Ten Tips on
writing a good Theory of Knowledge essay
There is no general
method or formula which is ‘correct’.
You can probably ignore some of this advice and still write a good
essay… but following it may well help.
1 Familiarise yourself with the assessment
criteria; notice, for example that (i) your
examples should be varied and culturally diverse, (ii) you will lose marks if
you do not properly cite any sources you use, and (iii) you need a clear
introduction and conclusion.
2 Do not get bogged down in definitions. While it is important to know what you are
talking about, you could waste a whole essay in trying to, say, define
‘truth’. Also, dictionary definitions
are not always helpful – if a dictionary says that ‘reality is that which is
real’ then what does this tell you?
3 Make distinctions between different areas
of knowledge and different ways of knowing.
You sould avoid making claims that apply
to all aspects of knowledge - because different areas of knowledge or ways of
knowing ‘work’ differently, and what is true for e.g. maths in unlikely to be
quite right for e.g. biology.
4 Do not make grandiose but rather
meaningless claims. The best (or
worst) one I have seen was something like "Since the dawn of the universe, truth has haunted mankind". The same sentiment (if I understand it
correctly, which I may not) would be much better put as "Humans are a curious species, always seeking the truth" (which
may still be an exaggeration).
5 In your introduction spend a few lines
explaining the question, and clarifying how you are going to interpret
it. You may want to offer a position
that you know is wrong, and explain why it is wrong, perhaps developing it into
a better one. For example, one essay
title was based on a quote from CS Lewis: "What I tell you three times is true". A
possible introduction might be:
Lewis’s quote seems, at first sight, to be
ridiculous. If I tell you three times
that I am an alien, or that 1 + 1 = 5, you are unlikely to believe me. Mere repetition is not enough. However, if I ask you how you know that
6 In your introduction try to provide some
‘signposts’ that indicate what you will be trying to do in your essay. It is much easier to follow an argument
when you have a vague idea where it is headed, but you should not spell out the
whole thing. Following on the example in
5 above, the next sentence might be
In this essay I shall attempt to see under what
circumstances repetition becomes convincing, and by looking at the natural
sciences and empirical knowledge in general, I hope to show that Lewis is
absolutely right in certain areas of knowledge, and completely wrong in others.
7 Use your own original examples to make your
points. These can be taken from your
IB subjects, your everyday life, newspapers and so
on. Try not to use the rather tired
examples of say, the flat earth as an example of an error that everyone
believed, or Hitler as an immoral person.
Also the best essays do not spend a great deal of space describing
examples, but use them often almost in passing to make an analytical point
which can then be developed.
8 Remember that your essay is an extended
argument– not a collection of several loosely related points. Your essay should move from point to
point while always extending the argument and clarifying the nature of your
answer. Try to develop a narrative or
theme that will link paragraphs and
points together smoothly. This may
well not be a simple matter and is likely to require a great deal of thought,
but it does mean that you can make the essay your own. Find your own theme and address the issues in
a manner that interests you and means something to you.
9 Try to develop an abstract as you write your
essay. This is really to help you
with point 8. An abstract is a
one-paragraph summary of your argument- and if you cannot explain your argument
briefly then the reader will have no chance of understanding it. The abstract should not be included when you
have finished the essay, but the act of writing it should help you retain
clarity over what it is that you are trying to do. It is very easy to get lost in
10 In your conclusion try to summarise (very
briefly – one or two sentences) what you have said, and try to end with a
forward-looking view. This might be
an explanation of exactly why you were unable to answer the question, or what
you would need to know
in order to answer the question.
Do not just reiterate your arguments.
The final paragraph should ‘feel’ like conclusion and not leave the
reader hanging in mid-air..
It
seems then, that the nature of our senses implies that we will never have
access to the ‘real world’ (though as we have seen, ‘real world’ is a highly
problematic phrase). Some people may
feel this is a great disappointment, while others may not care, but it is
certainly humbling to note that even in this advanced age, for all our
scientific expertise and high-tech machines, we will never know reality.
Given
that several of the problems of knowledge that you identify may apply to the
essay you are writing, you may wish to acknowledge the irony of taking up a
position at all!
Written by Nicholas Alchin