English A Extended Essay: The Complete IB Guide
By Michael Thompson · Education Specialist; 10 years teaching the IB at Bromsgrove School · Published 4 September 2026 · Updated 4 October 2026
The English A extended essay is one of the most open-ended pieces of academic work in the IB Diploma Programme - and that openness is exactly what makes it difficult. You choose your own texts, form a focused research question, and produce up to 4,000 words of independently argued literary or language analysis, assessed externally out of 30 marks from the May 2027 session. The decisions you make at the planning stage determine whether your essay scores in the top bands or haemorrhages marks through vague focus and surface-level description. This guide explains how the 2027 criteria apply to English A, which texts you can use, and where essays most often go wrong.
Key Takeaways
- 4,000-word hard limit: The extended essay is capped at 4,000 words; examiners are instructed not to read or assess anything beyond that point, and quotations count towards the total.
- Five criteria, 30 marks from May 2027: Framework for the essay (6), Knowledge and understanding (6), Analysis and line of argument (6), Discussion and evaluation (8) and Reflection (4). Discussion and evaluation is now the heaviest criterion.
- No more English A categories: The 2027 guide drops the old numbered categories. Your essay must be based on one or more clearly defined texts, and at least one primary text must have been originally written in English.
- Research question scope is the most common failure point: Questions that are too broad force description rather than analysis, which costs marks under Criterion A and Criterion C.
- One reflective statement, not three entries: You attend three mandatory reflection sessions, ending with the viva voce, then write one reflective statement of no more than 500 words on the Reflection and progress form (RPF), the only evidence for Criterion E.
- Set texts are off limits: You cannot base the essay on a text you have studied in your English A course, although a different text by the same author is allowed.
In This Article
- What the English A Extended Essay Is
- Which Texts You Can Use
- English Extended Essay Criteria Explained
- How to Form a Strong English Extended Essay Research Question
- English Extended Essay Structure and Reflection
- Where English A Essays Lose Marks
- What to Do Next
1. What the English A Extended Essay Is
The english a extended essay is a compulsory, independently researched essay of up to 4,000 words, externally assessed by IB examiners as part of the Diploma Programme core. Per the International Baccalaureate, every DP student must complete an extended essay. It is normally written in one of your six DP subjects, and the IB strongly recommends a subject you are currently studying. Choose English A and you take the subject-focused pathway: your essay is registered as a language A essay and must be written in English. The same language A guidance applies whether you take English A: Literature or English A: Language and Literature. (The new interdisciplinary pathway lets you combine English with a second DP subject instead; this guide covers the subject-focused essay.)
From the May 2027 session, examiners mark the essay out of 30 against five criteria (section 3), and the total converts to a grade from A to E. The IB has not yet published grade boundaries for the 30-mark scale: they are set after the first session, so treat any 30-mark boundary table you see online as a guess. You need at least a D for the diploma, and your EE grade combines with your TOK grade to give up to three core points.
One detail that catches students out: the process matters as well as the product. The IB requires three reflection sessions with your supervisor - a first, an interim and a final session - and the final one is the viva voce, a short interview held after the essay is finished. Those sessions feed the single reflective statement that Criterion E marks (section 5).
2. Which Texts You Can Use
Older guides sort English A essays into three numbered categories. the IB's Extended essay guide (first assessment 2027) drops them. Instead, a language A essay must be based on one or more clearly defined texts, in one of three shapes:
- a study of a single literary or language text originally written in English
- a comparative study of two or more literary or language texts
- a comparative study of a literary text and a language text.
In a comparative essay, at least one primary text must have been originally written in English, the language the essay is registered in; the other texts may be in translation.
What counts as a text
Texts can be literary (novels, poems, short stories, plays, non-fiction) or non-literary: print advertisements, photojournalism, newspaper articles, speeches, broadcasts and their scripts, films, songs, blogs, websites and social media posts. Define the text precisely, with time boundaries where relevant - for example, one person's posts on a single topic over a three-month period.
