Final Research Report |
Scroll down to see detailed descriptions of each part you still need to add for the report.
All body text should be in 12 point font and justified to the left side. Headings (like Abstract, Question...Conclusion) may be centered, bold and/or underlined if you like (or left plain like the body text), but should still be 12 point font. Exceptions where font may be larger and you choose the size include the title page and any graphs, tables or charts.
Format should include the following in this order:
(This list can be copied and pasted to help you create your table of contents page starting at abstract.)
o Title Page
o Table of Contents (Required - not optional for Royal Redeemer Science Day)
o Abstract (250 words or less)
o Question (or Problem for engineering method)
o Hypothesis (or Design Statement for engineering method)
o Rationale
o Background (Expand and separate your rationale (from the plan). See below.)
o Materials
o Procedures
o Controls and Variables
o Results
o Conclusion
o References
o Acknowledgements
Scroll Down for details.
o Title Page (Simple, no frills, no pictures: just Title, Your Name and the Date. Use either the date your finish your paper or the date of the science fair.)
o Table of Contents (not optional for Royal Redeemer Science Day; All things listed above should be on the Table of Contents list and state the page on which each item begins.)
o Abstract (250 words or less - last thing you write, see additional notes on the Abstract Help page)
o Question - done
o Hypothesis - done
o Rationale - Should be done but may be expanded.
This is a discussion of how you came up with the idea, etc. (This is from your plan, as well as any predictions you made.) Include: where your idea came from, what interested you in the topic, or why you chose to do this/how you came up with the idea. Mention how your findings could help the scientific community or general scientific knowledge.
o Background - Should be done but may be expanded.
This is the stuff you highlighted from your articles. This must include 5 or more citations (one for each article) in the form of (author last name, year published) example: (Evans, 2015) or if there is no author (first important word from title, published year) example: (Science, 2015) or if there is no published date use: n.d. example: (Evans, n.d.).
Expand on your background included in your plan. Write about anything and everything involving science that has to do with your experiment. PLUS: any scientific background information someone would need to understand before viewing your experiment. Imagine you are explaining it to someone younger than yourself. What would you need to tell them regarding the science behind it? What might you need to define? Use the information you highlighted in your 5 research articles to help you find important information to include.
o Materials - done
o Procedures - done
o Variables - done
o Results (including a written description of collected data and two or more types of the following: charts, graphs, data tables, photographs, and/or diagrams to illustrate investigation)
o Conclusion (and implications for further research; Explain what your results mean (analyse it), what you can infer from them, what is still unknown, what might you do differently if you did it over again and why, if your hypothesis was supported or not, anything else that needs to be stated to round out your research report, close with a wrap up sentence or two possibly about what you learned.)
o References (the 5 or more citations; wiki and Wikipedia articles are not acceptable, also blogs are usually not acceptable, depending on the topic.)
o Acknowledgements (An alphabetical list of names of people or companies that helped you in some special way...maybe a friend assisted by running your stop watch during trials; maybe a company donated supplies or allowed you to use their space. Thank parents only if they assisted in a special way like running the stop watch, not just by reminding you to do your work or helping by proofreading, etc.; maybe dad put you in touch with a person to interview, maybe mom taught you how to safely use an appliance so you could do the experiment. If acknowledging a parent, use his or her name e.g. John Smith. Do not put the word "Dad" on your list. The end result is a list of names only, not what they did. Subjects should not be included. For most this would violate the confidentiality. MINIMUM: Even if you have no one else to list, all should list my name, Mara Evans, because I was your Adult Sponsor.
All body text should be in 12 point font and justified to the left side. Headings (like Abstract, Question...Conclusion) may be centered, bold and/or underlined if you like (or left plain like the body text), but should still be 12 point font. Exceptions where font may be larger and you choose the size include the title page and any graphs, tables or charts.
Format should include the following in this order:
(This list can be copied and pasted to help you create your table of contents page starting at abstract.)
o Title Page
o Table of Contents (Required - not optional for Royal Redeemer Science Day)
o Abstract (250 words or less)
o Question (or Problem for engineering method)
o Hypothesis (or Design Statement for engineering method)
o Rationale
o Background (Expand and separate your rationale (from the plan). See below.)
o Materials
o Procedures
o Controls and Variables
o Results
o Conclusion
o References
o Acknowledgements
Scroll Down for details.
o Title Page (Simple, no frills, no pictures: just Title, Your Name and the Date. Use either the date your finish your paper or the date of the science fair.)
o Table of Contents (not optional for Royal Redeemer Science Day; All things listed above should be on the Table of Contents list and state the page on which each item begins.)
o Abstract (250 words or less - last thing you write, see additional notes on the Abstract Help page)
o Question - done
o Hypothesis - done
o Rationale - Should be done but may be expanded.
This is a discussion of how you came up with the idea, etc. (This is from your plan, as well as any predictions you made.) Include: where your idea came from, what interested you in the topic, or why you chose to do this/how you came up with the idea. Mention how your findings could help the scientific community or general scientific knowledge.
o Background - Should be done but may be expanded.
This is the stuff you highlighted from your articles. This must include 5 or more citations (one for each article) in the form of (author last name, year published) example: (Evans, 2015) or if there is no author (first important word from title, published year) example: (Science, 2015) or if there is no published date use: n.d. example: (Evans, n.d.).
Expand on your background included in your plan. Write about anything and everything involving science that has to do with your experiment. PLUS: any scientific background information someone would need to understand before viewing your experiment. Imagine you are explaining it to someone younger than yourself. What would you need to tell them regarding the science behind it? What might you need to define? Use the information you highlighted in your 5 research articles to help you find important information to include.
o Materials - done
o Procedures - done
o Variables - done
o Results (including a written description of collected data and two or more types of the following: charts, graphs, data tables, photographs, and/or diagrams to illustrate investigation)
o Conclusion (and implications for further research; Explain what your results mean (analyse it), what you can infer from them, what is still unknown, what might you do differently if you did it over again and why, if your hypothesis was supported or not, anything else that needs to be stated to round out your research report, close with a wrap up sentence or two possibly about what you learned.)
o References (the 5 or more citations; wiki and Wikipedia articles are not acceptable, also blogs are usually not acceptable, depending on the topic.)
o Acknowledgements (An alphabetical list of names of people or companies that helped you in some special way...maybe a friend assisted by running your stop watch during trials; maybe a company donated supplies or allowed you to use their space. Thank parents only if they assisted in a special way like running the stop watch, not just by reminding you to do your work or helping by proofreading, etc.; maybe dad put you in touch with a person to interview, maybe mom taught you how to safely use an appliance so you could do the experiment. If acknowledging a parent, use his or her name e.g. John Smith. Do not put the word "Dad" on your list. The end result is a list of names only, not what they did. Subjects should not be included. For most this would violate the confidentiality. MINIMUM: Even if you have no one else to list, all should list my name, Mara Evans, because I was your Adult Sponsor.