How to Structure a Theory of Knowledge Essay

Theory of Knowledge essay is a paper on recommended themes or titles made by the IB (International Baccalaureate). As the name suggests, the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) exposition should zero in on information issues (what is information? why and how would we know things?) and connection to different subject matters.

How to Write a Theory of Knowledge Essay

Here is the manner by which to compose the theory of knowledge essay

Steps to write TOK

Comprehend the design of a TOK paper

In your paper, you will be relied upon to thoroughly analyze various methods of knowing through discernment, language, reason, feeling with various subject matters. The subject areas covered in a TOK article are Mathematics, Natural Science, Human Science, History, and Arts.

Use recommended topics

Ask your instructor for the recommended titles for the TOK exposition. These titles, or paper points, are made by the IB and will require that you look into methods of knowing with one to two subject matters. These questions change each test period, so you can’t completely get ready for the exposition until you have the right questions. You should stay objective all through the paper and present the two sides of the title in a reasonable and compact way.

Here are some of the questions for a TOK essay:

  • Contrast the roles played by reason and creative mind in at least two Areas of Knowledge.
  • When mathematicians, antiquarians, and researchers say that they have clarified something, are they utilizing the word ‘clarify’ similarly?

Select a title cautiously

Search for a point that contains a subject matter you know about or inspired by. In any case, try not to take hold of a theme quickly in light of the fact that it sounds engaging or straightforward. Instead, arrive at each title cautiously on the list and ask yourself a few inquiries.

Search for a theme that contains a subject matter you know about or intrigued by. Yet, try not to take hold of a subject quickly in light of the fact that it sounds engaging or basic. All things considered, arrive at each title cautiously on the rundown and ask yourself a few questions.

Write the title in your own words

Numerous TOK titles can appear to be befuddling or tangled when you previously read them. You may battle to get catchphrases or terms in the title, or you may not be sure what you are looking into in the title. One choice is to reword the title and separate it into one to two sentences so it turns out to be all the more apparent.

For instance, in a title like: “When mathematicians, historians, and researchers say that they have clarified something, are they utilizing the word ‘clarify’ similarly?” you may reword it into two sentences. The title alludes to three areas: arithmetic, history, and science. It is then requiring that you look into the way these three areas use clarification as a method of thinking about a subject or issue.

Note the assessment criteria

The IB (International Baccalaureate) utilizes four models to review your exposition, every one of which conveys equivalent weight. You ought to have a duplicate of these models and have them in mind as you compose your article.

The four regions you will be surveyed on include:

Understanding the information issues: your paper should be centered around the information issues, link and compare at least two information issues, show pertinence at least two knowledge issues, and exhibit a modern comprehension of the knowledge issues.

Knower’s point of view: your article should show autonomous reasoning, mindfulness, at least two different perspectives, and a few supporting models.

Investigation of the knowledge issues: your article should show understanding and profundity, legitimize your primary concerns, present contentions, and counter-contentions, and investigate any assumptions and ramifications of your point.

Association of thoughts: your exposition should be very much organized, clarify key ideas, be authentically precise, and refer to references where pertinent.

Peruse the essay guidelines

Note the keywords in the exposition guidelines. You might be advised to “survey” or “assess” a case. This implies you should consider contentions for and against the title, and consider any ambiguities or hazy situations identified with the title.

Brainstorm ideas around the essay title

Before you plunge into your outline, get your thoughts streaming by taking five to ten minutes to conceptualize. The TOK exposition is principally a reflective essay, so you will need to exhibit you have pondered the title and are set up to think about and break down the title.

Start by doing a general, open talk. Record all that comes to mind when you consider the title without condemning any of the ideas.

Following five minutes of conceptualizing, read over your notes. Recognize thoughts that identify with one another or that repudiate one another. If you are assessing or evaluating a case in the paper title, make a for section and an against the segment. Group your ideas into either column. Make the third segment for ill-defined situation thoughts, or ambiguities, and spot thoughts in that section.

