Abstract Requirements
ABSTRACT - *REQUIRED for all Student Participants* (NOT WRITTEN UNTIL PROJECT AND the rest of the REPORT ARE FINISHED)
All students at Local, District, and State Science Days shall have an abstract and written
research report, which documents that the student has researched relevant literature,
stated a question and/or tested a hypothesis or technological design statement,
collected and analyzed data, and drawn conclusions.
Abstracts of 250 or fewer words are required. It must be included in the research report AND printed as its own one sheet document to be offered to judges for review and be submitted (as required) with applications
for both District and State Science Days. The one sheet abstract must contain a heading that
includes a project title and name of the author. The heading does not contribute
to the word count. (Bring 3 copies of the one sheet Abstract to RRSD.)
The purpose of an abstract is to provide a summary of the project
that will inform interested individuals of the contents. The wording must be written in
a manner that any scientifically minded individual, who may not be familiar with the
topic, can quickly understand the project’s important points. Keep the wording brief
and concise and use complete sentences.
Summarize in a few sentences:
1. Background information necessary to understand the project
and its importance
2. The problem (or question) that was investigated and the hypothesis OR
technological design statement
3. Outline the significant materials and methods used in the actual
experimentation, note the independent and dependent variables
4. Summary of the results obtained from experimentation
5. The conclusions drawn from results
6. The importance or potential applications that the research
offers (Now that you have learned this, what can you do with the new knowledge?)
From the rubric:
Summarizes entire project from beginning to end; provides background information necessary to understand project and importance to science; question or problem being investigated is stated clearly; hypothesis or technological design statement is stated; description of significant materials and procedures; variables are stated; summary of the results; general conclusions drawn from results; statement of whether the hypothesis was supported or not supported; statement of the importance or potential applications for the results found; is 250 words or less not including student’s name or title.