Project Guides (Page 3)

Conclusions

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Overview Your conclusions will summarize whether or not your science fair project results support or contradict your original hypothesis. If you are doing an Engineering or Computer Science programming project, then you should state whether or not you met your design criteria. You may want to include key facts from your background research to help explain your results. Do your results suggest a relationship between the independent and dependent variable? Read more

Writing a Bibliography: APA Format

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Below are standard formats and examples for basic bibliographic information recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA). For more information on the APA format, see http://www.apastyle.org. Basics Your list of works cited should begin at the end of the paper on a new page with the centered title, References. Alphabetize the entries in your list by the author's last name, using the letter-by-letter system (ignore spaces and other punctuation.) Only the initials of the… Read more

How to Write a Bibliography in APA and MLA styles With Examples

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What is a Bibliography? A bibliography is a listing of the books, magazines, and Internet sources that you use in designing, carrying out, and understanding your science fair project. Your bibliography should include a minimum of three written sources of information about your topic from books, encyclopedias, and periodicals. You may have additional information from the Web if appropriate. But, you develop a bibliography only after first preparing a background research plan — a road… Read more

How to Use an Arduino

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Learning to use an Arduino is a great way to learn electronics and programming skills. Science Buddies has many cool science projects you can do with an Arduino. Before you can move on to more advanced projects, you need to learn the basics. This How to Use an Arduino series is the perfect place to get started. This simple tutorial will introduce you to how to setup an Arduino, how to program an Arduino, and how to connect electrical components to an Arduino. Follow along with our… Read more

Science Fair Project Final Report

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Sample Here is a sample science fair project final report. Note: The author's teacher did not require source citations and required a different format for the bibliography. Science Buddies staff added references and reformatted the bibliography at a later date; consequently, the page and volume references are fictitious for some of the sources. Read more

Electricity, Magnetism, & Electromagnetism Tutorial

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Introduction This resource provides an introduction to different topics in electricity and magnetism that you may find useful when doing background research for your Science Buddies projects. The information you will find here is sufficient for most of the projects on the Science Buddies website, but remember that there are entire books written about each topic, so there is much more to learn! We recommend reading the sections in order, but you can click on the links below to jump straight to a… Read more

How to Read a Scientific Paper

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Target Audience This guide is intended for advanced high school students and college undergraduates who are interested in working on independent research projects. Students should have a strong background in science. At minimum, it is recommended that the students have completed two years of high school science courses, although enrollment in advanced high school science classes (like AP Biology, AP Chemistry, or AP Physics), or the equivalent college-level courses, is preferable. Original… Read more

Resources for Finding and Accessing Scientific Papers

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Introduction Reading scientific literature is a critical part of conceiving of and executing a successful advanced science project. The How to Read a Scientific Paper guide can help you get the most out of each paper you read—first, of course, you have to actually get your hands on the paper! That's where this guide comes in. Below you'll find tips and resources for both searching for and acquiring free copies of scientific papers to read. Academic Search Engines: Resources for Finding… Read more

Writing a Bibliography: MLA Format

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Below are standard formats and examples for basic bibliographic information recommended by the Modern Language Association (MLA). For more information on the MLA format, see MLA Style Center. Basics Your list of works cited should begin at the end of the paper on a new page with the centered title, Works Cited. Alphabetize the entries in your list by the author's last name, using the letter-by-letter system (ignore spaces and other punctuation.) If the author's name is unknown,… Read more

Finding Information for Your Research Paper

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How to Find Information No matter how you do your background research, record your sources and take good notes as you go. Your teacher may be able to offer you some tips. Library Research One of the most valuable resources at the library is not a book, but a person. Public librarians, college librarians and certified school librarians are specially trained to teach information literacy. Librarians are excellent sources for organizing research, for teaching how to search, how to read and use… Read more

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