by Vivien Jack

This week’s top tips for Criterion F are pretty straightforward for both HL and SL. Attached are images to summarise this post.

HL IA Criterion F - Recommendations (written report) (Top mark band 2 marks)

Most students can manage to get 1 out of 2 marks. A common error that prevents reaching the top markband is due to the omission of "areas for further study". Students should be guided to:

1. Adhere to the word count limit as well as distinguish Conclusions from Recommendations - this is repeat advice from last week’s Criterion E Conclusion. However, given that the Subject Reports frequently mention the word count limit and how students confuse Conclusions with Recommendations, I thought it was prudent to mention this again.

2. Ensure recommendations are substantiated - Simply put, recommendations have to be based on and supported by the evidence presented and the concluding remarks. However, the quality of substantiated recommendations is indirectly influenced by the cumulative effects of substantiation in earlier parts of the IA. Claims in the "Analysis and Discussion" must be substantiated by quality research in the "Main Findings". Conclusions have to be substantiated by being consistent with the claims in the analysis. Finally, "Recommendations" have to be substantiated from the "Conclusion". In short, substantiate, substantiate, substantiate starting from the Analysis and Discussion of the written report.

3. Identify areas for further study - This criterion is easy to mark as the absence of areas for further study immediately eliminates the top markband from consideration. A useful question to prompt thinking by students is to ask “If the IA had no word limit, what other Business Management tools, techniques, and theories would you employ to investigate your research question more thoroughly?”. Students can then provide a list of two or three areas for further study, with justification for their selections, at the end of the recommendation(s).

SL IA Criterion F - Structure (written report) (Top mark band 2 marks)

The key to this assessment criterion is that the structure provides an argument that is easy to follow (i.e. the written commentary has a logical narrative from beginning to end). Therefore, students should be advised to:

1. Use an essay structure - Tthere is no prescribed structure for the SL IA. A straightforward essay-style structure featuring an introduction, main body, and conclusion is usually sufficient to communicate ideas logically and coherently.

2. Write the commentary holistically - Some students structure the IA by writing a mini-commentary for each supporting document. This is not appropriate and tends to limit analysis due to the overall word count limit. The student must show they can look at the business and address the commentary question by looking at the overall picture provided by the three to five supporting documents.

3. Use subheadings in the main body - The main body of the essay needs to be split up into subsections to avoid having an overwhelming amount of text. Three subsections is usually sufficient to develop each part of the main body to an appropriate depth of analysis. Possible ways to split the main body into subsections are:

• By tools/techniques/theories

• Financial and non-financial perspectives (or quantitative and qualitative lines of argument)

• Arguments for and against a particular strategy

• Motivational vs demotivational perspectives (if writing an HR/motivation based IA)

• By stakeholder perspectives (if writing a stakeholder conflict based IA)

• And many more...

If you have any other useful tips to share for Criterion F, pop them in the comments below.

All the best!