Pre-assessment checklist for the Individual Report

1 Is the report on one of the eight IR topics:

Belief Systems, Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Loss, Changing Communities,
Digital World, Family, Humans and Other
Species,
Sustainable Living, or Trade and Aid?

2 Is the research question focused enough

to be answered in a 2000 word report?

3 Is the research question about an

issue1 that is global in scope?

4 Is the research question answerable

from different perspectives and
viewpoints?

5 Does the introduction explain the issue

and the research question?

6 Is at least one global perspective on the

issue included? Is it actually a perspective –
e.g. what a global community thinks, not
just information about the global situation?
Is the view clearly represented, (e.g. by a
quote2 from a relevant person or
organisation) and relevant information to
explain it?

7 Is at least one national perspective on the

issue represented? Is it actually a
perspective – i.e. what the nation thinks, not
just information about the national situation?
Is the view clearly represented, (e.g. by a
quote2 from a relevant person or
organisation) and relevant information to
explain it?

8 Does the report contain a balanced range3

of different, well-supported perspectives?

9 Does the report analyse causes of the

issue? Are causes compared in a way that
establishes the most important ones to
help formulate courses of action?

1
“An issue is usually a concern or matter within a topic that causes controversy, disagreement or hardship, has causes and
consequences, and is usually a problem which can be solved with different courses of action. Within a global topic, an issue goes
beyond a local or national context.” – Coursework Handbook 2018
2
“When quoting directly, [the writer] must use quotation marks and avoid quoting extensively. Quotes count towards the word
count.” – Coursework Handbook 2018
3
For example, this might be a controversy between different global perspectives, a comparison of different national perspectives, or
inclusion of other relevant local and personal perspectives.

10 Does the report analyse consequences of

the issue? Are consequences compared in a
way that establishes the most important
ones to help formulate courses of action?

11 Are all factual claims supported with

evidence and in-text attribution to cite
their sources?4

12 In addition to in-text attribution, is there

also a complete list of full references to
sources cited? Is it in a separate document
as required? Is the format of citations and
references suitable and consistent?5

13 If the student has included any

primary research, is this suitably
referenced?6

14 Are the key7 sources of information

evaluated? Are at least three
developed evaluative points made?

15 Is a range of sources of information

used? Are they of a suitable quality?
Is a range of types of information used?

16 Are section headings used to organise

the report?

17 Are any charts or diagrams properly

labelled, integrated into the discussion, and
words within them added to the total word
count?

18 Does every paragraph stay relevant to

the research question?

19 Does the report reach a conclusion which is

a clear answer to the research question? Is
the conclusion fully supported?

4
“In-text attribution: Candidates may use bracketed citations, or numbering, or in-text referencing, to indicate where they have used
sources. They must include complete references somewhere in their work, either footnotes, endnotes, or in-text references. (For ease of
reading and control of word count, numbers or brackets are more manageable).” – Examiner Report, summer 2021 5 “References:
References for books or magazines should include author, date, and title of publication. References for online materials should include at
least the full url (leading to the document, not just to a website) and date of access. The full reference list/footnotes/endnotes should be
clearly linked to the in-text attribution. Candidates should use one clear, consistent, and logical method (one set of numbers, or
alphabetical order). References should be clearly organised and easy to find.” – Examiner Report summer 2021
6
“Some candidates carry out primary research, particularly to explore different perspectives. Where they do so, they should mention this
in text; so that it is clear where/how the information has been gained. They may wish to put a note at the end of their reference list or in a
footnote, to give details such as date of interview. If candidates wish to include evidence of their primary research, such as
statistics, they can append this to the reference list, unless it is to be read and counted in the words allowed for the IR.” — Examiner
Report summer 2021
7
Most students use more than three sources of information and don’t have enough space to write evaluations of all of them, so include
written evaluations of the sources that are most important to your analysis and conclusions. Of course, you should also use the same
skills during your research to help you select all your sources, to avoid using poor-quality information.

20 Does the report include reflection on how

the investigation has developed8the writer’s
personal perspective?

21 Is at least one course of action proposed

to help solve the issue? Does the writer
explain who should take the action, how,
and what the impact will be.

22 Does the course of action follow from what

has been learned from the information and
analysis in the report? (E.g. aimed at the
most important cause and/or most
important effect)

23 Is the report between 1500 and 2000

words9 long (including quotes, the title,
subheadings, titles and words within
charts/diagrams, but
excluding the list of works cited)? Is a
word count given?

24 Is the report written concisely to make

efficient use of the 2000 words
allowed?

25 Is the report edited carefully to avoid

obvious errors?

26 Is the report written clearly to

avoid confusing the reader? Is it
written
cohesively10to make it effective
and persuasive?

8
Has the source opened your eyes to something / changed your mind / confirmed an opinion / raised a question?9
“The strongest work … used the full available word count.” — Examiner Report, summer 2021
10
Cohesion is how the writing “sticks together” to make a whole. In a piece of writing with good cohesion one point leads to the next in a
way that steadily builds up an overall picture, story, or argument. It avoids making the reader uncomfortable with abrupt jumps or
irrelevant parts.