Unpacking TOK

Essay

Sivarama Sarma
 Making the things ready….
 Your theory of knowledge essay must be written on one of the
six essay titles (questions)

 These titles take the form of knowledge questions that are

focused on the areas of knowledge.

 You may choose any of the titles but are recommended to make
your choice in consultation with your teacher

 Your essay will be marked according to the assessment

instrument published in the theory of knowledge guide.
Examiners will be looking to see that you have provided a
clear, coherent and critical exploration of your chosen title

 Your theory of knowledge essay should be written in standard

size 12 font and be double spaced. It must be a maximum of
1600 words. ( Font: Arial)
 Preparation….
The word count includes

 the main part of the essay  any acknowledgments

 the references (whether given in
any quotations. footnotes, endnotes or in-text)
 Mention the word count  bibliography
 any maps, charts, diagrams,
during submission
annotated illustrations or tables.
 Footnotes or appendices are not
appropriate for the TOK essay

Caution: If an essay exceeds the word limit, beyond

1600, then examiners are not suppose to read
 Process validation…
• The TOK essay must be the student’s original
work.
• However, the teacher give two feedbacks
• one for first draft- written
• Second for second draft oral feedback

• final needs to be submitted in the timeline given

• Teacher–student interactions for the TOK essay is

required for successful completion

• Plagiarism check happens for all the drafts.

 Assessment instruments
• TOK essay is marked using a global impression marking approach.

• This means that the assessment is envisaged as a process of holistic or global

judgment rather than an analytical process of totaling the assessment of separate
criteria.

• The assessment instruments present five described levels of performance. These levels
are to be seen as global and holistic descriptors rather than as a checklist of necessary
characteristics.

• When marking, the aim is to find the descriptor that conveys most accurately the level
attained by the student. It is not necessary for every single aspect of a level descriptor
to be met for a mark in that level to be awarded
Assessment
instruments contd…
 Assessment instruments contd…

Features that are important for a good essay are:

keywords that the candidate must focus on,
knowledge questions, examples, perspectives,
AOKs, knowledge framework, counterclaims,
evaluation, implications, stance (the position a
student takes or develops on the title
 Digging further..
Keywords from essay Guidance
instruments
“A sustained focus on the title” The TOK essay is an exploration of the chosen title, so ensuring
that the essay is tightly focused on the title is crucial. If this
doesn’t happen, the essay will be seen to lack relevance and will
only achieve low marks.

Common weaknesses seen in TOK essays:

• They fail to address the title, or that they begin well but then
deviate from the title. Strong TOK essays retain a clear focus on
the title throughout.
• They focus on one part of the title but completely ignore another
part of the title. Strong TOK essays ensure that they address all
parts of the title, as well as considering any assumptions that are
written into the title.
• They fail to consider central terms and concepts used in the title,
or alternatively where they simply provide lengthy descriptive
dictionary definitions of these terms
Digging further..
Keywords from essay Guidance
instruments
“Linked effectively to The TOK prescribed essay titles may refer to specific areas of knowledge or they may
areas of knowledge” ask students to discuss a claim in relation to two areas of knowledge but leave the
choice of areas of knowledge to the student. In both question formats, it is vital that
students make clear and effective links to areas of knowledge in their essays.

The term “area of knowledge” refers explicitly to the five areas of knowledge listed in the
TOK guide: history, natural sciences, human sciences, mathematics and the arts.

Sometimes students may wish to use an example or discipline that does not fit
comfortably into an area of knowledge. While examiners are encouraged to be open to a
variety of approaches, if a student takes this approach then it does require them to offer
some additional justification or explanation for why they are using this example for that
area of knowledge. It is therefore recommended that teachers advise their students
against this approach, as it requires the student to make the case for why that example
or discipline belongs to that particular area of knowledge
 Digging further..
Keywords from essay Guidance
instruments
“Arguments are The TOK essay requires students to undertake a critical exploration of the chosen title. It
effectively supported is therefore crucial that the discussion is analytical rather than simply descriptive and
by specific examples” that students provide clear and coherent arguments that are supported by specific
examples.

The term “specific examples” means that the student, for example, makes reference to a
particular artist or artwork or scientist or scientific theory rather than making a generic
reference to “artists” or “scientists”.

The examples in a TOK essay play an important role in supporting the argument. This
means that it is not only the examples themselves that are important, but crucially also
how they are used within the essay to support the arguments that the student is making.

A common weakness seen in TOK essays is where students use too many examples
and/or skip from one example to another without unpacking their relevance and
significance and without showing how these examples support the argument being
made. This tends to make the essay overly descriptive rather than analytical.
 Digging further..
Keywords from essay Guidance
instruments
“Clear awareness and The TOK essay should be a critical exploration rather than simply a one-sided
evaluation of different points of statement of the student’s own viewpoint or opinion. To achieve high marks,
view” students need to not only show awareness of different points of view but also to
critically evaluate these different points of view.

Although students are required to engage with different points of view, TOK
students should be encouraged to come to their own conclusions. They should
be encouraged to make a critical appraisal of different points of view and to be
clear what their own position is; for example, they might agree with a claim with
reservations.

Within an essay, different points of view might take the form of claims and
counterclaims or arguments and counterarguments. Students might, for
example, discuss contrasting examples and different perspectives from different
disciplines or areas of knowledge, or indeed from within the same discipline or
area of knowledge.
 Etiquette in writing essay
• Title chosen
• Introduction – Max 200-250 words
• Key word(s)/phrase(s)
• Assumptions made by the Prescribed Title
• Ambiguities that arise
• Identify the relevant strands of the Knowledge Framework pertaining to the
chosen Knowledge Issue and TOK Concepts.
• BODY (max 1000 to 1100 words)
• AOk1
• Argument 1-claim1-evidence for claim1-counter claim-evidence-mini
conclusion for argument1

• AOk2
• Argument 2-claim2-evidence for claim2-counter claim-evidence-mini
conclusion for argument2

• CONCLUSION (max 200-250 words)

• It should sum up your overall position and make it clear to the reader how
you think you have explored and asserted your position (thesis) you
introduced at the start. In addition, especially if you have not done this
earlier in the essay, you should think about the implications (or
consequences) that your overall answer has and any assumption on which it
is based
PT May 2024