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Resources for Science Fair Projects

Science Fair Tips (PDF version)

1. Read the Student Handbook carefully. There are many good hints about how to do research in it. If you'd like more tips, your school or pubic librarian can help you and/ or find books that will guide you through the research process. There are specific books about how to do science fair projects, and general books like the one by Deborah Heiligman entitled The New York Public Library Kid's Guide to Research (Scholastic, 1998). Heiligman includes excellent advice in her Introduction, relating that when she was learning to do research, a librarian told her to ask herself: "What do I know?" and "What do I need to know?" Heiligman suggests asking yourself these questions over and over again when doing research because what you know and what you need to know will continue to change as you find pieces of information on the topic.
2. Follow the steps in the Student Handbook. Step one is to pick a topic. Step two is to research your topic. Step three is to organize. Step four is to plan your experiments, and so on. NOTICE THAT RESEARCH MUST COME BEFORE EXPERIMENTATION! This is the scientific method. (I have been put in the unenviable position of helping a few students do the research projects after the experiments were concluded). In one case, it was impossible to come up with articles that supported the experiment. If the research had been done before the experiment, the situation could have been avoided.)
3. Start early, start early, start early! Allow enough time in the library to gather information about your topic, and time to consider the feasibility of your topic as a science fair project. It's best to pick a topic of vital interest, if it's feasible. It's more fun to work on a topic that captures your imagination, especially if you hit any snags. Your interest and enthusiasm for the topic will keep you motivated. And start early at the most easily accessible library. Don't assume a trip to the University Library is mandatory. Everything you need for your topic may be at your school library, or your local public library.
4. There ARE good resources on the Web, particularly:

The Internet Public Library Science Fair Project Resource Guide

Science Fair Projects: A Resource for Students and Teachers

Science Fairs Homepage - A project of the Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council, helps with forming an idea

Neitz Color Vision Lab (Medical College of Wisconsin) provides information about color blindness; see especially the article "Color Vision in the Dog" in the
journal Visual Neuroscience 3:119-125 (1989).

Selected Internet Resources for Science Fairs, Animals in Education and Research, Kids Pages and Animal Careers/USDA

5. On the other hand, not everything is on the Web! While there is useful information on the web, articles from scientific journals are generally not available unless one has a subscription to the journal. Another example: libraries have subscriptions to electronic indexes that are only accessible in the library. You can search the indexes while in the library to find information on your topic.
   
6. Ask for help. Librarians expect that you'll ask for if help if you need it. Keep in mind that not everyone who works in a library is a professional librarian, so if you don't get the help you need, for whatever reason, ask someone else or ask for a reference librarian. Libraries are usually underfunded and therefore understaffed during evening and weekend hours, so call first to make sure a reference librarian will be available when you will visit the library. You may even want to talk to a librarian on the phone about your project first, especially if you are making a special trip to a big public library or a university library.
   
   Due to understaffing mentioned above, and the sheer volume of science fair projects each year, plus other issues like copyright, please don't expect that librarians will deliver all the information you need on your topic to you by regular or electronic mail. Information gathering, photocopying, READING the material, etc., all take time. Libraries are service organizations in that reference librarians want to help you learn how to find what you're looking for, but the finding, copying, and analyzing is almost always strictly do-it-yourself. Expect to visit at least one library, depending on your topic and remember tip #3 above.

All the best on your science fair projects! - Ann Viera