A strong TOK essay rises and falls on its real-world examples. Most students pick the wrong ones because they pick famous ones. Fame is not the same thing as fit.
What a good example does
It illustrates the specific knowledge claim in your paragraph. Not a vaguely adjacent claim. The specific one. If your paragraph is about how historical interpretation is shaped by source selection, an example about climate science consensus is not a good fit even if it is more interesting to read about.
Examples that tend to work
- A scientific theory that was replaced, where both versions had evidence: Newton to Einstein, continental drift, ulcers and bacteria
- A historical event where two groups remember it differently: Singapore's founding, the American Civil War, the Korean War
- A court case where the law and the ethics pulled in different directions
- A recent news story with clear stakes and a specific knower making a specific claim
Examples that tend not to work
- Anything involving "the media" as a single entity. It is not.
- "Hitler" or "Nazi Germany" as shorthand for ethics. Too reached-for.
- Personal anecdotes that cannot be verified. They read as unfalsifiable.
- Thought experiments where the premise is doing all the work.
The test
After you write the paragraph, read only the example. Does the example, in isolation, point the reader to your knowledge claim? If you have to add a sentence of setup to make the link work, the example is not tight enough.