Use a syllabus and rubric to identify evidence your work needs
Start with the course outline, task instructions and assessment criteria supplied by your school for your cohort.
Use the current documents for your task
Start with the course outline, task instructions and assessment criteria supplied by your school for your cohort. These documents answer different questions: what is taught, what you must submit and how work is evaluated. Keep them distinct. A rubric can guide revision, but it cannot guarantee a grade or replace subject understanding. Older online summaries may describe a different task or criteria set.
Translate a requirement into visible evidence
Choose one relevant criterion or instruction and ask what a reader would need to see in your work. Analysis, for example, needs reasoning connecting evidence to a claim; clear presentation needs an understandable structure and labels. Use your teacher's explanation to make the translation precise for the subject. Avoid copying criterion language into the essay as if naming it demonstrates the quality.
Try an investigation evaluation check
Imagine your report lists limitations but does not explain their effects. A useful revision identifies how a sampling decision changes the scope or confidence of the conclusion, then proposes an improvement addressing that effect. The task is now to add a causal explanation, not simply include the word evaluation. Compare the revised passage with teacher feedback and current criteria without assuming you can assign an official mark yourself.
Build a small evidence checklist
Keep a few checks suited to the draft's actual weaknesses. Record where the evidence appears and what remains missing. A checklist with every rubric phrase can become difficult to use and encourage superficial additions. Prioritize the changes that improve reasoning or compliance. Check formal requirements separately so a missing file, word-limit issue or task mismatch does not hide behind a strong paragraph.
Discuss uncertainty with an example
If you cannot tell what a requirement means, bring an attempted paragraph, graph or plan to your teacher. Ask what evidence is missing and how the revision could make it visible. This is more useful than requesting a promised grade for a future draft. The documents should help you understand the task and make targeted improvements, while the assessed outcome remains a judgment of the submitted work.
Make a requirement-to-location table
Choose three relevant requirements and record where their evidence appears in the draft. Beside each location, explain why it fulfils the requirement and what remains uncertain. If you can only point to a heading, inspect the reasoning beneath it. Ask your teacher to clarify one uncertain example instead of requesting a speculative overall score. The table should reveal a targeted revision, such as interpreting a graph or supporting a claim, rather than encourage copying criterion language into the submission.
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Official references
This is an original practical guide from IBvia. The examples are illustrative; your subject guide, assessment year and school instructions determine the requirements.
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