All of these items go on your science fair poster board:

Part of poster board presentation / Check it off as you put it on the poster board.
Title of your project?
Problem statement?
Hypothesis?
Plan?
Materials?
Variables and controls?
Data table filled out?
Analysis (graph) of your data?
Conclusion with all four parts?
Nicely decorated and presented?

Part of journal

/ Check it off as you put it in the Journal?
Title/Name on cover?
Day to day record of what you did from the beginning of the project?
Problem statement?
Research? 3 resources and summaries of each.
Hypothesis?
Plan?
Materials?
Variables and controls?
Data table filled out?
Analysis (graph) of your data?
Conclusion with all four parts?

Some important parts of the project:

  1. Your ‘Plan’ needs to be written so clearly that someone can read your instructions and do the experiment exactly the same way you did. Number your steps.
  1. 4 parts of the conclusion:
  1. a.Did the data support your hypothesis?
  2. b.Summarize your results using numbers. Focus on your averages if you have some. What does your graph show you?
  3. c.Why do you think your results came out the way they did? Explain this using scientific terms and concepts.
  4. d.What could you do next time to more thoroughly answer your original question?

Science Fair Paper

* Using your notes you can make a first-class science fair project by writing a good paper explaining what you did. Some teachers/judges require less and others more, but it should be organized something like this:

Title Page

*Your project's name (it can be in the form of a question) Your name, school and grade.

Table of Contents

*List the parts of your report (Introduction, Hypothesis and Research, Procedure/Experiment, etc) and the page numbers where they begin. You'll have to make this page after the others.

Introduction

*One paragraph that tells the whole story. One way to do this is to write a sentence for each idea in the scientific method. One for the purpose, one telling what experiment or test you did, etc.

Hypothesis and Background Research

*State your PURPOSE in more detail, what made you think of this project. Tell what you found out from the books or other sources you used to learn about your topic and be sure those sources are listed in your bibliography.

Procedure/Experiment

*List the materials you used and what you did. If drawings will make it clearer, draw on separate pages and put in this section. Explain in detail things you made.

Results

*Describe what happened, what you observed. Show your data.

Conclusion

*Describe your interpretation of your results. Look over your notes, charts, and log and write what you think your data shows. You can put your opinions here. Was your hypothesis (what you expected to happen) correct? Don't be afraid to say that you might have made a mistake somewhere. Great discoveries can come from what we learn from mistakes!

Be sure to state the limitations of your project. (For example, if your project was to find out something about dogs and you used your dog, you can say "My dog did this. This might not be the same for other dogs." You can't say that all dogs would behave the same as yours because you didn't check all dogs.)

Credits/References

*List of books, articles, pamphlets, people you talked to and any other sources you used for researching your idea and writing your paper.

Sources

They are written or typed in this form:

Last name of author (or person you talked to), First name, "Title of article or chapter", Title of source (book title , magazine title or "Conversation"), Place where published:Publisher name, Date, volume: pages.

Examples:

Jones, Thomas A., "The Development of the Chick" Animal Development Magazine, June 1976, Vol. 16:27-34.

Peracchio, Laura, Telephone Conversation, Feb. 15, 1993.

Presenting and displaying the experiment

The display board should be able to stand by itself and have maximum dimensions of 36in. wide, 24in. deep and 5ft high. The sample above shows a typical display. Yours does not have to look exactly like it, but all the same parts must be shown and in a similar left to right order.

The use of 1/4in. plywood, pegboard, corrugated cardboard or thin wafer board works well. Tagboard (poster board) can not stand by itself and even if supported weakens as the day goes on and may fall damaging not only the student's work, but also the projects beside it. The science department has backboards for sale on a first come first serve basis until they are all sold.

Be very neat. The report should be typed or written clearly in blue or black ink. Pencil should never be used. (Colored pencils are fine for graphs.)

No live animals, no plants nor liquids can be displayed. Valuables (meters, radios, etc.) should be secured to the board.