This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Extended Essay In biology (help please)

Hi, I'm Jack, and I'm starting work on an extended essay for the IB in biology.

I am going to apply for medicine, and so I wanted my essay to be at least loosely relevent.

My initial thoughts were around concentrations of TCP and their effect on a type of bacteria (micococcus leutea), but I think that is likely too predictable to get decent marks.

So I moved on to the Role / significance of antiseptics / disinfectants on the fight against MRSA.

But again, I think that is going to be insanely hard to do. So I've had a look at the mark scheme for the extended essay, but it is of little use (link - http://www.aisb.ro/secondary/diploma/eeguide.pdf ). I have been told by a teacher that you need around 30-40 sources in your bibliography. Now to me, my research area seems like I would struggle to get like one decent book on my subject area.

So on looking at the mark scheme, it says, "some of the best essays have been written by candidates investigating relatively simple phnomena using standard school apparatus and this approach is to be encouraged". Now, what am I supposed to make of that? Does that mean I would be better off not even thinking about MRSA, since I would never be able to get that in to school? Should I narrow it down and just do the affect of varying types of disinfectants on micrococcus luteus?

I desperately need some advice, either on here on my msn, edited by moderator[/email]

Thanks in advance
Jack

Reply 1

glittery_butterfly

You could do a literature based essay (but that'd be borrrrrrrrrring!!)

Reply 2

Jackarias

OP

No unfortunately not, I am going to apply for medicine, and my essay is going to have to be in biology for it to be of any real use.

Reply 3

gurk

That syllabus is out of date, by the way.

Reply 4

Jackarias

OP

Do you know where I could find a more uptodate one?

Reply 5

BIO-AQUA

Jackarias

Hi, I'm Jack, and I'm starting work on an extended essay for the IB in biology.

I am going to apply for medicine, and so I wanted my essay to be at least loosely relevent.

My initial thoughts were around concentrations of TCP and their effect on a type of bacteria (micococcus leutea), but I think that is likely too predictable to get decent marks.

So I moved on to the Role / significance of antiseptics / disinfectants on the fight against MRSA.

But again, I think that is going to be insanely hard to do. So I've had a look at the mark scheme for the extended essay, but it is of little use (link - http://www.aisb.ro/secondary/diploma/eeguide.pdf ). I have been told by a teacher that you need around 30-40 sources in your bibliography. Now to me, my research area seems like I would struggle to get like one decent book on my subject area.

So on looking at the mark scheme, it says, "some of the best essays have been written by candidates investigating relatively simple phnomena using standard school apparatus and this approach is to be encouraged". Now, what am I supposed to make of that? Does that mean I would be better off not even thinking about MRSA, since I would never be able to get that in to school? Should I narrow it down and just do the affect of varying types of disinfectants on micrococcus luteus?

I desperately need some advice, either on here on my msn, [email protected]

Thanks in advance
Jack

Ok.. There are a lot of things to talk in here;

Well basically, in order to apply to medicine, you have to have good IB results according to what university you're going to and the aptitude test they require (such as the SAT, TOEFL, BMAT, UKCAT...). It is not a must to do your extended essay in Biology. It is quite difficult to earn an A on a Science-based EE. Well I'm hopefully applying to medicine and I did my EE in Language A1. Pick a subject you like and you can easily get marks in. It does not really affect.

Anyway, If you really want to do it in Biology, then go ahead. Just make sure you meet all the criteria for that and go ahead with the whole thing. For the new syllabus of the EE, visit this page and check the second post. It really helps.

Finally, regarding your title, why not put it in this way, "An investigation of different types of disinfectant X, Y and Z on the growth and reproduction of Bacteria ABC". You might as well check with your teacher and see the ideas he/she has as he/she can be of great help. Here are some other titles you can check out:

1. Some classical IB ones..

- The Competitive and Evolutionary Nature of the Symbiotic Relationship in Paramecium.
- Gel Electrophoresis. The Construction of an Apparatus and the Separation of Proteins in Heat Treated Cow Milk.