Note any instances of the thoughts that you recorded. For instance, you might be tending to a title like: “When mathematicians, historians, and researchers say that they have clarified something, are they utilizing the word ‘clarify’ similarly?” You may make a talk for every subject matter (arithmetic, history, science) corresponding to clarifying something. You may then utilize instances of “something” that can be clarified in an area: a mathematical equation, a historical moment in a battle or a trial, and a scientific theory.

Identify knowledge issue in the essay title

The information issue will be an inquiry or issue that alludes to your comprehension of the world, yourself, as well as other people, regarding the quest for information. You are attempting to respond to the inquiry: “How would you know?” An information issue in an article title will identify with a couple of eight AOK (Mathematics, Natural sciences, Human Sciences, History, The Arts, Ethics, Religious information frameworks, Indigenous information frameworks) and ought to analyze the possible issues or clashes in these subject matters or between these subject matters.

You ought to likewise recognize the subject matters you will examine in your article. For instance, for a title like: “Analyze the roles played by reason and creative mind in at least two Areas of Knowledge,” you may pick two areas: arts and science. You may then compare and contrast the capacity of “reason” and “imagination” in arts and in science.

Make an outline

Create an outline based on your brainstorming ideas and chosen area. This framework will go about as your guide and help you structure your exposition in a brief and clear manner. Your exposition layout will be subject to the kind of paper title you pick.

Make a thesis statement

Peruse the exposition title once more, just as your conceptualizing notes and your paper layout, before you make your thesis statement. Your thesis statement is the basic case you are making in the exposition and should interface everything in your article together.

A few understudies find it valuable to draft their thesis statement whenever they have wrapped up composing a first draft of the article. By this point, you will probably have a better sense of the primary contentions in the essay and have the option to compose a reasonable, compact thesis statement.

For instance, you may have to make a thesis statement for this title: “Analyze the jobs played by reason and creative mind in at least two Areas of Knowledge (AOK).” You have picked two AOK: arts and math. Consider how reason and creative mind work in expressions of the arts and in math, just as the various ways they work in each AOK. Your thesis might be: “Though reason and imagination play an essential role in both mathematics and the arts, the imaginative thoughts of mathematicians must be provable, while the imaginative thoughts of artists need only be reasonable.

Utilize your essay outline as a guide

Focus on expanding each segment of your layout, remembering the word limit for the essay. Your introduction and your conclusion ought to be the most limited paragraphs in your paper, and the body sections ought to be the more extended areas of your essay.

You may need to likewise allude back to your conceptualizing notes to recognize the supporting models for your two subject matters, or your fundamental contention and your primary counter-contention.

Try not to utilize dictionary definitions in your article. You need to show the TOK appraisal board that you are composing an intelligent paper, not a course reading definition weighty article. Don’t depend on dictionary definitions to demonstrate your contention or backing a counter-contention. This will show that you didn’t engage with the topic well.

For instance, you might be talking about the utilization of reason and the creative mind in the arts. Instead of talking about a familiar artist, such as Picasso, utilize supporting models that are unique and insightful. Despite the fact that the exposition ought to be even-handed in nature, it ought to likewise feel reflective and personal.

Recite your article for all to hear

Reciting your article will assist you with deciding how exact and clear your language is, and affirm your contentions are well structured and supported.

Correct any spelling or grammar mistakes

In your final pass through your essay, take the time to address any misspelled words or grammatical errors.

The Structure of a Theory of knowledge Essay

Here is the structure of a Theory of Knowledge Essay

tok essay outline

Introduction

Start by zeroing in on the recommended title – what grabs your eye about it?

Define a couple of key terms from the recommended title. Ordinarily, your title will contain a few words or expressions that aren’t effectively perceptible, similar to “progress in information” versus “change in information”, so the manner by which you define these key terms is critical to the way that you then answer the title.

Pick the AoK’s that you will consider identified with this title and maybe a short description of why you think these are good choices of AoK’s to talk about this title!

State your thesis

Commonly the title will be a question that you can concur, disagree with, or partly concur with.