Rules that trip students up
- No set texts. You cannot base the essay on a text you have studied in your English A course. A different text by an author you studied is allowed.
- Film means screenplay. If your text is a film, the focus must be on the screenplay - the written or spoken word, its delivery and its effect.
- Poems and short stories need a big enough body of work. There is no fixed number. The guide suggests starting with three or four complementary stories or poems by the same writer and testing whether they sustain 4,000 words of analysis.
- Texts need literary merit and critical material. They must be complex enough to sustain in-depth analysis. A very recent book may not yet have much criticism written about it, and some young adult novels lack the depth needed.
- Issues through the text, not the text as evidence. You can write about a social, political or philosophical issue, but the analysis must be literary or language-based: how the text treats the issue.
- Avoid biographical, historical, psychological or sociological topics. They pull essays towards narrative or description.
- Do not just apply a template. Mapping a generic pattern onto a text, such as the hero's journey, is self-limiting.
Self-check questions:
- Was at least one of your primary texts originally written in English?
- Can you define your text or texts precisely, including dates for non-literary texts?
- Does your research question ask how the text creates meaning, rather than what happens in it?
3. English Extended Essay Criteria Explained
From May 2027, every extended essay, whatever the subject, is marked against the same five criteria, totalling 30 marks (the IB's Extended essay guide (first assessment 2027)). Criteria A to D are applied to the essay as a whole; Criterion E is applied only to your reflective statement.
| Criterion | Title | Max marks |
|---|---|---|
| A | Framework for the essay | 6 |
| B | Knowledge and understanding | 6 |
| C | Analysis and line of argument | 6 |
| D | Discussion and evaluation | 8 |
| E | Reflection | 4 |
| Total | 30 |
The guide gives language A advice for each criterion. In practice it means the following.
Criterion A: Framework for the essay (6 marks) has three strands: research question, research methods and structure. In English A, check that your research question, your choice of texts and your approach all suit the topic and the subject. The guide also expects sufficient sources of suitable quality for the methods you choose.
Criterion B: Knowledge and understanding (6 marks) rewards relevant research materials, accurate terminology and well-used concepts. Terminology means the words for an author's techniques: metaphor and alliteration in a novel or speech, rhyme and enjambment in poetry, stage directions in drama, or types of shot in film. Concepts are ideas that run through a work, such as dystopia, the tragic hero, intertextuality or an appeal to emotion. You are also expected to integrate a review of existing criticism on your topic.
Criterion C: Analysis and line of argument (6 marks) is where description loses marks. The guide defines literary analysis in two steps: identify something in the text, then explain its significance or effect - the answer to "so what?". Your line of argument should link that analysis to the research question and the conclusion. At the bottom band, the essay is descriptive rather than analytical.
Criterion D: Discussion and evaluation (8 marks) is the heaviest criterion. A balanced discussion weighs other readings of the text as well as your own, supported by close reading of primary and secondary sources; in a comparative essay, balance also means giving each primary text fair attention. Evaluation means weighing the strengths and limitations of your own essay, ideally woven through the essay rather than parked in a separate section.
Criterion E: Reflection (4 marks) is marked only from your reflective statement of no more than 500 words on the RPF (section 5).
> November 2026 candidates only: your session is the last on the old 34-mark scheme: Focus and method (6), Knowledge and understanding (6), Critical thinking (12), Presentation (4) and Engagement (6), with Engagement assessed from the Reflections on planning and progress form (RPPF), three reflections totalling up to 500 words.
4. How to Form a Strong English Extended Essay Research Question
The research question is the single decision that shapes everything else. A question that is too broad forces you into survey mode; too narrow and you run out of things to say. The 2027 guide insists it is framed as a question - not a hypothesis or a statement of intent - and suggests four steps to get there.
