How to Get an A in a Global Politics Extended Essay

You're starting a Global Politics EE on a topic you're passionate about, and you're already worried your outline isn't "A material." Here's some reassurance from someone who had no idea what their EE would become at the start and ended up the highest scorer in their grade: the outline is not the essay.

Choose a topic you genuinely care about

A lot of students pick topics based on what they think will score well. But the best topic is usually the one you'll still be excited to read, research and write about months from now. Execution matters far more than picking something that sounds impressive.

Don't judge your outline — or force a conclusion — too early

Your outline is only part of the story, so don't panic if it doesn't look like A material yet. And definitely don't try to force a conclusion before you've done the research. One of the biggest surprises for most students is how much their argument evolves as they learn more — that's a feature, not a flaw.

Be relentlessly thorough with research

Go well beyond the first few articles that show up online. Academic journals, professors' work, dissertations, niche publications, and opposing perspectives are where the depth is. The deeper you go, the more likely you are to find something genuinely interesting rather than repeating what everyone else already says.

A research question is a real question

So many students get caught up in making the RQ sound academic that they forget the entire point is to investigate something they don't yet know the answer to. Often you can't write the best version of your RQ until you're 20–30% into your research — because that's when the genuinely interesting questions reveal themselves.