| Writing a science fair report need not be an art. If you | | | | made, your course of action, the outcome and the |
| are getting all worked up about writing your report, | | | | inferences arrived at. The summary must be just a |
| relax, help is at hand. In this article, I will cover the basic | | | | page long. |
| outline for writing a report. | | | | - Introduction: In this section, you will explain what |
| Writing a report is nothing but using your computer's | | | | motivated you to conduct the research, your theory |
| word processor to type in all that you have done, | | | | and what you expected. |
| experienced and learned in the course of your project. | | | | - Experiments: Here explain the method adopted by |
| It should cover all facts and procedures in a logical and | | | | you to go about your hypothesis, to collect information |
| chronological order, and in simple language. You can go | | | | and to make deductions. Explaining every step of the |
| back and edit it later or have someone review it for | | | | procedure adopted and the materials used, can help |
| you. Writing a report using the below mentioned | | | | the reader to perform the experiment again and do |
| guidelines will enable anyone who has absolutely no | | | | further research. This is why you must include detailed |
| knowledge about your project, to understand your | | | | diagrams, tables, graphically represented data and |
| report just as he or she was present during the | | | | pictures in this section |
| investigations. | | | | - Data: Next, you must record all the facts, figures and |
| An Overview | | | | statistics applied and obtained in the experimentation |
| Your science fair report should be detailed and | | | | process. |
| generally cover the following aspects: | | | | - Discussion: Here, you go on to logically explain what |
| - What was your purpose for doing the research? | | | | you have concluded and on what basis you have |
| - What is the source of your information? | | | | reached the conclusion. Should you repeat the |
| - What actions did you take? | | | | experiment, what different procedure would you |
| - How many experiments did you perform? | | | | adopt? Also, what are your directions for anyone |
| - What results did you arrive at? | | | | continuing research on the same lines? |
| - Were your assumptions correct or incorrect? | | | | - Conclusion: Write a summary of the end-result |
| Make sure you take advice and follow instructions of | | | | obtained. Do not introduce any new ideas at this point. |
| your teacher and your school while making your report. | | | | - Acknowledgments: Here you give credit to individuals |
| Detailed Outline for Writing a Good Science Fair | | | | or organizations that have assisted you at any stage |
| Report: | | | | of the project. |
| Your report should consist of the following sections: | | | | - References: This section should include the names of |
| - Title Page: The project heading or title should be | | | | individuals whom you have quoted in your report. You |
| catchy and printed in bold so that it is visible without | | | | must also include names of books and their authors, |
| much effort. If your school requires any additional | | | | from which you have extracted material for your |
| information you should take care to include it herein. | | | | project. |
| - Table of Contents: On the second page, you must | | | | Now that you understand the overall content of your |
| print a list of subtitles that every page will contain. | | | | project, it's time to get to work writing it. A good next |
| - Summary or Abstract: On the next page you must | | | | step is to download a free copy of "Easy Steps to |
| write a summary of your project. The summary may | | | | Award-Winning Science Fair Projects" from the link |
| include your project heading, the objective, | | | | below. |
| investigations done, research undertaken, assumptions | | | | |