How to succeed in your IB DCP

1. All tables, graphs, experimental diagrams etc. should have a title legend beneath it. E.g.

Graph 1. A graph to show human populations in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, Australia.

2. The independent variable is always the first column in your results table 3. All columns must be titled with the variable, the unit and the apparatus error, +/- half the smallest measurement you can measure (normally). So if we are using a thermometer where the smallest division is 1C then the apparatus error would be +/- 0.5C. Therefore your heading would be Temperature 0.5(C) 4. The raw data (not processed into a mean etc.) should be presented as a separate table 5. All your raw data must be kept to a consistent decimal place that normally matches the precision of your measuring equipment e.g. if a balance measures to two decimal places your raw data must all be to two decimal places 6. Your processed data should be presented in a separate table and include the mean and where appropriate the standard deviation (see rule 8). Here the decimal places should be rounded to the same decimal places in your raw data e.g. the mean value 6.43435 would be rounded to 6.43 in our previous example. Do be careful to avoid rounding errors in your calculations. 7. When it comes to presenting your data as a graph you will need to include a form of error bars. These are used to inform you of how valid your data is. Depending on how you collected your data will determine which error bars you will use. The 2 main error bar options are: 1. Range error bars this is where you calculate the range in your data at each intermediate of the independent variable. This is suited to data that does not have enough repeats for Standard deviation to be carried out or where the data is not normally distributed. 2. Standard deviation this is where you calculate the standard deviation at each intermediate of the independent variable. This looks at how much your data varies around the mean value 68% of your data will lie one SD unit away from the mean. This is suited to data that has more than 5 repeats at each intermediate and at least 30 across the whole independent variable. In addition the data must be normally distributed.