broad, or a method that does not fit the subject, does not just cost marks on Criterion A - it caps what an examiner can credit elsewhere.

Here is how each criterion depends on what Criterion A establishes:

The counter-intuitive point: a well-framed research question does not just earn 6 marks - it raises the ceiling on the other 24. Students who treat Criterion A as a box to tick before the "real" writing starts are optimising in the wrong order.

8. What to Do Next

This week, visit the IB's official DP extended essay updates page and confirm that your session falls under the 2027 model. The new framework applies from May 2027 onward; if you are sitting that session or later, everything in this guide applies to your work.

Then bring your current research question to your next supervisor meeting, with written answers to three questions drawn from the self-checks in this guide: Is the question focused and bounded? Does the chosen method fit the subject? Does every section of the draft earn its place by addressing the research question directly?

Write those answers before the meeting, not during it. Your supervisor can give you sharper feedback on a question you have already tried to defend in writing.

FAQ

What is extended essay criterion A in the 2027 model?

Criterion A is titled 'Framework for the Essay' and is worth 6 of the 30 available marks; it asks whether the research question, research methods and structural conventions together provide an effective framework for the essay.

How many marks is criterion A worth in the extended essay?

Criterion A is worth 6 marks out of a total of 30 under the assessment model first examined in May 2027.

What are the five extended essay assessment criteria for 2027?

The five criteria are: Framework for the essay (6 marks), Knowledge and understanding (6), Analysis and line of argument (6), Discussion and evaluation (8) and Reflection (4), totalling 30 marks.

Does criterion A differ for history or physics extended essays?

The criterion A guiding question is the same across all subjects, but the appropriate research methods and structural conventions vary by discipline - a history EE and a physics EE will justify and apply different methods to satisfy the same criterion.

When do the new extended essay assessment criteria apply?

The revised criteria apply to students sitting the May 2027 session or later; November 2026 is the final session assessed on the previous 34-mark model.

Is there a grade boundary for a good score on the 30-mark extended essay?

No grade boundaries have been published yet; the IB will set them after the May 2027 first assessment session, with results due 6 July 2027.

References