The four-step process
- Confirm your focused topic. Start from texts and an issue that genuinely interest you, then narrow until the topic fits inside 4,000 words.
- Do a preliminary investigation. Check what has already been written about your texts, whether sources are easy to find, and whether there is a range of critical views. In English A this is where a very recent novel often fails: there may be little published criticism to engage with yet.
- Brainstorm and evaluate questions. Draft open-ended questions using "how", "why" or "to what extent", then test each one: is it clear, focused and arguable? "What" questions often produce description.
- Choose and refine. Pick one as your provisional research question, sketch the argument it could support, and stay ready to amend it if your reading takes you somewhere else. The guide treats a change of direction as normal, not as failure.
Worked examples (written for this guide, not real student work)
Single literary text
| Question | Why it works or fails | |
|---|---|---|
| Strong | How does Kazuo Ishiguro use narrative unreliability in Never Let Me Go to construct the reader's understanding of complicity? | One text, one technique, an arguable interpretive claim. Answerable in depth. |
| Weak | How is identity shown in twentieth-century British literature? | No defined text, forces a survey across decades, no specific technique to analyse. |
Non-literary language texts
| Question | Why it works or fails | |
|---|---|---|
| Strong | How does the Daily Mail's coverage of NHS reform between 2010 and 2015 construct a discourse of threat? | Defined set of texts, stated time boundaries, specific linguistic concept. The answer can be argued. |
| Weak | How does the media use language? | No defined texts, no timeframe, no analytical focus. Unmarkable. |
The Criterion A test
Before finalising your question, check it against the research question strand of Criterion A. The top band needs a question that is relevant to your topic, clear, and focused for the scope of the essay; a question that is clear but only partially focused sits in the middle band. Focus also has to hold across the whole essay, because Criterion C rewards a line of argument that links the research question, your findings and your conclusion. A question you state in the introduction and then ignore is not doing its job.
One non-obvious point: the guide expects your research question to stay open to amendment as your research develops. Revisit it after each reflection session, and make sure the final wording matches what the essay actually argues.
5. English Extended Essay Structure and Reflection
The 4,000-word limit is a hard cap, not a target. Examiners are instructed not to read or assess anything beyond it, so an essay that runs over is compromised across all the criteria. Students who run long rarely cut the right parts: they trim the introduction and leave sprawling body paragraphs intact, which damages the essay's shape without recovering lost marks. Quotations count towards the total; citations, the bibliography and the RPF do not.
Required structural elements, in order:
- Title page
- Contents page
- Introduction
- Body (organised by argument, not by text)
- Conclusion
- Reference list or bibliography
For language A, the guide describes an introduction that explains your topic and focus and names the texts you are writing about, body paragraphs that build an argument with textual support from primary and secondary sources, and a conclusion that answers the research question in the light of your close readings. A biography of the author, or a plot summary, uses up words without adding analysis.
There is no longer a separate criterion for presentation: structure is one strand of Criterion A. The formatting guidance still applies - 12-point font, 1.5 line spacing, mandatory page numbers, and no student, supervisor or school name anywhere in the file - and accurate, consistent referencing is still required for academic integrity. Anything important to your argument belongs in the body, because examiners are not required to read footnotes or appendices.
Reflection works differently from May 2027. You attend three mandatory reflection sessions with your supervisor, each recommended to last 20 to 30 minutes, and your attendance is recorded on the Reflection and progress form (RPF). The final session is the viva voce, a short interview after the essay is complete that covers what you learned and the authenticity of your ideas. At the end of the process you write one reflective statement of no more than 500 words on the RPF, and that statement is all Criterion E assesses. A statement that only lists what happened ("I met my supervisor and discussed the essay") stays in the lowest band. The top band needs consistently evaluative reflection with specific examples, plus evidence of your growth and of how you could transfer what you learned - for instance, how arguing with published critics changed the way you read texts in other subjects.