2. Some suggestions that I came up with:

- Production of Monoclonal Antibodies through Hybridoma Technology to treat Mutant Myeloma Cells. (I know this is fancy more than it sounds, but basically this can be done with mice. If you take Biology at HL, then you're actually familiar with it from Topic 10.. Through injecting the mouse with antigens and extracting B-cells from the spleen...etc). You could also do the same thing to diagnose pregnancy by producing the pregnancy test through identification of HCG hormone instead of the first proposal.
- Studying the effect of psychoactive drugs on the urination patterns, reflexes and/or other patterns of mice.
- Studying the effect of food additives on the digestive system and the body as a whole.

EDIT: Just remembered to warn you not to post your e-mail address on this forum and any other forum for reasons we all know :wink:

.

Hope this has helped. Have a nice day everyone. :smile:

Reply 6

laura1606

Hey, I have to write my extended essay over the summer holidays...
my teacher is of no use and/or help to me because she just doesn't have a clue.
However, I have to write it in biology ...
I thought of sth to do with the human pulse. If anyone could help me to find a good research question???
(What I've considered so far:
How does excercise affect the human pulse?
How do energy drinks affect the human pulse?
What has the greatest effect on the human pulse; adrenaline or excercise?

It would be very nice if someone could give me some feedback :smile:

Desperately, Laura

Reply 7

Owly-woes

7

laura1606

Hey, I have to write my extended essay over the summer holidays...
my teacher is of no use and/or help to me because she just doesn't have a clue.
However, I have to write it in biology ...
I thought of sth to do with the human pulse. If anyone could help me to find a good research question???
(What I've considered so far:
How does excercise affect the human pulse?
How do energy drinks affect the human pulse?
What has the greatest effect on the human pulse; adrenaline or excercise?

It would be very nice if someone could give me some feedback :smile:

Desperately, Laura

I've outlined an experiment in my head that has to do with the human pulse, but I've never set it up physically. I think it's rather interesting and should be perfectly suited for an EE. You can use my idea if you want to, but you'll have to tell me the results :smile:

I think some guy, Pavlov, did some research on whether pepsin secretion in animals is elicited by anticipation (a behavioural element) or by some kind of messenger in the food that enters the stomach. Don't hang me up on this because i don't know if that is exactly what he did. When I read about this, I came up with the idea that the human pulse is also, perhaps, affected by anticipation or other behavioral factors. To test this, you could have a group of people exercise at the exact same time every day for a number of weeks (which will make their pulse rate increase). Before every run, the individual participant's pulse rate will be measured. If overall there is an increase in the pulse rate before a run, then, assuming that other factors have been kept constant, the human pulse is not only affected by physiological factors but also psychological ones. If this is the case, one could elaborate on this and discuss whether this is an example of an evolutionary adaptation that raises the chances of survival.

I'm not sure this is advanced enough for an EE, but it should be fairly straight forward to investigate and be closely related to the areas of biology that are taught in the IB syllabus.

So to narrow down the investigation area: "The effect of anticipation on the human pulse rate as an example of an evolutionary adaptation."

You don't need years of biology to answer this question, and oftentimes simple EE well set-up are the better ones.

Reply 8

09kiwigrad

we've done design lab reports on human pulse in bio
we came up with loads of interesting ones such as: the effect of: temperature, speed of breathing, being upside down, being underwater, being near someone you like etc. on human pulse
doing it on exercise is a bit too overdone, so you should come up with an interesting one like the ones above (you could use one if you want)
good luck!

Reply 9

laura1606

Thank you sooo much !! both of you =) you really helped me... don't know which topic i'll choose yet but i really like your ideas. and i'm so happy you'd let me use them :biggrin:

really, you made my day =)

Reply 10

Owly-woes

7

Extended Essay In biology (help please)

Related discussions

Articles for you