Aperture Labs

Your report is a written account of your science fair project starting from the beginning to the end. Those people who will be reading the report for the science fair projects will know absolutely nothing about your project – until they read your report. This means you will have to write your report to where they understand what you did and how you did it. You will have to give them details about your project. After reading your report the reader show know exactly what you did, why you did it, the ending results, whether or not the experiment matched up to your hypothesis, and where you got your research information, like what books or articles you read.

What goes in the report?

A large portion of your report will come from your journal because you will be recording everything in your journal as your project develops. For the report you will need to organize the information and copy the information neatly from your journal. Make some colorful tables, graphs and diagrams to go into your report. If you can, use a computer to make some or all of these illustrations for your report. Science fair projects that have clear diagrams and pictures are easier to understand than ones that just have text.

What should the report include?

You will need to check with your teacher to find out what is expected to be seen in your report and the order it is to be in as regulated by the local fair. A project report is usually expected to be typed, using double-spaces, and bound in a folder or a notebook. It should have a title page, a table of contents, an abstract, an introduction, one or more experiments and the information, a conclusion, a list of your sources, and acknowledgements.

Title Page

Before you do your title page, what goes on the title page can vary. Some fairs only want the title of the project centered on the page. As a rule your name will not go one the title page during judging. Your teacher can give you’re the specific instructions on how to do the title page for the fair you will be entering. As you are creating the title of your project, you should say something about the subject of your project, but it also needs to be an attention getting title. The project title can not be the same as the problem question.

Table of Contents

The second page of your report should be the table of contents. It should have a list of everything that is in the report after the table of contents page. Just to give you an idea look at the example below.

- Table of Contents
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Experiment
- Data
- Conclusion
- Sources
- Acknowledgements

Abstract

The abstract is just a brief overview or summary of the project. It should only take up one page and should include the project title, a statement of the purpose, a hypothesis, a brief description of the procedure, and the results.

Many times the abstract of science fair projects must be turned in to the science fair officials on the day of judging, and it is a good idea to have copies available at your display. The judges will have some they are able to refer to when they make their final decision.

Introduction

The introduction is a statement of your intention, along with any background information, which led you to running this experiment. It should have a brief statement of your hypothesis based on your research. In other words what facts did you learn in your research that led you to assume the answer to the project’s problem question. Make sure to reference the information or the experience that made you decide to do that project’s point.

Your teacher may require footnotes. If so, include one for each source of information you used.

Experiment and Data

If you performed more than one experiment, you will need to write an experiment page for each experiment. The experiment page should tell in detail the actions performed in doing the experiment. In needs to be written as an outline. After each experiment you should have tables, graphs, charts or diagrams to show the results you received from the experiments

Conclusion

The conclusion is a short summary about what you have discovered. The conclusion should only take up one page. The conclusion is written using the results of your experiment. The hypothesis will be written in the conclusion and will point out whether the data you gathered agrees. Your conclusion can also include any plans you might have for future experiments on the same subject. Science fair projects should always leave people thinking “What would be a good experiment to do next?”

Sources

You got your information from somewhere and this is the page you list where your information came from. Your sources can be a book or article your read or a person you interviewed.

For the written materials you will write a bibliography. You will list the people you interviewed separate from the books. Place their names in alphabetical order by their last name. Their title will go next to their name along with the business address and business telephone number, but only if you have their permission. Never list home addresses or phone numbers. This part of science fair projects sometimes seems silly, but it is important so that someone who is interested can learn more about your topic from the same places you did.

Acknowledgement

Your acknowledgement is your thank you to all the people who helped you with your project and what they did for you. It can start out something like this.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the members of my family and my teacher for helping me with this project. To my mother who typed this report for me.
Etc.

Finally, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get your report written, AND to have it read over by at least a couple of other people.

By: Aurora Lipper

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