Economics is one of the easy subjects in IB. And yet, when it comes to IA, most people fail to score the highest they can. This is because of some silly mistakes made while writing the IA. Read on if you wish to find out how to avoid these mistakes and actually score high with less effort.
WARNING – May contain cheats. Do not proceed if you’re not ready for writing awesome IA in economics!
If you’re still here, I take it that you really do want to know. So without further chit-chat, I’ll tell you how to write your IA and actually get good results!
- The first thing you want to do is decide which section (micro, macro, etc.) of your syllabus you want to write your IA on. You have to write it on one, and not mix them. Don’t start with macro (effects of a government policy) and wander off to international (effect of the policy on exchange rates).
- The second thing you want to do is find a good article. It’s very important because you cannot write a good commentary without a good article. A good article is one that is related to your section and covers at least two aspects studied in that section. It shouldn’t be too long or have any analysis, in which case, there’s nothing left for you to do. It should be less than one year old and not be from a source previously used for another IA. Get it approved by your teacher to be sure.
- Once you have your article, sit down and write down all the key terms you’ll be using in your commentary and become familiar with all of them (if you aren’t already). Make sure you include all of these in your commentary. Use these throughout your commentary and explain them when needed. You should explain at least 4-5 terms and make them bold for the teacher/moderator to spot.
- Describe your article and the main concept in the first paragraph. This should take around 100-120 words max.
- Add the most appropriate diagram related to the article content and explain that in 100 words. Add the diagram as an image so that the words don’t add to your word count. Be sure to have specific labels for everything that you put in – every single line, curve, movement should be labeled.
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While labelling the axis, be specific rather than general. For example, as opposed to writing 'X', or 'quantity of X', write 'quantity of X in kgs'. It seems trivial, but this can actually get you one extra mark for diagram and sometimes that 1 mark could mean everything.
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Mark the intersections and shade the areas if you're talking about them in your commentary. This makes it easier for you to explain and for the moderator to understand.
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- Add another diagram and explain the same in about 100 words. While explaining the diagram(s), you should also explain the theory and define any key terms.
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It's not necessary to have two diagrams. You can have only one diagram and explain it in 200 words, which is perfectly fine. IB doesn't say you need to have a specific number of diagrams - you can even include 3, if you can fit it in with the explanation and everything. However, it is recommended to have 1-2 diagrams.
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- Suggest a solution or analyse the one (solution/policy) already given in your article, in 120 words. You should relate this to your article, which will gain you marks in application. Many fail to do this and lose marks here, where its not that hard to score.
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You can have one diagram explain the situation in the article and another explaining the solution/policy.
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- Conclude and evaluate the solution/policy. You should do this in about 300 words. A good evaluation looks at two of these:
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Assumptions and their consequences. Talk about where the theory falls short or is unrealistic, how would the case be different had the assumption not been made? Is there anything that the theory fails to take into account?
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Long and short term effects. Mention what will happen in both short term and long term.
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Effects of stakeholders. How will the solution affect different stakeholders? Will the outcome be positive for everyone, or does someone stand to lose?
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Benefits and drawbacks. Explain all the benefits and drawbacks of the solution/policy, argue both for and against it.
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- Do not include anything that you don’t need. The limit is only 750 words and you can’t cross that. Since you need to fit everything into this limit, stick to your point and don’t talk around it. Keep your language concise to make the most of the word limit.
Yep, that’s it! Follow these points and you’ll have your IA ready in no time. You see, it’s not about working hard, it’s about working smart.
You can find sample IAs and other materials in the economics TSM. Have a look at it, it tells you what’s expected of you and how you’re graded.
P.S. While writing this, I assumed that you know the theories and concepts that you will use in your IA. You actually need to be clear with it because otherwise it’ll show in your explanation, costing you precious marks. So I say, go study the theories before writing about them.
You don't do IB 