After looking through all the subject options available for EE, I chose chemistry because it provides a platform to practice my research, logical and analytical skills and apply them to contribute to the society of science. Without wasting time I decided my topic of research as food because It addresses the community on a very large scale. I talked to my supervisor and other chemistry teachers about this topic, and they encouraged me to find an angle or focus for my essay. After understanding the constituents of food, I developed an interest in flavoring agents and chemistry behind it. The main concern was will the topic suffice to reach the word limit. After extensive research, the initial topic of flavoring agents relating to food was discarded because it didn’t fit into the IB criterion and significance of flavoring agent to food is very less. Back to square one, finding an appropriate topic which caters to the IB criterion and can reach the word limit of EE. After a lot of breakdowns, using critical thinking skills I arrived at a new topic relating Iron content in food and global issues.

After completing the research and critically analyzing it,

The challenge I faced was to find the scope of research by selecting the chemical variables to check their effects and connect them to consumption. Once the variables were discussed and decided with the supervisor, the biggest problem arose, framing a research question which is focused and analytical .This issue was catered after writing several research questions and reflecting upon them. Another obstacle was to find relevant resources to design the experiment and to eliminate irrelevant information. I found myself writing things related to the topic but not related to the research question which was affecting the coherence of the essay. My supervisor suggested me to not worry about details now but to deal with them at the end. Another suggestion was to incorporate more resources which allowed me to expand my research with a wider range of perspectives. The suggestions were dealt with by being open minded

Though I faced a lot of problems deciding upon the topic, After sticking up to one topic, the task got much simpler. Initially, the problem was to stay within the word limit but by the end sticking up to the word limit became the problem. There is so much information about iron content in food and the effect of it on our body that it became difficult to assess the importance of every detail. Doing my extended essay in chemistry, helped me to understand how everything is related to science and there is always logical reasoning attached to it. EE also helped me to get well equipped with laboratory and these set of skills would help me with my upcoming endeavor of internal assessments. All in all, I have a better understanding of my dietary intake and how pH and boiling time affect it now that I’ve written this essay.