Boy. This was the true test of patience and perseverance. The Internal Assessment for IB History is a research paper where you choose a very specific question and answer that very specific question very specifically. I chose to do mine on the Women’s lib movement of the 1960s in the US and the impact that women’s emancipation during WW2 had on that effect. I worked on this paper for one angry year and a half. I worked during my summer break. Read some books about it and some more, and s’more. I have a total of 19 different drafts saved on my iPad and 2 final drafts that look nothing like the ACTUAL final draft. It took me so long to get the question itself right, and then find the exact information to answer this question. I kept on finding cool things and saying “gee I’ll add that” and I would send a draft in to be reviewed by my teacher and I’d have 3 pages of pointless info or wonky sources. Also I had originally started this paper on a vintage MacBook de la 2008, which I have come to know I cannot trust, since I lost 7 months of research when it decided to crash while I was editing the doc? Just typing this out fills me with the rage I felt that terrible day…
The subject was actually really interesting and I enjoyed the research. What I hated was the fact that nothing I was doing seemed to be the right thing. I would send it in fairly confident and would get it back latter and it was being pulled apart and deleted and readjusted. I just wanted to write it out and have it done but nothing i was doing seemed to be what the IB examiners would be looking for. I’m really glad my teacher took all this time to edit my kagillion drafts on her free time. But man, going ham on an assignment for 6 hours just to get it sent back with another 6 hours of readjusting and new research to find was pretty discouraging. Not to mention, this paper has a 2000-something word limit – and dont even get me started on the ABSOLUTE rage that fuels me when I am given assignments with fricken word limits. BAN the word limits! I feel like I am being muzzled. I will write what must be written!
In the end… yea, maybe I’ll go bald before I turn 30 because of this paper, but I learned to accept the criticism and to keep going! Because this grade actually wasn’t that bad, and it saved my ass later in the game since I really took the L during my second IB history exam in May 2021. In fact, without this bad boy, I probably would not have passed this class on the baccalaureate level. So really, thanks to the women of the 1960s, and google, and Mme Foreman, for getting me here. I won’t forget!
I’m also gonna mention that this paper is divided in 3 sections. Section one is where I evaluate the quality of two of the main sources that the paper’s research is founded off. Section two is just research, and section 3 is my réflexion as well as an analysis of my internal or subconscious biases that might make the paper “corrupt” if you will. Ex. I’m a gal writing a paper on a bunch of gals trying to make a difference. I wasn’t about to bash their movement, but I might accidentally be glorifying it or something. Idk. Read it if you want!
