TIPS FOR A GREAT SCIENCE PROJECT (2)

            Suggestions for written work and display

 YOUR RESEARCH PLAN ATTACHMENT AND YOUR FINAL ABSTRACT: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

The purpose of your research plan attachment is to show the Scientific Review Committee what topic you have chosen, and how you plan to carry out your project.  Suggestions for writing the plan are given in “Your Project Step by Step”.  Your abstract is written after you complete your experiments, and includes your results.  The revised abstract is particularly important if you are a winner in your school fair, since it is a necessary part of your application for the regional science fair.

KEEPING A LABORATORY NOTEBOOK

Each scientific research organization will have its own guidelines or requirements for keeping scientific notebooks. Record keeping is an essential part of training for science.  A properly kept lab notebook is a permanent record of your experiments, on which any paper or display is based, and should provide enough information so that you or someone else can repeat the experiment.  A scientific notebook can never have too much detail! You will bring your lab notebook to the fair with you, so you can refer to it as you speak with the judges.  For professional scientists, following the guidelines or requirements can demonstrate that they were the first to do a certain experiment, and can be used to defend against accusations that data were falsified, or to support patent applications.

The following are general guidelines that are often used:

1.   A notebook having numbered, permanently bound pages should be used. College bookstores have books designed for science labs, but a composition book is equally good.  A spiral-bound notebook is not acceptable because pages can easily be removed.  Three-ring binders and similar binders that allow the addition of pages are also not acceptable.  Number the pages as you use them. 

2.   The notebook should be filled from front to back chronologically and without skipping any pages.  When a page is written on, the date of the entry should be recorded on the page.  In some labs, it is permissible to use only the front of the page (that is, the right side of the open book) and save the left for attaching computer printouts, photographs or other loose material.  In this case, number only the right-hand pages.

3.   All material written in the book should be recorded using a pen.

4.   The first two to four pages can be reserved for a table of contents so that it will later be easier to locate experiments or other material entered in the notebook.  To indicate that you are not skipping pages, the first page should be titled "Table of Contents" and the first entry on the page should be "pp 1-4 Table of Contents" if the first four pages are being reserved.

5.   When correcting an error, do not erase or scribble over the error.  The entry should be marked out with a single line so that the original entry can be read if someone is reviewing the notebook.  It is a good idea to initial the correction.  If you are adding comments (“dropped contents down the sink”, “none of these cultures had any growth”, “results for this experiment are found on page x”), date and initial the comments.

6.   If you leave a line or part of a page empty, fill the space with large x’s or diagonal lines.  Crossing out blank lines and the blank bottoms of pages lets individuals who later review the book know that you were not adding material at a later date.

7.   All work should be recorded in the notebook as it is done.  Do not write measurements or other data on scrap paper and recopy it.  As one does lab work, initial written work is not neat, but it must be included in the notebook to validate the date it was done.  At a later time (thus typically entered on     pages found later in the notebook), the experiment can be summarized more neatly.   The notebook, then, will contain both (1) an initial entry including the steps of the procedure, calculations used in preparation, result readings, etc, that are recorded on the day(s) an experiment is actually run and (2) a formal write-up of the experiment, which is typically entered one to two days later, that will describe the experiment fully to others who might later read the notebook.

8.   Because different batches of chemical supplies can actually change results in experiments, the supply company, the catalogue number, and the lot number of each critical chemical should be recorded in the notebook

9.     When graphs, computer-drawn figures, photographs or other loose sheets are included in a notebook, they must be permanently fixed into the notebook, using staples, glue or scotch tape.

10.  In your summaries, do not focus on supporting the hypothesis, but on accurately drawing conclusions from the experiment.  It is not important if, at times, data are frequently refuting the hypotheses: eliminating false hypotheses is essential to getting a clearer idea of the true underlying mechanism. Do not overlook an observation because it seems quite unusual.  Sometimes scientists have become famous by pursuing some odd observation that other labs also saw but chose to ignore because it seemed too unusual or was not the main focus of their work.

YOUR VISUAL DISPLAY FOR THE FAIR

The judges will base their scoring on what your board shows and how well you explain it.  Use a board that is as large as the space allowed (30” deep, 48” wide).  An excellent display may be made from 3 pieces of plywood or heavy cardboard, hinged together and covered with felt.  Each section of your report can be mounted on a separate piece of light cardboard and attached to the display board with velcro strips.  This system allows you to change your display easily and to use your board for future fairs.

Visitors to the fair should be able to understand your project from reading the board, even if you are not there. Make sure the display reflects the current year's work only.  Your display should be attractive and eye-catching, but still appear scientific and professional.  Use clear and concise displays.  Make headings stand out, and draw graphs and diagrams clearly and label them correctly.  Leave your glassware and chemicals at home, as well as other items prohibited by ISEF rules.  Remember the display will be read from a distance of 2-3 feet and make sure your most important information is in large enough type to be seen. It is better to use outlines and bulleted lists instead of a lot of text.  The display should be attractive but not flashy.  Keep to your subject and do not waste space on brochures, wrappers or pictures of commercial products or other objects not related to the experiments.  Use color in moderation to draw attention to the key points of your project.  When you arrange your display, imagine that you are seeing it for the first time. Ask your parents or a classmate to look at it and tell you when something is not clear.  A display is not just paper pasted on a board; it is a presentation.

