Despite how scary it may seem, the Biology Internal Assessment (IA) is one of the most straightforward assignments in the IB. I did my IA two years ago on how calabash can act as an inhibitor for cell proliferation in yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae).
Here are some tips I learned from this experience, which will help you enhance your IAs!
Finding a Topic
Explore things you’re already interested in or look at local materials (foods, plants, etc.) that either don’t have many studies on them or have interesting properties you think would be nice to test.
For example, calabash is a native fruit of the Philippines, and few studies have been done on its cytotoxic properties (substances that kill cells, particularly cancer cells). Thus, I found it interesting to add to my IA.
To give you more ideas, you can also research past topics. Some websites you can use to view past exemplar IAs are nailib and clastify. Refine that research through databases like JSTOR, EBSCOhost, or even Google Scholar.
On top of that, if you have particular topics/organisms in mind, you can also take a look at IAs that deal with them and take inspiration from their methodology, especially regarding safety handling and storage!
Communicate regularly with your teacher. This sounds basic, but they’ll have a good understanding of what’s feasible and qualified for a Biology IA topic. They will even be able to provide some insight as you go further.
Writing the IA
In writing the introduction, typically you state the problem and how your IA relates to it, as well as your hypothesis and a short description of the key points.
For example, I first stated a larger problem: the rapid proliferation (multiplication) of cells common in cancer. Then, I connected it to my research of calabash as an inhibitor for this, using yeast cells as my sample since I couldn’t actually obtain mammal cells.
I hypothesised that calabash would act as a cytotoxic substance to yeast cells, after which I discussed the properties of calabash that make it cytotoxic to justify my use of it and to let the readers understand how it would function. This background information was backed up through research or past experiments.
When organizing data, I find that listing down all trial results (you will need to do five sets of trials) on Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel makes it easier to conduct statistical analyses and create charts later on.
I liked to put all my data into a contingency table since my teacher required me to do a chi-square analysis for my IA. This also made it much easier to insert a chart showing the relation between my Independent and Dependent Variables later on.
Additionally, you can have different sheets in one Excel file so that all your data remains organized in one place!
Methodology is a very important step in the IA, and while it may feel tedious, it is a simple portion that can help boost your grade. Write the methodology as if you’re telling someone (with little expertise or knowledge of the topic) exactly how to run your experiment.
Use specific but concise language– “Mix 25 ml of the extract with 75 ml of water,” for example. The language is simple and direct, making it clear what there is to do.
Lastly, the evaluation may seem difficult as you’ll need to balance your strengths and limitations. However, I view the limitations portion as beneficial to your research rather than something that devalues your output.
Pointing out your limitations due to time, money, or other constraints justifies the choices you make and shows that you did your best as an IB student. Additionally, it shows you have a good understanding of a broader scope of your topic, since you know what is lacking and what could be improved upon.
Furthermore, you can highlight the strengths of your experiment, what you contributed to current research, and discuss possible extensions of the main experiment so that other people with different contexts or constraints could contribute to or widen the field you choose in the IA.
Conclusion
Overall, the Biology IA is a straightforward yet rewarding project. Don’t stress too much about tackling big issues like global warming and cancer on a macro level, as you can always tackle these things on a smaller, more feasible scale.
You can find an exemplary topic through research, consultations with your teacher, and past papers. Keep in mind a checklist of things to input in the IA and what each portion’s purpose is, and you will seamlessly get through this and create a solid IA!