6. Where English A Essays Lose Marks
Most marks are dropped in predictable places. Knowing them in advance is more useful than any generic writing advice.
Over-broad research question. Criterion A's lowest band describes a question that lacks relevance, clarity or focus. A broad question forces you to survey texts superficially rather than argue precisely, which also pulls Criterion C down because surface coverage reads as description, not analysis.
Description masquerading as analysis. Retelling plot or listing quotations without explaining how and why a technique produces meaning is the most common Criterion C failure. A paragraph that quotes Plath and then says "this shows she is sad" is not analysis. The test: if your point would survive removing the quotation, it is description.
One-sided discussion. Criterion D is worth 8 of the 30 marks. An essay that pushes a single reading without weighing other interpretations, or a comparison that gives one text most of the attention, will struggle to reach the top bands. So will an essay that never evaluates its own strengths and limitations.
Unjustified text choices. Comparative essays often fail to explain why the texts belong together. The guide expects a comparison to state its purpose beyond listing similarities and differences, to justify the selection, and to give the texts' time boundaries.
Thin or uncritical use of sources. Relying on a single text without secondary criticism weakens Criterion B, whose knowledge strand rewards comprehensive, relevant research materials. Summarising critics, or simply repeating their views, is not the same as engaging with them. Fan wikis and study-guide websites are no substitute for published criticism.
Breaking the text rules. Basing the essay on a text you studied in class, or building a comparison in which no primary text was originally written in English, breaks the language A requirements. Check both before your first reflection session.
Running over the word limit. Anything past 4,000 words is not read, and long quotations count towards the total. This is the most avoidable loss of all.
7. What to Do Next
The most useful thing you can do this week is not pick a title. It is confirm, in writing, that your chosen texts meet the language A rules.
Email your supervisor with your proposed texts before your first formal reflection session and check three things: at least one primary text was originally written in English; none of them is a text you have studied in your English A course; and there is enough published criticism to work with. A problem with any of these is far easier to fix at the outline stage than after two thousand words are drafted around the wrong texts.
Once the texts are confirmed, draft a working research question: identify the text or texts, name the literary or language feature you are examining, and frame it as an open "how", "why" or "to what extent" question. Bring that draft to your first reflection session. Your supervisor can only give meaningful feedback on something concrete.
FAQ
What is the extended essay?
The extended essay is a compulsory, independently researched essay of up to 4,000 words that every IB Diploma Programme student completes; from May 2027 it is externally assessed out of 30 marks across five criteria and awarded a grade from A to E, with a D or higher needed for the diploma.
How long is the extended essay?
The extended essay has a strict 4,000-word limit; examiners are instructed not to read or assess anything beyond it, and quotations count towards the total.
Are there still categories for an English A extended essay?
No. The IB's extended essay guide for first assessment in 2027 drops the old numbered categories: your essay must be based on one or more clearly defined texts, and in a comparative essay at least one primary text must have been originally written in English, while the others may be in translation.
How is an English A extended essay marked?
From May 2027 it is marked on the five criteria every subject shares - Framework for the essay (6), Knowledge and understanding (6), Analysis and line of argument (6), Discussion and evaluation (8) and Reflection (4) - a total of 30 marks that converts to a grade from A to E.
What makes a good English extended essay research question?
A strong research question names a specific text or clearly defined set of texts, identifies a literary or language focus, and is narrow enough to be argued - not merely described - within 4,000 words.
What replaced the RPPF in the extended essay?
From May 2027 the Reflection and progress form (RPF) replaces the RPPF: it records your attendance at the three mandatory reflection sessions and holds one reflective statement of no more than 500 words, written at the end of the process and assessed under Criterion E (Reflection).
References
- DP extended essay updates - International Baccalaureate® - https://ibo.org/university-admission/latest-curriculum-updates/dp-extended-essay-updates
- What is the extended essay? - International Baccalaureate® - https://ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/dp-core/extended-essay/what-is-the-extended-essay