What can my tutor help me with on the IA, EE and TOK?

Your tutor can be a huge help with your Internal Assessments (IA), Extended Essay (EE) and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) — as long as the support stays on the right side of the IB's academic-honesty rules. The IB is strict about this for a good reason: the work you submit must genuinely be your own. We protect you by making sure your tutoring never puts you at risk of an academic-misconduct issue. Here is the simple version of what that means in practice.

What your tutor CAN do

• Help you understand the task and the assessment criteria, so you know exactly what you are being marked on.
• Discuss possible topics and areas of research in general terms, so you can find something that genuinely interests you.
• Teach you the methodology, research approaches and essay structure for your subject — using examples that are not your own work.
• Help you plan your time, set draft deadlines and stay on track.
• Give feedback on your thinking and your approach, and point you toward wider reading.

What your tutor must NOT do

• Choose your research question or title for you — that decision has to be yours.
• Write, edit, correct or rewrite any part of your work, for either content or grammar.
• Hand you content, passages or analysis for you to copy or reproduce as your own.
• Complete or "fix up" your draft — the words on the page must be yours.

None of this makes tutoring less useful — the opposite. A great tutor helps you become a stronger, more independent writer and thinker, which is exactly what the IB rewards. You keep full ownership of your work, and you stay completely safe from any accusation of dishonesty.

Next step: Want IA, EE or TOK support that keeps you on the right side of the rules? Message us on live chat or email tutoring@lanterna.com.

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