If you’ve ever sat in a library with friends, all of you “working” on your IA, you know the feeling: collaboration makes the work lighter… until you wonder whether it’s even allowed in the IB.
That tension is real. The IB encourages discussion and learning together, but it also expects the final Internal Assessment to be authentic and independently produced. The line between “helpful” and “risky” isn’t always obvious when deadlines get loud.
The IB rule of thumb: collaborate on thinking, not on writing
In the IB, you can collaborate with classmates in ways that improve your understanding, sharpen your research question, and stress-test your method. But the work you submit must be your own: your write-up, your analysis, and your interpretation.
A practical way to remember it is this: you can share the “why” and “how,” but you cannot share the “final.” If your IA starts to look like someone else’s document (or vice versa), you’ve moved from collaboration into collusion.
If you want a deeper safety net, keep this page bookmarked: IB Academic Misconduct Explained: How to Avoid Plagiarism and Collusion.
Quick checklist: what’s usually OK vs not OK (IB IA collaboration)
Usually OK
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Brainstorming topics and narrowing choices (without copying each other’s exact phrasing).
