If you are considering a World Religions Extended Essay, the strongest topics are narrow investigations of a belief, practice, text, ritual, ethical teaching, or lived religious experience. Current issues such as artificial intelligence, environmental responsibility, migration, gender, and bioethics can work, but religion must remain the analytical centre.
The ideas below are starting points, not finished questions. Confirm subject registration, methods, and ethical requirements with your supervisor, particularly because the IB is introducing Religion and Society for first assessment in 2029.
What makes an effective World Religions EE topic?
The Extended Essay is a compulsory, externally assessed research project with a maximum of 4,000 words. Under the framework used from first assessment in May 2027, students follow either a subject-focused pathway or an interdisciplinary pathway combining two DP subjects. Your school must confirm the options available for your examination session.
A subject-focused World Religions essay should use religious-studies methods and:
- examine the beliefs, values, or practices of a religious tradition;
- represent the tradition fairly, including adherents' perspectives;
- investigate why people believe or act as they do;
- avoid deciding whether religious claims are true or false;
- use appropriate primary and secondary sources;
- adopt a method suited to your time, access, and language skills.
Subject fit matters. The legality of religious clothing may become primarily legal or political, whereas investigating how Muslim students interpret hijab as religious identity keeps religion central.
IB World Religions EE topics to scope this fall
Adapt every question to your source access, location, and school guidance. A successful question should emerge from preliminary research rather than being copied unchanged.
| Research angle | Possible research question | Suitable evidence |
|---|---|---|
| AI and Islamic authority | How do two named Muslim scholars use ijtihad and maslahah when responding to generative AI? | Published rulings, lectures, Islamic legal sources, and academic scholarship. |
| Christian environmental action | How does stewardship shape environmental action in one congregation? | Denominational teaching, local publications, observation, and approved interviews. |
| Digital Hindu worship | How has livestreamed puja affected participation in one temple community since 2020? | Temple materials, scholarship on darshan, and interviews. |
| Buddhist mindfulness | How does one Buddhist community distinguish religious mindfulness from secular wellness? | Community teaching, Buddhist texts, interviews, and academic studies. |
| Sikh sewa | How does participation in one gurdwara's langar express sewa and equality? | Observation, interviews, translated scripture, and scholarship. |
| Jewish environmental ethics | How do two Jewish interpretations of bal tashchit apply to food waste? | Rabbinic, denominational, and scholarly texts. |
| Hijab and identity | How does one defined Muslim student group relate hijab to religious identity? | Interviews and scholarship on modesty, identity, and Islamic interpretation. |
| Buddhist bioethics | How do selected Theravada and Mahayana thinkers apply non-harm to assisted dying? | Named thinkers, religious texts, and peer-reviewed bioethics research. |
| Women and Christian leadership | How do two denominations use scripture and tradition when evaluating women's ordination? | Official statements, biblical passages, and theological scholarship. |
| Sacred space in diaspora | How does one diaspora place of worship express continuity and adaptation? | Architecture, symbols, community publications, observation, and interviews. |
The most manageable topics identify one community, two interpreters, one ritual, selected texts, or one controversy. “Religion and climate change” is too broad, while one congregation's connection between stewardship and food-waste action provides an investigable case.
Choosing a method that fits the question
You should be able to complete the sentence, “I will answer this question by analysing ___ using ___.” If either blank remains vague, revise the design.
Textual and doctrinal analysis
This method suits scripture, commentary, doctrine, and competing interpretations. Define a small body of texts and justify each selection. If you cannot read the original language, use reputable translations and acknowledge how translation may affect meaning.
Interviews and observation
Interviews can illuminate lived religion, but several participants cannot represent an entire tradition. Define whose experiences your findings cover, and compare their statements with academic scholarship.
Obtain informed consent before interviewing, recording, quoting, or observing non-public activities. Existing IB guidance also advises seeking permission from religious leaders before observing rituals. RevisionDojo's ethics and fair representation notes offer a planning checklist, but your school determines the required procedure.
Comparative research
Comparison works when both cases are narrow and the comparison criterion is explicit. Comparing Christianity and Buddhism is unmanageable; comparing how two named thinkers interpret suffering in assisted dying may be feasible. Analyse significant similarities and differences rather than writing two disconnected summaries.
A practical fall scoping plan
Use your first research weeks to test feasibility:
- Choose 2-3 candidate angles. Draft a question for each and identify its central religious concept.
- Check subject fit. Explain why each belongs in World Religions rather than history, politics, or psychology.
- Audit sources. Locate 6-10 credible sources, including academic scholarship and relevant primary material. Consult the guide to finding strong EE sources.
- Test access. Confirm that texts, translations, communities, and participants are realistically available.
- Write a method statement. Identify your evidence, selection criteria, analytical approach, and main limitation.
- Meet your supervisor. Bring questions, sources, and method statements rather than a broad theme.
- Keep a research log. Record searches, rejected ideas, and methodological changes.
Use the RevisionDojo research-question checklist and World Religions focus notes to test scope. World Religions study notes can provide initial orientation, but the essay should move into scholarly publications, primary texts, and community materials.
Common topic-selection mistakes
A common mistake is choosing a contemporary controversy while leaving religion in the background. If the essay mainly analyses legislation, elections, medical outcomes, or social-media statistics, another subject or an interdisciplinary pathway may be more suitable.
Also avoid:
- treating a tradition as internally uniform;
- relying mainly on general websites;
- judging whether beliefs are correct or superior;
- assuming one interview represents all adherents;
- beginning fieldwork without approval and consent;
- comparing too many religions or periods;
- reusing an IA investigation or writing.
Use exemplars to study structure, evidence, and method, not to borrow a question. RevisionDojo's World Religions EE examples demonstrate how focused arguments operate in completed work.
Check which IB framework applies
Students beginning an EE now will generally use the framework introduced for first assessment in May 2027. It assesses framework, knowledge and understanding, analysis and line of argument, discussion and evaluation, and reflection. Because sessions and school circumstances differ, follow the guide supplied by your EE coordinator rather than an older online checklist.
The IB has also published a Religion and Society course for first assessment in 2029, organised around change, identity, interpretation, and power. Students reaching that session should ask how their essay subject must be named and registered, even if their school informally uses “World Religions.”
Conclusion
The best IB World Religions EE topics combine a focused religious concept with accessible evidence. A defined community, text, ritual, pair of interpreters, or bounded ethical debate usually allows greater depth than surveying an entire religion.
Test several questions, audit your sources, and prepare short method plans before committing. RevisionDojo's World Religions notes, EE examples, Jojo AI, EE Support, and Coursework Review can help you refine an overbroad proposal.
Sources and referenced URLs
- IB Extended Essay subject brief from May 2027
- Official IB Extended Essay updates
- Official IB Extended Essay subject-specific guidance
- Official IB World Religions subject brief
- Official IB Religion and Society subject brief
- RevisionDojo World Religions study notes
- RevisionDojo World Religions EE examples
- RevisionDojo guide to choosing a World Religions research focus
- RevisionDojo notes on ethics and fair representation
- RevisionDojo guide to strong EE sources
- RevisionDojo Extended Essay research-question checklist