Hack IB

The best way to learn how to write a great TOK Essay is by looking at the excellent examples of essays. For the final part, we will finish looking at the conclusion of a 10/10 TOK Essay. We will continue to use the official example TOK Essay from the IB which scored 10/10 that we also used to deconstruct a a 10/10 introduction and body paragraphs.

The conclusion ideally ties together all the ideas of the TOK Essay to give a coherent finish to the essay, leaving the examiner with a sense of accomplishment, like you have come away learning something new.

Download and read the full essay here before we continue with the dissection!

The conclusion paragraph here will be our focus for today:

This essay was given a mark of 10/10 by the IB with the following comments:

This is an example of an excellent essay. It was awarded a mark of 10/10. The discussion of the natural and human sciences is clear, effective and balanced. Various perspectives are evaluated, and the implications of the attempts to resolve the various disputes are drawn. This is an accomplished TOK exploration

Let’s take a look at how the conclusion of this essay gives it the sense of being ‘accomplished’ and how we can replicate that in our own writing.

Answer the prescribed title

The first sentence of your conclusion should be a direct answer to the prescribed title. In the example, the prescribed title is

Are disputes over knowledge claims within a discipline always resolvable? Answer this question by comparing and contrasting disciplines taken from two AOKs.

The first sentence of the conclusion:

In conclusion, whether disputes between knowledge claims are always resolvable or not, largely depends on the nature of the dispute and the nature of the AOK that the disputes fall within.

The most important thing the examiner is looking for when marking the TOK Essay and looking at your conclusion is have you addressed the prescribed title. So it is a good idea to use the exact words of the prescribed title as the example has done here to give the impression that your essay has addressed the title. You should recap the claim and counterclaim you introduced in your essay (and we have gone over that when we dissected the body paragraphs here) such as the distinctions between theoretical and practical disputes introduced by this example essay.

The example also summarizes the findings to each AOK. It is good to include a sentence per AOK to address your answer to the prescribed title tailored to each AOK as well so you are fully addressing the title.

Consider the implications of your conclusion

What I would improve about this example is that the student could have elaborated more on what the conclusion of the essay meant to how we produce knowledge in the aforementioned AOKs. They touched on it briefly in the last few sentences of the introduction, suggesting that differences in interpretation could be beneficial as there would be a more comprehensive range of perspectives available for the subject matter. I would take this idea further and say something to the effect of how having conflicting perspectives that need to be resolved is not necessarily a bad thing, but could be beneficial to the way we produce knowledge as it gives the AOK a breadth of insight. This can be extended towards how we acquire knowledge as well and how we can be more critical and evaluative of the way we consider different perspectives in each AOK.

For your own essay, consider ending your essay with one or two sentences of implications of your stance. Essentially, now that you have ‘discovered something new’ after writing about the prescribed title, how has this changed the way you perceive knowledge, how you produce it, acquire it or share it with others? This can show greater engagement with the TOK syllabus and also show that you are not a mindless drone writing about TOK because you have to, but you have grown as a learner through this process.

One thing to avoid

Do not introduce new ideas in your conclusion. You may already have learned this in your Language classes, but the conclusion should be a standalone paragraph that summarizes your claim and counterclaim in the essay. Continue to use the same language you used throughout the essay and don’t introduce any quotes, examples or new potential claims in the conclusion.

You may choose to refer back to any ‘hook’ you had in the introduction and circle back on it with the new insight gained through writing the essay. Beware not to make any new arguments when doing this though!

Conclusion

Conclusion is quite a simple paragraph in the TOK Essay. You may be constrained by words by the time you get to this section. The key is to sum up and provide a satisfying ending to the essay, while remaining insightful throughout.

That concludes our deconstruction of a perfect 10/10 TOK Essay. Check out my previous parts for body paragraphs and introductions. I will share more 10/10 and 9/10 essay examples soon.