HonorsBiologyResearchPaperGuidelines

Yourpapershouldcoverallofthetopicslistedbelow.Youshouldwriteeachpartofyourpaperunderthe
correctheading.Thisshouldalignwiththeinformationpresentedonyourresearchposter.

I.ExperimentalDesign
1.Title
2.ResearchQuestion:Thisshouldbeaclearfocusedquestionthatsaysexactlywhatyouareinvestigating.It
shouldn'tbetoolonganditmustincludethedependentandindependentvariables.
3.BackgroundInformation:Thisparagraphshouldexplainyourrationaleandbackgroundknowledge.
4.Hypothesis:Thisisaparagraphortwowhereyouexplainyourresearchquestion.
5.Variables:Alistoratablethatincludes:
Independentvariable:thisisthevariableyou'rechanging.
Dependentvariable:thisiswhatchangeswhenyouchangetheindependentvariable.
Controlledvariables:theseshouldremainthesamethroughouttheexperiment.

6.Materials:Thisisthelistwhereyouincludeeverythingyouusetocarryoutyourexperiment.
7.Method(Procedures):Thisshouldbedetailedsetofinstructionsthatgothroughtheentireexperiment.Write
thislikesomeoneelsewillbecompletingtheexperimentandthisisthesetofinstructions.Makesureyouinclude
everysinglestep,don'tmissonebecauseitseemslikean'obvious'step!

II.DataCollectionandProcessing
1.RawData:Actualdatafromexperiment.Thisisnormallygiveninoneormoretables.Makesureyourtableis
clearandeasytoreadandfollow.
2.ProcessedData:Anyaveragesorcalculationsusingtherawdatawouldbeinthissection.Thiscanalsobe
presentedinatable.
3.PresentationandGraphs:Thispresentationshouldbeoftherawdataandtheprocesseddataifpossible.
Bargraphsandlinegraphsareoneofthebestwaytopresentadatainmostcases.Apiechartorascattergraph
mayalsobeused.Whenaddingthegraph,makesureithasatitle,labelledaxisandlegends.Ifyouareforexample
investigatingsomethingattwodifferentenvironmentsorsituations,youshouldhaveagraphforeachandthena
thirdgraphwiththeboth,toshowbettercomparison.Inmostcases,youaregoingtohavetodoatleast3or4trials,
includethegraphsforeach,thenafinaloneoftheaverageresults.Pleasemakesurethegraph/chartissuitablefor
yourtypeofdatabeforeusingit.

4.Error:Thissectionshouldpresentanyproblemswiththeexperimentorthedatathatcausedtheexperimenttogo
differentlythanexpected.

III.ConclusionandEvaluation
1.Conclusion:Thefirstpointabouttheconclusionisthatitshoulddirectlyrelatetothehypothesis.Inotherwords,
yourconclusionmustrestateanddiscussthehypothesis.Discussyourresults.Doesitsupportthehypothesis?
Wereyourpredictionscorrect?Makesureyoumentionthemagain.Whentalkingaboutahypothesisyou'retalking
aboutwhethertheresultssupportorrefutethehypothesis,notprovethehypothesis.
Inyourconclusion,makesureyoudiscussthegraphs,thecharts..thedataprocessing..etc.

2.Evaluation&Improvements:Inthisparagraph,youshoulddiscussfutureresearchthatcouldhappenbased
offofyourresults.Youshouldalsoevaluateyourexperimentforanyissuesorsourcesoferrorinyourdata.What
wouldyoudodifferentlyifyouwereredesigningthisproject?

4.References:Thisshouldbeabibliography/workscitedpagethatshowsallofthesourcesusedinyourproject.
ThisshouldbeinMLAformatandinalphabeticalorder.Makesurethatyouarecorrectlyidentifyingyoursources
andidentifyingdirectquoteswithinyourpaper.