How to Find Sources for an English EE
by Lindsay Martinez
Whether your extended essay is on a specific character, plot point, or an entire novel, finding the right sources and understanding what the right sources look like is a big chunk of your extended essay. You’ll probably spend more time searching for sources than actually applying them to your writing. I know when I started writing my extended essay, I thought that finding sources was going to be impossible. I mean, my EE is about a whole book; isn’t the book itself enough of a source? But IB doesn’t see it like that. So, let’s strap in and figure this out together.
The extended essay requires you to have at least 5 sources. There are a plethora of good resources/websites for finding these sources, but my favorite and the one that I used exclusively for my EE was JSTOR.
This holy grail of academic journals, books, images, and primary sources. By making an account, you’re able to look at and download 100 sources a month, which may not sound like a lot, but trust me, you won’t be going over that limit unless you purposely try to.
Because of how awesome JSTOR is, it’s not as simple to access as you may think. As IB students, though, it’s a little easier.
As students in IB, you’re allowed access to the Richter Library at the University of Miami. Even if a library isn’t your first choice when it comes to studying, just visiting once and accessing the Wi-Fi gives you full access to JSTOR, even after you leave UM. So, my advice is to go once, even if it’s for a few minutes, connect to the Wi-Fi, make an account, and enjoy having an almost endless number of sources for any topic you could think of.
Now, I do know that some people don’t like JSTOR for whatever reason, and if you try it out and happen to not like it, there are other sources to use too. Google Scholar, Digital Public Library of America, and National Archives are other websites that I’ve heard of people using and loving. Whichever website helps you get the writing process of this essay done is the best one.
Now, moving on from where to find your sources, it’s equally important to understand where to implement these sources and how to use them to strengthen your essay. Let’s begin!
First and foremost, the basics. Your paragraphs should never end in a quote. Always try to elaborate on the quote you’re using and explain, in your own words, why it’s important to the overall theme of your paragraph/essay. Don’t just drop it and move on: explain!
ALWAYS ELABORATE. Important to note, this essay is supposed to be arguing some sort of point. It’s not a book report. Don’t simply summarize what your book is about or regurgitate SparkNotes. It has to show a higher level of understanding and explain more than what you can physically see written on the pages. Anybody can pick up a book and understand the plot; your job is to tell them something they can’t see by just plainly reading. Your sources should strengthen YOUR argument, and not so much the arguments/plot points of the book itself.
Trying to find sources for a particular argument in a book can be challenging, especially when the book isn’t as popular or have as much “academic merit”. Here are some general things to think about when you start to look for sources:
1. Historical Background/Context: Even if your extended essay isn’t on history, the point in time that a particular story/plot point takes place can be extremely helpful when evaluating a novel. Different periods of time have different sets of values and practices and finding sources that talk about certain things that happened during these periods of time can be helpful when you contextualize your essay.
2. Real Life Events that Happened in the Novel: A lot of people choose to write their EEs on books that talk about things that happened in real life and tell the story of what happened in unique ways. Even though the book itself tells the story of an event that happened in the real world, it’s good to find information on why certain things happened, where and when they happened, and how it relates to what’s being told in your novel.
3. Different Interpretations/Opinions on the Novel: Your extended essay has to be about your opinions and your own personal argument. By looking for sources about other people’s interpretations and opinions on your book, you can’t just write down a quote by them and argue that. You have to make your own argument. By looking at the way other people processed the novel, it can both give you different ideas and perspectives, and also help strengthen your argument: key word, strengthen, not form. You can use a quote or two to help prove the point you’re trying to make, just make sure you don’t use someone else’s argument and claim it as your own (especially if you cite the source you’re plagiarizing from: don’t be stupid).
There are, of course, a variety of different sources that could help strengthen the argument of the extended essay you’re writing, but these categories might help give you ideas on what to search up and get started on your search for sources.
When you’re actually writing out the Works Cited page for your EE, EasyBib is your best bet. Make sure that it’s written out in MLA format and that you have the sources in alphabetical order with a hanging indentation.
Overall, the extended essay isn’t as bad as people make it out to be as long as you know how to use the time you have. Don’t overthink it, don’t freak out, and get it done: good luck!