The suggested format is the following:

* Graphs and charts may be hand drawn but be sure to use a ruler and good quality paper.  Bar or line graphs are used to report numerical data, but be sure you know which is the appropriate one to use. Line graphs are used for continuous data, for example, change in some measurement over time, or the effect of a drug as the concentration increases.  Bar graphs are used to compare different items: for example, the height of plants grown in soil with various kinds of fertilizer. (If you used the same fertilizer, but only increased the amount, you should use a line graph.)  Pie graphs are not usually appropriate to show results of an experiment.  Do not label a graph “Graph”.  Each table, figure or photograph must be explained in a title (examples are in any text).  The axes of the graph should be labeled with the units clearly shown: for example, height of plants in cm.; time in days; concentration in molarity or percent. Ask your teacher or mentor for help if you are in doubt. The text portion of the results section can be shortened, and does not need to be in complete sentences, but you still need to point out major findings, trends and observations.  It is not necessary to present data both in text, table and graph; pick the one that shows it best.  If you made an error in procedure or tried a preliminary experiment that did not work properly, it is not necessary to show it on your board.  However, your data notebook should be a complete record and you should have it available to show the judge. Note: there is a prize awarded for the best use of the metric system in a project.  Another prize is given for the best use of photography.

**Results: You should discuss the data with respect to at least two of the following questions:

1.  Why did the results occur, i.e. what is the underlying mechanism?

2.  How do the data fit in with previously published data?  Do they essentially agree or are they contradictory?  If they are contradictory, this should be discussed, and you should propose possible reasons for the apparent contradictions.  

3.  What were possible errors in your experiments?

4.  What questions did these observations raise?  What future experiments are planned?

***Applications: This section is not essential, but judges may like to know if you have given thought to the wider issues addressed by your project.  Include one or more of the following, as appropriate:

1.  Practical applications of your experiment (for example, developing a better drug or commercial product or process)

2.  If your experiment is basic research, mention the broader application or the basic question to which it may apply.  For example, a specific result on the growth of plants or bacteria might increase knowledge about growth processes in general, or an experiment on control of cell division might help in understanding cancers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY, OR LITERATURE CITED 

          Your references do not need to appear on your board, unless you want to cite a particular source in your introduction or to give credit for an unusual procedure.  However, your reading list should be in your data notebook or in your research paper, in case the judge wants to see it, and should contain the references used in your application as well as any other reading you have done.  You may find information in textbooks (preferably recent ones), magazine and journal articles both in print form and online.  The form for online references is the same as for text references with the addition of the web address (the web address alone is not sufficient). Encyclopedias are not usually acceptable for a research paper.  For the correct form for a bibliography, see the section on Preparing Paperwork in the Check List.

GENERAL COMMENTS

          Grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  Use proper grammar and correct punctuation and spelling:  judges will certainly deduct points for sloppy proofreading of your abstract and display information.  The title of each section, i.e. Introduction, Procedure, etc. is given at the beginning of each section.  Only the title is not preceded by its heading.  Use consistent style, e.g. if you choose to center the first heading, center every heading.

          Avoid the use of first person pronouns, i.e. I, we, our, etc.:  focus on what was done, not on who was doing it.  Occasional use of first person pronouns is acceptable, but their frequent use draws the attention to the workers.

            Abbreviations.  The full scientific name of the organism you use in the experiment should be given in the title and also the first time the organism is mentioned in the paper.  Thereafter, the name can be abbreviated.  To abbreviate a scientific name, only the first letter of the genus name is given (capitalized and followed by a period) and the full species name is given.  For example, the standard abbreviation for Staphylococcus aureus is S. aureus.  Abbreviations of scientific names are not introduced.

          All other abbreviations must be introduced so that the reader will know what they mean.  In order to introduce an abbreviation, the first time the term is used in the paper, the full term is given and the abbreviation follows the full term in parentheses, e.g. tryptic soy broth (TSB).  Thereafter, only the abbreviation should be given.  If an abbreviation is not used later in the paper, it should not be introduced.

          Verb tenses.  The standard tense for scientific papers is past tense.  Only when the results of other researchers are mentioned is the use of present tense common, e.g. "emotionality in mice is influenced by three genetic loci (Flint et al., 1995)."  In such cases, present tense can be used because the events reported in published papers not only were observed in the past but should be observable in the future as well.

            Information from sources.  If you use information from sources, do not quote the source:  it is extremely uncommon to see quotes in scientific papers.  Also, do not use the wording from the source:  you must write the information in your own words (be sure not to barely paraphrase the source).  Plagiarism not only refers to when information from sources is used verbatim without citing the source; plagiarism also refers to the use of information from a source if the source's wording is just slightly changed.  The abstract and display are to be your original work.

          To cite a source, put the authors' names and the year the work was published at the end of the first sentence describing their work (before the period), e.g. "Agar, the material currently used both in the production of solid culture media and in the electrophoresis of DNA, is a complex carbohydrate purified from red algae, primarily Gelidium and Gracilaria (Barnett, 1992)."  If there are two authors, give both names in the parentheses, but if there are more than two names, use "et al.", which means "and others":  (Brock et al., 1994).  If information in several sentences was drawn from one source, the citation can be included in both the first and last sentences to emphasize that the information all came from that source.

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