Science FairResearch Paper

What is it? A summary in paragraph format of all of the

information the student has gathered from reference materials. Report of all information related to the subject telling what was learned about the problem, using reference materials (books, magazines articles, personal communication, internet, etc) before and during the experiment.

Paragraph 1Introduce your topic by explaining:

• What the general topic is for your science fair experiment.

• Why you chose this topic.

• What interests you about this topic.

• What you hope to figure out by doing this project.

• What questions you will be answering in this research paper.

ExampleMy science fair project is about how water plants

are affected by water quality. I wanted to do this project because it sounded really interesting and I’ve never done anything with water plants before. I was interested in this topic is because I live in Florida, where we have a lot of water plants that I see every day. In my experiment, I hope to learn what type of water is best suited for water plants. The four questions I will answer in this paper are: Why do some plants live in the water? What is water pollution? What are some plants that like in water? And why is water quality important?

Paragraph 2Re-state your first question from your

Background Research Plan and summarize your research notes on it.

Example:

The first thing I wanted to discover was why some plants live in water instead of growing in soil. Through my research I discovered that. . .

Paragraph 3Re-state your second question from your

Background Research plan and summarize your research notes on it.

Example:

Next, I wanted to learn about what water pollution is. I found that. . .

Paragraph 4Re-state your third question from your

Background Research plan and summarize your research notes on it.

Example:

Finally, I wanted to understand why water quality is important. In my investigation I uncovered that. . .

Paragraph 5

In your final paragraph you will be summarizing what you learned and coming up with a hypothesis for your experiment.

Your hypothesis is an ‘educated guess’ that is the answer to the problem. It is statement with a reason. Your experiment is designed to test this hypothesis.

ExampleIn my research I have learned about why some types of plants live in water, that water pollution is any form of damaging change to water conditions that can come from many different sources, and that water quality is important not only to plant's survival, but also for animals and humans. Based on what I have discovered, my hypothesis is that fresh water that hasn't had any chemicals added will be the best environment for water plants. This water is closest to these plant's natural environment, and does not contain pollutants that could harm them. Not only will this provide for healthier plants, it will help to create a healthier ecosystem for both animals and humans.

Extra QuestionsIf you choose to use four questions in your

research paper instead of three, simply add another paragraph prior to the final paragraph and follow the same format as paragraphs 2-4.

BibliographyAt the end of your paper you will be writing a

bibliography to cite your sources. Citing sources means you tell me where you got your information from. This is why you wrote down all that information while taking notes.

This should be on its own page with a centered, underlined title: Bibliography.

Bibliography (format)For each source you need to write:

Author's last name, first name. "Title of Article" Name of Website. Company that owns that website. Date you looked at it. <www.thewebsite'swebaddress.com>

Here's a video showing an easy way to do this: http://www.screenr.com/QNx8