Write a Conclusion

5 - Analyze Your Data & Draw a Conclusion

After experimentation, you will summarize data, create graphs, and write conclusions. These steps are essential because they help clearly communicate findings, illustrate patterns and relationships, and provide insights that guide future research and understanding.

Task #5C: Write a Conclusion

Learning Objectives

Write a science project conclusion that restates the experiment and hypothesis, explains procedures and findings, discusses results, states if the data supports the hypothesis, uses background knowledge to explain findings, identifies relationships between the IV and DV, highlights uncertainties, and suggests improvements and future research.

Instructions

Read Preparing Conclusions for Your Science Fair Project to review how to write a conclusion
Answer the following questions to check your learning:
1. Which of the following is NOT a necessary component of a science project conclusion?
  
  Restating the experiment and hypothesis
  
  Discussing uncertainties and suggesting improvements
  
  Listing all materials used in the experiment
  
  Using background knowledge to explain findings
  
  Correct! Listing all materials used in the experiment is part of the methodology, not the conclusion.
  
  Incorrect. Review the components of a good conclusion.
2. If your results do not support your hypothesis, what should you do in your conclusion?
  
  Change your results to match your hypothesis
  
  Explain why the results did not support the hypothesis and suggest further research
  
  Ignore the hypothesis and focus only on the results
  
  Repeat the experiment until the results support your hypothesis
  
  Correct! You should explain why the results did not support the hypothesis and suggest further research.
  
  Incorrect. Review the section on writing a conclusion to understand what to do when your results do not support your hypothesis.

You can use the RECERUN model to help you write your conclusion. Review each section of a RECERUN conclusion below and then write your own conclusion for your experiment.

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RECERUN Section		Sentence Starters	Example
R	Restate Briefly restate what you did in the experiment.	“In this experiment, I tested ______.”	In this experiment, I tested the longevity of Energizer and Duracell batteries across different current drain devices to see which one maintained its voltage the longest.
E	Explain Explain why you did the experiment. What is the hypothesis you were testing?	“The purpose of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that ______.”	The purpose of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that Energizer batteries would last longer than Duracell batteries in all tested devices.
C	Claim What claim are you making based on your experiment? Is your hypothesis supported?	“Based on my experiment, my claim is that ______. This supports/does not support my hypothesis that ______.”	Based on my experiment, my claim is that Energizer batteries outperform Duracell batteries in terms of maintaining voltage across low, medium, and high current drain devices. This supports my hypothesis that Energizer would perform the best across all devices tested.
E	Evidence What data supports the claim?	“The data show ______."	The data show that Energizer maintained its voltage 3% longer than Duracell in low-current drain devices, 10% longer in medium-drain devices, and 29% longer in high-drain devices. The heavy-duty non-alkaline batteries did not perform as well as either alkaline battery at any current drain level.
R	Reasoning Explain how or why the evidence supports the claim and what relationship you see between the independent and dependent variables.	“The evidence supports my claim because ______. The data show that there is a ______ (direct/inverse) relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable, which is shown by ______.”	The evidence supports my claim because Energizer batteries maintain their voltage longer than Duracell batteries at all tested current drain levels. The data show that there is a direct relationship between the independent variable (time) and the dependent variable (battery voltage), which is shown by the decreasing voltage over time.
U	Uncertainties Identify any problems with your procedure and uncertainties or errors in your measurements that may be impacting your data and conclusions.	“One problem with my procedure was ______, which I solved by ______.” “One uncertainty in the experiment was that ______.”	One problem with my procedure was that the batteries recovered some of their voltage when not in use, which I solved by taking measurements quickly to ensure accuracy. This recovery could have introduced errors in my measurements, potentially impacting the precision of the data and the reliability of my conclusions.
N	New What new discoveries and questions do you have after doing the experiment?	“After conducting this experiment, a new question I have is ______.”	After conducting this experiment, a new question I have is how batteries perform under different temperature conditions. Future studies could test battery performance in very cold or very hot environments to simulate real-world usage.