Science Fair

Beginning Your Research

When you first start your research, it is helpful to begin with a very general resource, such as an encyclopedia, to learn more about your chosen topic. Reading an encyclopedia article can help give you better keywords to use when searching online and in databases. 

Look at the print encyclopedias in the library, or go online with Britannica. 

Choosing Your Project

Books

Science books are arranged in two areas of the library by their Dewey Decimal Number: the 500s are what we call the Pure Sciences, so these books will be on topics such as biology, chemistry and physics. This would be a great section to look at for inspiration or ideas. The 600s are considered the Technology section, and some of these books could also be appropriate for the science fair.

Check out all the Science Fair Experiment books the library has for you. 

Finding More Specific Information: 

Background REsearch

Databases

Use our free databases for more specific information on your topic. Search using some of the more specific keywords that you discovered in your beginning research to narrow your searches.

Tip: use your independent variables as keywords so you can learn more about 

Websites

Creating citations

As a scientist and researcher, you want to make sure you both keep track of where you find all your information and give credit to the scientists and researchers before you who have inspired your research. 

As part of the Annotated Bibliography, you will need to create a full citation in APA style. 

Create your citations in Google Docs, directly in your Annotated Bibliography.