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.
Websites
Sciencebuddies.org Project Ideas This page has an interesting Topic Selection Wizard to help you narrow your focus. You can also browse the various projects on their website. There is a great Project Guide to help you through the various steps of creating your project. This should only serve as inspiration for you if you need help determining a branch of science.
Science Fair Central Created by the educators at the Discovery Channel, this website includes resources to help get you started, help you choose a project, and finally help with your presentation.
Education.com High School Science Fair Ideas Reviewed by teachers, you can narrow down the hundreds of ideas here by type of science.
ISEF List of Categories This is a list of categories that are part of an international science fair. If you have no idea where to start, looking at this list with categories and examples of projects might help you narrow down your focus.
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
Science in Context is a great general database that covers all branches of science.
Start here first.
This is another alternative general science database to explore.
Health and Wellness could be useful for you if you are doing a project related to the the human body.
The Psychology database would be a great choice if your project involves how the brain functions.
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.