The First IA Decision Most Students Skip
This page turns the video into a StudyIB lesson note you can scan before drafting. Use it to test whether your TOK reasoning is actually specific, comparative, and examiner-facing.
What This Video Covers
Your Ia Needs One First Decision
A lot of students start an IA by opening a document and writing a title. This is a small StudyIB check you can run before you spend another hour making the work look neater.
The Skipped Decision
The skipped decision is what your IA is actually trying to find out, test, or compare. It feels productive because there is movement: more notes, more tabs, more highlighting, or a longer plan.
Write The Decision First
Before the title, write a one-sentence decision: what will count as a useful answer for this IA? Keep the method simple enough to use today.
Fast Ia Example
Instead of starting with a broad topic like sleep and productivity, decide what relationship, variable, or comparison your method can actually test. Notice the difference: the stronger version does not promise to fix everything.
The Ia Start Check
Can your method answer the decision you wrote down, or only describe the topic? If you cannot answer it in one sentence, the plan is probably still too broad.
Before You Draft
Do not treat this as a paragraph to copy. Treat it as a planning and diagnostic tool: check whether your claim has a condition, a knowledge mechanism, a limit, and a reason the example matters.
If you want more annotated TOK examples, examiner-style feedback support, and planning tools, use the TOK Bundle Link.