Senior students at Regents International School Pattaya are putting the finishing touches on the 4,000-word extended essays which form an important part of their International Baccalaureate Diploma course. The essays not only influence the students’ final Diploma grade, they are also excellent preparation for the research and essay-writing which will be expected of each of them at university.
The range of topics which the students chose to address this year reflects their ambition and maturity. They also illustrate how globalized Regents students become, with so many choosing to write on subjects which would have been completely unfamiliar to them before joining the school.
IB Diploma students at Regents put the finishing touches to their extended essays.
Julianne from the Philippines chose to explore how Charlotte Bronte used minor characters in her novel Jane Eyre to convey a rigid sense of social hierarchy. Geoffrey from Thailand also chose a literary theme, examining how Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allen Poe used symbolism to represent loss in the novels The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Gye-Yeong from South Korea focused on an art historical theme in her essay entitled, ‘To what extent are three cursive script calligraphy works from the 16th Century Joseon Dynasty and the abstract paintings of Franz Kline connected?’ Gor from Armenia, who was recently interviewed for a place at Cambridge University, focused on the economy in his essay on the competitiveness of customs brokerage agencies.
In total, over 30 Regents students will complete the IB Diploma this summer, and the extended essays they have submitted cover the sciences, humanities, social sciences and arts.
Paddy McKenna, who coordinates the Extended Essay Programme for the school commented, “The Extended Essay is a personal research project that students undertake in one of their own special areas of academic interest. The essay is formally presented, much like a dissertation, and is excellent preparation for the rigorous expectations of university. Congratulations to all the students for their hard work.”
