Research guides

For dissertations, theses, the IB Extended Essay and Project Work — the decisions supervisors see students get wrong most often, and how to get them right.

Is my research topic viable? — free checker

Eight questions, two minutes. Find out what could sink your topic before you commit to it.

How to choose a dissertation topic you can actually finish

The best topic is not the most interesting one in the abstract. It is the most interesting one you can answer properly with the time, data and skills you really have.

How to write research objectives that hold a project together

Your aim says what the project will achieve. Your objectives are the three or four specific outcomes that, together, achieve it. Every method, dataset and chapter should trace back to one of them.

What goes in a research proposal — and what supervisors read for

A proposal is an argument that your project is worth doing and can be done. Each section answers a question your supervisor is already asking.

How to choose a research methodology that fits your question

Methodology is not a preference. It follows from what your question asks and what evidence would answer it.

How to write a focused Extended Essay research question

The research question decides most of an Extended Essay before a word of it is written. Too broad, and a few thousand words can only describe. Focused, and they can argue.

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