Supporting students with written work

How to support your student with their written assignment

As a group of outstanding IB educators, Lanterna and EIB tutors are able to provide invaluable support and guidance to students, both academically and pastorally, and students stand to benefit immeasurably from their time with their tutor. Alongside this, however, tutors also have an obligation to provide students with support which respects both our philosophy of challenging students to work independently and discover for themselves as well as the IBO’s clear approach to academic honesty and integrity, which EIB similarly share. 

We regularly caution students and families who approach us on the support tutors will and will not provide when it comes to written, assessed work, and tutors should not support students without first understanding how to support students while ensuring their tuition does not open students up to accusations of academic dishonesty and/or plagiarism.

It is easy to feel that students asking tutors about their IA question, for example, is similar to being asked about an exercise in a textbook or a past paper question, but we cannot stress enough that this is not the same. There are strict policies from the IBO about the support students can receive when it comes to assessed work and, as educators, EIB tutors have a responsibility to enforce these regulations with students so as to ensure they cannot be accused of any academic misconduct. Such accusations can result in students failing subjects and therefore not passing the Diploma, and so it’s important tutors exercise caution - especially where there is doubt as to the appropriateness of the support - when guiding students with written tasks.

Supporting students before they’ve devised a question

If a tutor is supporting a student who has not been set a question and has not yet devised their own question for a written, assessed task, they are able to discuss areas of research the student should investigate further with them. They should focus this advice on topics the student is interested in or want to learn more about. A tutor should not suggest specific questions, case studies etc., but leave it to the student to decide on specifics. The tutor can advise their student if they feel a question is too broad or specific, but can not help them rewrite the question, instead invite them to take their own time and consider their feedback. 

If students are seeking support about how they might investigate a question or area of research, the tutor can support them but shouldn’t apply support to their question or area of research specifically. Instead, the tutor should invite them to discuss the methodologies and approaches of the subject(s) generally, and how certain methodologies are better suited to different areas of research. Similarly, if students seek support on how to collect their data, the tutor can discuss the field's general approach to this issue, but shouldn’t make specific suggestions to students how they should do so. The student will have to decide what methodology and approach to use when they devise and respond to their question or area of research. 

Tutors should similarly not advise students on how to structure their response. To help students, the tutor can provide them with examples of well (or poorly) structured studies in the same academic subject or field, and encourage them to reflect on what does and doesn’t work in them and apply their learning to their own question (tutors should avoid providing students with examples, studies, essays etc. on a similar topic to discourage them from relying on it overly in their own work). 

Supporting students who are writing written, assessed tasks

Once students have begun writing their assessed work tutors should be especially attentive that their support does not expose the student to accusations of academic dishonesty. In short, the tutor should avoid supporting students with their written tasks once their question has been set and they’ve begun writing. 

The tutor can support students in small ways, however. They can, for example, make suggestions of further reading to students on the general area of their written task, but they should avoid explaining why the’re directing them to it specifically (for example, the tutor can recommend John Gillingham’s “Richard the Lionheart” to a student writing on ‘Was King John a bad king?’, but should not explain that Gillingham is a critic of King John because of his military ability). The tutor should not do anything to sway the student's independent voice/thinking or which they can replicate as their own view in their written work but leave them to discover things independently. 

In addition, the tutor can support students as they write with general advice on writing. For example, guiding students how to plan their time in the run up to their deadline (recommending the student has their first, full draft 2 months ahead of the deadline etc.). They can similarly help them with more specific tips for writing (such as rereading their question after they finish every paragraph to ensure they’re not drifting from the topic etc.). They can support students with general advice to issues in their field, but should avoid going into specifics in relation to their question or area of research (for example, if a student says they’re struggling to analyse a primary source they can discuss with them the general approach to analysing a primary source vs a secondary source, but should not help them analyse their source or structure your discussion around their source). The tutor should always keep their advice general, and never apply it to the student’s assessed work. 

In no circumstances should a tutor edit a student’s work, either for grammar or content.