Science Fair: Review of Literature Lessons Begin

As we begin to develop our science fair projects, we will also be working on developing our research skills and our expository writing techniques.  All fourth grade science projects will need to provide written research papers to support the science behind the project.

We will be writing the research papers in class beginning this week.  We will need access to the 3 resources that were cited for each project in order to complete the writing.

For experimental projects and design projects, a "review of literature" will be included with the final project paper.  A review of literature 2-5 page paper that is:

Review of Literature: A discussion of the background information that helps establish the 

hypothesis and explains procedures adapted for the experiment where necessary. Also 

any similar research that helps establish the hypothesis or procedure. Other background 

information about the topic that may help the reader understand the project should 

also be included. Paraphrased information should be cited as such. No references to the 

literature are to be placed in footnotes. Citation to particular pages in the text should 

be in the form (Smith, 2010, p. 10); for a general citation in the text (Smith, 2002). This 

citation should be placed at the end of the sentence to which it refers. The style for 

citations is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 

6th ed., (APA style) which is the official style manual for the Illinois Junior Academy 

of Science. Materials with a copyright date within the last seven years should be used 

whenever possible.

For Design Projects a review of literature is also required.  The design project review of literature is the same as the one required by the experimental research.  However, the design projects may also include:

i. The definition of your target user

ii. Information about the science behind your design area

iii. Answers to research questions about user needs

iv. Information about products that meet similar needs

v. Research about design criteria

vi. What existing solutions are out there already, and how well do they solve the 

problem?

The above information was taken from the Chicago City Science Fair Handbook which can be found through this link: http://cpsscifair.org/Docs/2014Handbook.pdf

Here is a link that will help distinguish between primary and secondary resources.
Primary Versus Secondary Resources Video

More information to follow...