Write a final research report

Some science and engineering fairs require a research paper submission, especially in the upper divisions. While not required at the SARSEF Regional Fair, high school students should consider completing one to provide the SARSEF judges with supplemental information and to allow the student to apply for additional competitions.

The final research paper is a in-depth written report describing the student’s thinking and curiosity leading to the original research question or problem, including relevant background information that led to their experimental design. They will incorporate their methods and results from their lab notebook to demonstrate how they went about investigating the phenomenon or problem. It should be roughly 4-10 pages long.

The paper should reflect student research conducted independently, in a small group, or under the mentorship of a research scientist. The paper’s main focus should be the student’s own research and should refer to previously published literature for background and comparative purposes.

Research Papers should include:

• Title page, or cover page
• Abstract
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results
• Discussion and conclusions
• References, or literature cited
• Appendices (optional)