Overview of your Science Fair Project

Select a Topic
When selecting a topic make sure that you choose something that interests you and keep in mind that a science project should answer a question, not just show what you know about something. Make this project fun and exciting by using your own creativity.

Gather Background Information
Get information on your topic from books, magazines, the Internet, people and companies. Remember to keep notes about where you get information. Teachers and parents often have ideas on how to obtain information.

Organize and Theorize
Organize everything you have learned about your topic. At this point you should be able to form a hypothesis by focusing on a particular idea.

Make a Timetable
Choose a topic that not only interests you, but can be done in the amount of time you have. Allow plenty of time to experiment and collect data. Even simple experiments don't always go as planned. Remember you will need time to prepare your display.

Plan Your Experiment
Once you have your idea in mind decide how you will perform the experiment and design a specific procedure you will use. Remember to have a variable or something that you can change. This is an important part of the scientific method.

Conduct the Experiment
While doing your work, keep detailed notes of each and every experiment, measurement, and observation. Do not rely on your memory. Don't change more than one variable at a time. A control should be used in which none of the variables are changed. This gives validity to your experiment. Include sufficient numbers of test subjects so that you can get accurate results.

Examine Your Results
Once you have completed the experiment examine your findings. Did the experiment give you the expected results? Did you use the exact same steps each time you preformed the experiment? Were there any errors in your observations? Understanding errors is an important part of a successful project. Statistically analyze your data if possible.

Draw Conclusions
Was your hypothesis correct? You should be able to state if your hypothesis was correct or not. A hypothesis does not have to be correct in order for the experiment to be valid. Results are often exhibited in the form of charts and graphs.