AIS-R LibGuides: Extended Essay Resources: Home

Research Databases

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Digital Theatre Plus This link opens in a new window Founded in 2009, Digital Theatre+ is the world’s leading educational platform for English and the Performing Arts, providing over 3 million students, within over 1000 schools, colleges and universities, across 65 countries, with access to 600+ theatre productions and educational resources. We collaborate with renowned theatre companies, actors and creatives to capture live performances in stunning quality and bring you insights from behind the scenes; we curate the very best productions from over 50 of the world’s leading arts organisations; and we commission educational resources from leading practitioners and academics.
Ebscohost Research Databases This link opens in a new window Ebscohost provides access to a variety of academic databases which each hold thousands of full-text, peer-reviewed journal articles. An excellent source of reliable information for student research projects.
Encyclopedia Britannica This link opens in a new window The joy of learning, at home or on the go. Whether you need homework help, background for a business proposal, or you simply want to learn, Britannica delivers trusted information wherever you want it, wherever you need it, in new and enjoyable ways.
Explora Secondary This link opens in a new window Designed for high school students, students can look up articles and facts for research papers, class projects, or homework from the world’s leading magazines and reference materials.
Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window Provides over 25,000 encyclopedic entries. Searchable by subject or keywords within the entry. Perfect for homework help and research.
Global Issues in Context This link opens in a new window Designed to support global awareness, Global Issues In Context ties together a wealth of authoritative content that empowers students to critically analyze and understand the most important issues of the modern world.
Health Source This link opens in a new window This database is the richest collection of consumer health information available to libraries worldwide, providing information on many health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health. Health Source: Consumer Edition provides access to nearly 80 full text, consumer health magazines.
History Reference Center This link opens in a new window Designed for academic research, this database features full text for more than 1,990 reference books, encyclopedias, and non-fiction books. This content comes from leading history publishers such as Branden Publishing, Compass Point Books, Houghton Mifflin, Lerner Publishing Group, Mason Crest Publishers, Morgan Reynolds Inc., Oliver Press, Oxford University Press, Rourke Publishing LLC, Salem Press, Stackpole Books, and Toucan Valley Publications.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window Combining information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals, and original content from EBSCO, Literary Reference Center features an expansive collection of author biographies, plot summaries and work overviews, full-text essays from leading publishers, literary reference books and monographs, cover-to-cover full text for literary magazines and journals, book reviews from the most prestigious publications, poems from hundreds of sources, short stories, classic texts, author interviews, and much more.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 national (U.S.) and international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for more than 330 regional (U.S.) newspapers.
Points of View This link opens in a new window Points of View Reference Center contains many topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point (argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument).
Science In Context This link opens in a new window Gale In Context: Science is an engaging online resource that provides contextual information on hundreds of today's most significant science topics. Gale's authoritative reference content is merged with full-text magazine, academic journal, and news articles; experiments, images, videos, audio files, and links to vetted websites organised into a user-friendly portal experience.
Science Reference Center This link opens in a new window This comprehensive research database provides easy access to a wealth of full-text, science-oriented content. Designed to meet every student researcher's needs, Science Reference Center contains full text for hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and other sources. Topics covered in Science Reference Center include biology, chemistry, earth and space science, environmental science, health and medicine, life science, mathematics, physics, science and society, science as inquiry, scientists, technology, and wildlife.
Student Resources in Context This link opens in a new window Student Resources In Context offers cross-curricular content aligned to national, state, and Common Core State Standards, and presents that material in the way most useful for students. This unique database provides stellar support for papers, projects, and presentations while reinforcing the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.
Teen Health & Wellness This link opens in a new window The award-winning Teen Health & Wellness provides middle and high school students with up-to-date, nonjudgmental, straightforward curricular, and self-help support. Articles are correlated to state, national, and provincial standards, including Common Core Health and Science.  Topics covered include diseases, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, mental health, suicide, bullying, and more.
World History In Context This link opens in a new window World History In Context takes learners from the ancient world to today's headlines, delivering a chronicle of the great cultures and societies that have formed the history of the human race. Rare primary sources, reliable reference and multi-media content put this vast topic into context for students.

The Best Research Plan

1. Read broadly to build background knowledge about your SUBJECT (video search, general web search, encyclopedias, IB textbooks).

2. Formulate a FOCUSED research question.

3. Gather information that addresses your research question (survey, interview, journal articles, etc.)

4. Write your essay.

ALWAYS be able to answer these questions about your topic:

What is your paper about?

What is your thesis? Your argument? Your point?

So what? Why is it important?

Now what? Given the research you've done, what action should happen?

Topic Finders

Browse through these resources to go from a general topic of interests down to a specific area of focus.

Global Issues in Context Topic Finder
A visual search drilling down to areas of focus.
Global Resources in Context Browse Issues
A list of global issues and topics you may want to explore.
JSTOR
Browse by subjects.
Literary Themes and Topics
An interesting list of possible themes to explore if you are considering an EE in English.
Literature Themes
A Huge List of Common Themes in Literature. Not everything is here, but it's a place to start.
Pew Research Group
A detailed listing of Pew Research Center polling and demographic topics and subjects
Points of View Database
Lists of debatable topics with academic sources of information. AISR library password required. Please find the password in the Research Databases box.
Procon.org
This is not a suitable source of information, but it could be a place to browse for a topic of interest. You can also mine the articles for links to more academic sources.
Student Resources in Context Browse Topics
Lists a variety of topics which may spark your interest.
Student Resources in Context Topic Finder
A visual search drilling down to potential areas of focus.
World Economic Forum Strategic Intelligence
Explore and monitor the issues and forces driving transformational change across economies, industries, and global issues. This is a visual search using categories and then drilling down to open resources about specific topics. You must sign up for a free account.

General Reference

IB Extended Essay Resources

2019 IB Extended Essay Guide
The offical guide from the IB. It contains information on overall requirements, subject-specific requirements, tips for conducting research, and assessment information. IMPORTANT!

Subject-specific resources
Click here to see exemplars and other useful links for resources to your subject area.
2019 Exemplars
Student sample extended essays, corresponding marks and comments from senior examiners.
IB Extended Essay Homepage
Official IB website for Extended Essay resources.

Statistics Websites

19 Places to Find Free Data Sets for Data Science Projects
More sites to find data sets.
Google Data Sets
A data set search powered by Google.
Knoema
Knoema is the most comprehensive source of global decision-making data in the world. Our tools allow individuals and organizations to discover, visualize, model, and present their data and the world’s data to facilitate better decisions and better outcomes.
The Observatory of Economic Complexity
The Observatory of Economic Complexity is a tool that allows users to quickly compose a visual narrative about countries and the products they exchange. It was Alexander Simoes' Master Thesis in Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab.
Pew Research Center Datasets
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions.
Statista
Statista Research & Analysis is a combined provider of market research as well as research and analysis services. We help corporate customers collect and prepare market, customer and competitive information.
Statistics Sweden
Our main task is to supply users and customers with statistics for decision making, debate and research. We do this mainly through assignments from the government and other government agencies.
United Nations Statistics Division
The United Nations Statistics Division is committed to the advancement of the global statistical system. We compile and disseminate global statistical information, develop standards and norms for statistical activities, and support countries' efforts to strengthen their national statistical systems.

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