Internal Assessment

Higher Level and Standard Level Coursework 20%

1 Introduction
Internal assessment is an integral part of the course of study in Philosophy at both Higher Level and Standard Level. It allows candidates to apply their knowledge and understanding of philosophical ideas and concepts through the critical analysis of non-philosophical material and the production of a short philosophical dialogue. The exercises have been selected because they reflect common activities used in teaching and doing philosophy.
The internally assessed component also allows candidates to be rewarded for doing
philosophy under ordinary conditions without the time constraints associated with written examinations.
2 Requirements
Candidates must produce two philosophical exercises of 1000.1200 words each. The word limit does not include bibliographical or other references.

2.1 Exercise 1: Critical Analysis
. This exercise consists of a philosophical analysis of non-philosophical material.
Candidates should identify an issue raised by the stimulus material and analyse it
in a philosophical way. The critical analysis must relate to a philosophical issue
or argument raised by the study of one of the Core Themes or Optional Themes,
or one of the Prescribed Texts of the Philosophy syllabus. Suitable material for
analysis includes:
• novels, plays, poetry
• films/movies
• TV and radio programmes
• newspaper articles
• Internet sites
• advertisements
• pamphlets
• propaganda.
. The analysis should focus on a limited extract. A newspaper article can stand
alone but where novels or plays are used no more than two pages should be
selected for analysis and in the case of a film/movie or play no more than two
scenes should be used. The emphasis should be on the depth and quality of the
philosophical analysis and not on the length of the extract nor on the intellectual
level of the source material.
. Candidates should select their own material for analysis in consultation with the
teacher. Each candidate should work on different material.

2.2 Exercise 2: Philosophical Dialogue
. This exercise requires candidates to write a philosophical dialogue on an issue of
their own choice. The choice of issue should be made in consultation with the
teacher. The starting point of the dialogue must relate to a philosophical issue or
argument raised by the study of one of the Core Themes or Optional Themes or one
of the Prescribed Texts of the Philosophy syllabus. The dialogue will allow
candidates to examine in detail an aspect of a theme or text which interests them.
. There are no restrictions on the characters which candidates can use in their
dialogues but the content must be clearly philosophical. Candidates can present a
dialogue between two famous philosophers from the same or different periods,
or between themselves and a famous philosopher. Alternatively, characters can
be entirely fictitious or the dialogue can be drawn from class discussion.
. Where a dialogue is based on classroom discussion, the written version of the
dialogue must be the work of the individual candidate.

3 Management of Coursework

3.1 Integration into Classroom Activities
The two exercises should be completed at intervals throughout the course. Work for
the exercises should be incorporated into normal classroom activities and be related
to the themes or texts being studied as part of the Philosophy syllabus. Work on the
exercises can be done in class but it may be completed at home.

3.2 Time Allocation
It is recommended that 20 hours of class time at both Higher Level and Standard
Level should be allocated to these exercises.
During the suggested 20 hours candidates will be able to complete more than one
exercise in each category. They will therefore have the opportunity to select their
best piece in each category, which will be submitted for final assessment.

3.3 Record Keeping
The following information should be provided for each exercise.
. Title
. Date submitted
. Part of the syllabus to which the exercise relates (theme or text)
. Number of words
. Bibliography and references.