Writing a TOK essay by Richard van de Lagemaat

http://www.dirk-solies.de/TOK/how%20to%20write%20a%20ToK%20essay%20cambridge.pdf

Writing a TOK essay
by Richard van de Lagemaat
EXTRACT
Despite being an unusual subject, TOK does have a specific content – not in the
sense of a syllabus to be memorised and reproduced, but in the sense of a range of
questions to be explored and reflected on. (The IBO Teachers’ Guide to TOK consists
almost entirely of questions.)
From the start, you need to be clear about what distinguishes a TOK essay from a
subject-specific essay on the one hand and a general essay on the other. Here are three
pointers:
1 TOK is focused on knowledge issues The central question in TOK is
‘How do you know?’ and the course asks you to assess the strengths and
weaknesses of knowledge claims in various Areas of Knowledge.
2 TOK deals with second-order questions TOK is not primarily concerned
with first-order questions within a subject – e.g. ‘What were the causes of the
First World War?’ – but with second-order questions about a subject – e.g.
‘How, if at all, can the past be known?’
3 TOK is interdisciplinary and comparative TOK asks you to compare
and contrast various sources and types of knowledge.
To write an essay that is sufficiently rich in TOK content, you will be expected to
demonstrate a detailed understanding of the ways of knowing and areas of knowledge
you choose to discuss. Above all, avoid vague, superficial, cliché-ridden
characterisations of, say, mathematics, the natural sciences, or the arts. For it is
impossible to give a worthwhile analysis of a subject you do not understand
properly.
Since the lifeblood of TOK is critical thinking, you should also ensure that
description is always a prelude to analysis. You might, for example, briefly describe the
theory of evolution in order to analyse the extent to which it is a genuine scientific
theory. But, if you find yourself writing at length about Darwin’s adventures on
HMS Beagle, you have drifted on to the reef of descriptive irrelevance and will,
assuredly, be shipwrecked.
Quick tip Ask yourself if your essay could have been written by someone who has
not followed the TOK course. If the answer is ‘yes’, then it does not contain enough
TOK content.
Personal thought
In writing a TOK essay, a mixture of insecurity and inertia might tempt you to follow
doggedly in another person’s footsteps and do little more than recycle their thoughts
and opinions.