Give an overall outline of what you will examine in your paper, possibly alluding to the genuine models that you will consider or the Ways of Knowing (WoK) that you will talk about further in your body sections.

Body Paragraph 1

Investigate the principal AoK you picked. State why that AoK either underpins or doesn’t support the title

Present a real-life example

Clarify why this real-life example supports or doesn’t support the title utilizing WoKs

Discuss if this is a unique example, or if that example is valid for the greater part of that AoK.

Body Paragraph 2

Counterclaim to the model you gave above – clarifying why it very well may be imperfect or what drawbacks it may have. Present a real-life example within the same AoK that counters the model in paragraph 1, utilizing various WoKs

Allude back to the title with a closing sentence expressing how much your first AoK bolsters or doesn’t support your proposition dependent on the model and counterexample you’ve featured.

Body Paragraph 3

Like Body Paragraph 1, investigate your second AoK by introducing a real-life example, clarifying it utilizing WoKs.

Body Paragraph 4

Like Body Paragraph 2, give a counterclaim to your past model and afterward allude back to the title demonstrating whether your second AoK support or doesn’t support your theory.

Body Paragraph

If you have extra words to play around with, then add a body paragraph where you thoroughly analyze the 2 AoKs that you picked. Can anyone explain why they address the title in different ways? Is it simply down to the WoKs we use while getting information from those territories or are there other factors at play?

Conclusion

Above all, allude back to the title and your thesis. Through your analysis what is your reaction to the title? For the most part, it’s imprudent to descend very unequivocally on one side of the contention, as that likely suggests that you’ve neglected to perceive the contentions on the opposite side of the passageway. All things considered, state what side you lean towards after your examination and what examples supported that up!

Disclose to us why it’s essential to know the response to this question!

Each TOK Essay will appear to be unique and this isn’t the only format you can use for your exposition. Indeed, for some endorsed titles, you may even need to steer away from this structure if the title fits another format! Notwithstanding, as a pattern, this is an unmistakable, thoroughly examined approach to move toward the confusing paper that is your TOK Essay.

Tips for Your TOK Essay

Become companions with Ways of Knowing (WOKs) and Areas of Knowledge (AOKs)

Having a fundamental comprehension of WOKs and AOKs is absolutely critical. Additionally, utilizing WOKs and AOKs permits you to pinpoint the knowledge claim of the question. You should expect to utilize 2-3 WOKs and AOKs in the essays. You should audit the entirety of your notes to guarantee you’re seeing significant associations to ensure your notes have intriguing claims and counterclaims.

Be acquainted with the terminology

After turning out to be best friends with WOKs and AOKs, understanding the immense measure of definitions is crucial to a high-scoring TOK article. Incorporating the TOK explicit jargons improves your chance of getting scores in the higher levels.

Challenge individual inclinations and preferences

Testing your very own inclinations and preferences will help you to formulate counterclaims to claims. Fundamentally, TOK is intended to show your capacity to take a look at an issue (or issues) from different points of view and contend on the side of and against those viewpoints.

Change research strategies

Utilizing an assortment of research sources permits you to discover contentions that help the two sides of your proposition and examples that support your claim and counterclaims. Consider class notes, sites, and individuals’ (cohorts, educators, companions, and relatives) feelings as valuable sources to build up your bits of knowledge.

Make a layout first

Talking about notes, you ought to consistently coordinate your thoughts utilizing outlines. Outlines fill in as guides permitting you to make minor and significant changes and organize your body paragraphs so each paragraph builds on the previous one.

Peruse past TOK articles that got high scores

Finding your writing voice can be challenging. Take a stab at perusing articles composed by others. It is an incredible route to conquer this test since perceiving how others structure contentions furnish you with opportunities to figure out what works for you personally.

Figure out outlines for past TOK essays

Using outlines for past TOK expositions is an incredible path for you to work on organizing contentions/counterarguments. Likewise, you’re ready to perceive how past TOK papers incorporate examples and evidence to support and investigate claims/counterclaims.