Tips for Writing a Better Paper

The following are helpful hints based on past projects and the Screeners' and Judges' reactions to those projects.

• Title:  
  • If using "the effect of...." in the title, make sure the title agrees with the variables that have been identified. 
    
    
  • Avoid making the title too long, complicated or detailed.  This does not impress the Screeners and Judges.
    
    
• Grammar Tips:  The screeners DO notice when these are used incorrectly and it affects how they feel about the paper, and possibly your score!
  
  • Students should watch the use of "affect" and "effect".  "Affect" is a verb; "effect" is most often used as a noun. 
    
    
  • Watch the use of the words "amount" and "number".  "Amount" refers to volume.  "Number" refers to a count of items.  Most often, students use "amount" when they should use "number".  Examples are "the amount of horses in the field" or the "amount of colonies of bacteria". 
    
    
• Hypotheses:
  
  • Students should state their hypothesis in specific terms - not general ones like this: 
    
         "If plants are grown in 3 different types of fertilizer, then there will be a difference in the height of the plants." 
    
    They should state WHICH fertilizer will cause the best growth based on their library or internet research.
    
    
  • Students should explain their reasons for choosing a particular hypothesis, again based on their background research.  WHY do you think that a particular detergent will remove a mustard stain better than another detergent.  "Because that's the one my mother uses" is NOT a good reason.
    
    
• The Project Paper:
  
  • The Introduction of a paper is extremely important and should include reviews of literature that are pertinent to the project.  The introduction sets the stage for the whole paper, showing the readers that the student understands the problem and the factors that might affect the results - in other words, the science of the project.  It also explains why the student developed his or her hypothesis and that it is based on the research, not just a guess. The introduction is the place to grab the reader's attention and make that person want to read the rest of the paper.
    
    
  • The Conclusion is also vital to a good project. Students need to review the results and use the science behind the project to attempt to explain those results. They should make a logical attempt in the Conclusion to explain WHY they got the results they did, based on their research. The Conclusion should connect the information in the Introduction to the results. 
    
    
  • The list of materials should be concise - not things like "a Bic pen for writing results". 
    
    
  • The Procedure should not include unnecessary steps.  Some students go into such great detail that it can be difficult to read and it takes up too much space in the paper.  Things like the following should be avoided: 
    
          "The TV was turned on using the remote control.  The pen was used to record the weather forecast for the day in the spiral notebook.  The TV was turned off at the end of the weather forecast". 
    
    This is a bit extreme, but we have had procedures that were written in a similar manner.