Delete all of the writing in italics/red & use the entire regular font/underlined as your section

headings & subheadings.

Formatting – font: 12pt , Times New Roman; between sections double spaced, within sections
single spaced; every diagram, table, figure must be given a number and title; pages numbered;

Name:
Date:
Title:

Personal Engagement Statement:

 The evidence of personal engagement with the exploration is clear with significant
independent thinking, initiative or creativity.
 There is evidence of personal input and initiative in the designing, implementation or
presentation of the investigation. WHY it is important to know the answer to your
research question and why YOU want to know the answer
 PE is assessed throughout the report not just this paragraph. Things to consider are:
What’s the purpose? Relationship with the real world, Originality of design, Evidence of trial
runs, difficulty of collecting data, care in selection of techniques, reflections on the quality of
data, depth of understanding limitations in the investigation etc..

Exploration

Research Question:
 WHAT are you trying to answer and HOW are you going to go about finding the answer?
 It should be clear what your IV and DV will be in the question.
 For example: “Does the daily average temperature affect the number of Fall Webworms,
Hyphantria cunea hatching? Also note that the scientific name is included, written properly
in italics.

Aim:

Hypothesis:

H1 Alternate hypothesis: explaining rationale for your hypothesis with citations

H0 Null hypothesis: state that your treatment has no effect

Background Information:

 If you have not done any research before starting your experiment, how can you know what
kinds of things might affect it or what the best way to measure something is? It may include
background information on several things that are related to your IA—like the organism you
 are using, techniques being used, background on biological processes or the database being
used, etc. BUT don’t just write a lot general stuff that has nothing to do with your research
question—make it relevant and focused.
 Try to include known values / expected results from literature/websites, what you may have
learned from a similar lab, if you are going to include diagrams make sure you give them a
fig # & descriptive title. Place your experiment in context. Why is it important to get to the
bottom of this?
 CITE YOUR SOURCES! Use internal citations with a bibliography at the end. I would
expect AT LEAST 1 full page of background information and some of you will need to do a
lot more for your topic. No Paper will be turned in to IB without proper citations—that
would be plagiarism. Same goes for any section of this report—if you got inspiration for
your procedure from another source—cite it!

Methodology

Independent variable: Justify your independent variables. What factor will you be testing?
You should have 5 different conditions, state what they are and why they were selected. You
must have a reason. （what， why）

Dependent variable: Explain your dependent variable. What will you be measuring? How
will you measure it?

Controlled variables:

Control Variables Units (e.g. g, ºC, mm) Possible effect on results

Table 1: Controlled variables selected for this Experiment

Uncontrolled variables (room temperature) may have a significant impact; they need
monitoring.

Material list:
 Name Reason for choosing Uncertainty/units Quantity/size used
apparatus

Procedure:
 Needs to be CLEAR and CONCISE. Have someone read it and ask them if there is enough
information in it that they could do your experiment with just these directions.
 Include the correct names of equipment used, and sizes of beakers, etc.
 Use subheadings if it makes it easier
 Plan to collect between 5 and 10 replications.
 Be specific, do not include things like, “collect materials” or “prepare to collect data” or
“wash glassware after experiment”. These steps are part of every experiment.
 You may use a numbered list

Safety, ethical or environmental issues:

 How might you or someone else be injured during the course of your data collection?
 If you are using human or any small animals, what steps are you going to take to make sure
that you will fully respect animal life and health?
 Will your experiment have an impact on the environment? How will you minimize/eliminate
any negative effects?
 Use consent forms with human volunteers- essential ethical practice
 Microbiology practice: cannot culture at 37 degrees, ony allowed culture non-pathogenic
strains, do not test for antibiotic resistance.
 Correct disposal of waste
 If using a database, you still have to at least make a statement about there not being any
safety issues. If using animals you need to read IB’s policy on animal testing and explain
how you were following those guidelines. You can do nothing that will in any way harm any
animal. If using human test subjects, you must have each person complete a release/consent
form.
A plan B