Writing A Science Fair Project Report

One of the final and most important elements of a science fair project is the report. While your presentation board will present the hypothesis, basics of experiment and key results your report will include expand on your hypothesis, include all details of the experiment and all results.

In my study for this article I came across a list of questions that your report will revolve around. I must give credit to Salvatore Tocci and his book How To Do a Science Fair Project. Here are the questions you must ask:
1. What problem or question is being investigated?
2. What background information exists on this topic?
3. What equipment and materials were used in your experiments?
4. What procedures were followed to solve the problem or answer the question for this project?
5. What observations were made during the course of the investigation?
6. What information and data were recorded?
7. What conclusions were made regarding the original problem or question?
8. What suggestions were included for further research work to solve the problem more convincingly or answer the question more thoroughly?
9. What new problems or questions were uncovered by the project?
10. What sources were used?

Use these questions to gather the main sources of content for your report. Keep your report clear and concise and make sure that you answer all questions. Science fair judges are more impressed with quality over quantity. Write in a language any person could understand since not everyone that will read your report with be well versed in scientific terminology.

The body of your report should include the following sections: abstract (a brief summary), introduction, explanation of methods, results, conclusions and bibliography (works cited). The abstract is very important due to the fact that it will be the primary section that science fair judges will read thoroughly if not the only one. The abstract should be three to four paragraphs that summarize the main parts and points of the rest of your report. It will actually be easier to write your report, then the abstract rather than the other way around.

The introduction of your report can be viewed as an expanded version of your hypothesis. Add to it what the project attempted to prove and also what variables were used in the experiments. The explanation of your methods should be precise enough that a reader could duplicate your experiment using your report. You will want to explain each step in the experimentation process and may want to use pictures, graphs or charts to help readers understand what you are explaining. The results section will simply be inserting the actual results of your experiment. No interpretation is needed, simply state the facts. You may also include details on failures, errors or unexplained results. The conclusion of your report is the section that includes interpretation of your results. This is where you will determine if your hypothesis was supported or not. The last element is to properly cite all of your sources and references. Be sure to include author names, titles, page numbers and even publishing information (publisher & year).

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