APPENDIX 8

TUKLAS Research Paper Format

I. Research Plan:

This is to be written prior to experimentation following the instructions below to

detail the rationale, research questions, methodology, and risk assessment of the
proposed research. (This is compiled separately from the rest of the research
manuscript.)

All projects should include the following:

A. Rationale: Include a brief synopsis of the background that supports your

research problem and explain why this research is important and if
applicable, explain any societal impact of your research.

B. Research Question or Problem being addressed.

C. Goals/Expected Outcomes/Hypotheses

D. Procedures: Detail all procedures and experimental design to be used for

data collection.

E. Risk and Safety: Identify any potential risks and safety precautions
needed.

F. Data Analysis: Examine, organize, and interpret data to answer research

questions, or either accept or reject hypotheses.

G. Bibliography: List at least five (5) major references (e.g., science journal
articles, books, internet sites) from your literature review using the APA
style formatting and citation. If you plan to use vertebrate animals, one of
these references must be an animal care reference.

II. Project Data Logbook:

A project data logbook is an organizational tool used by student researchers to

organize and record narrative and evidence of the research activities including
the planning, research design, drawings/illustrations, procedures, data
collection, analysis and presentation, inferences, and conclusions.

A. Detailed and accurate notes in paragraphs or bullets show consistency

and thoroughness, which will be helpful when writing the research paper.
 B. It is also recommended to use hardbound record notebooks instead of
spring notebooks to avoid tearing out pages, write entries using permanent
pens, and minimize erasures.

C. Procedures are to be presented in flow charts and data in organized tables.

Each data entry (qualitative and quantitative) should also be accurately
recorded, dated and signed by the supervising adult (if applicable) during
the research activity.

D. Each data logbook entry should also be dated and signed by the
supervising adult (if applicable) during the research activity.

If erasures cannot be avoided, strike the word, phrase, sentence, or figure or

numbers once and countersign each. Avoid using correction tapes and the likes.

III. Research Paper Format:

SCIENCE PROJECT

1. INTRODUCTION - What relevant background information supports your

research problem/questions?

a. Explain what is known or has already been done in your research area.
Include a brief review of relevant literature. If this is a continuation project,
a brief summary of your prior research is appropriate here. Be sure to
distinguish your previous work from this year’s project.

b. Include a brief description on how your project will address an issue,

concern or problem. Explain why this research is important and any
societal impact of your research.

2. METHODS – What procedures were carried out for the experimentation?

a. Explain in detail what you did. What data did you collect and how did you
collect those data? Discuss your control group and the variables you
tested.

b. Discuss your control group, the variables you tested, and the statistical
treatment used. Handling and disposal of wastes may be included if
necessary.

c. DO NOT include a list of materials.

3. RESULTS - What were the result(s) of your project?

a. Include tables and figures which illustrate your data.

 b. Include relevant statistical analysis of the data.

4. DISCUSSION - What is your interpretation of these results?

a. What do these results mean? Compare your results with theories,

published data, commonly held beliefs, and expected results.

b. Discuss possible errors. Did any questions or problems arise that you were
not expecting? How did the data vary between repeated observations of
similar events? How were results affected by uncontrolled events?

5. CONCLUSIONS - What conclusions did you reach?

a. What do these results mean in the context of the literature review and
other work being done in your research area? How do the results address
your research question? Do your results support your
hypothesis/hypotheses?

b. What application(s) do you see for your work?

6. REFERENCES-What are your sources?

a. This section should not exceed one page. Limit your list to the most
important references. List the references/documentation used which were
not of your own creation (i.e., books, journal articles).

b. Your reference list should be written based on the APA (American

Psychological Association) style formatting and citation.

ENGINEERING PROJECT

1. INTRODUCTION - What is your engineering problem and goal?

a. What problem were you trying to solve? Include a description of your

engineering goal.

b. Explain what is known or has already been done to solve this problem,
including work on which you may build. You may include a brief review
of relevant literature.

c. If this is a continuation project, a brief summary of your prior work is

appropriate here. Be sure to distinguish your previous work from this
year’s project.

2. METHODS – What are your methods and procedures for building your design?
 a. Explain what you did. How did you design and produce your prototype?
If there is a physical prototype, you may want to include pictures or
designs of the prototype.

b. If you tested the prototype, what were your testing procedures? What
data did you collect and how did you collect that data?

c. DO NOT include a separate list of materials.

3. RESULTS - What were the result(s) of your project?

a. How did your prototype meet your engineering goal?

b. If you tested the prototype, provide a summary of testing data tables and
figures that illustrate your results.

c. Include relevant statistical analysis of the data.

4. DISCUSSION - What is your interpretation of these results?

a. What do these results mean? You may compare your results with theories,
published data, commonly held beliefs, and/or expected results.

b. Did any questions or problems arise that you were not expecting? Were
these problems caused by uncontrolled events? How did you address
these?

c. How is your prototype an improvement or advancement over what is

currently available?

5. CONCLUSIONS - What conclusions did you reach?

a. Did your project turn out as you expected?

b. What application(s) do you see for your work?

6. REFERENCES – What are your sources?

a. This section should not exceed one page. Limit your list to the most
important references.

b. List the references/documentation used which were not of your own

creation (i.e., books, journal articles).

c. Your reference list should be written based on the APA (American

Psychological Association) style formatting and citation.
 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES PROJECTS

1. INTRODUCTION - What is your research question?

a. Explain what is known or has already been done in your research area.
Include a brief review of relevant literature.

b. If this is a continuation project, a brief summary of your prior work is

appropriate here. Be sure to distinguish your previous work from this
year’s project.

2. FRAMEWORK – What is your framework?

a. Introduce the concepts and notation needed to specify your research

question, methods, and results precisely.

b. Define relevant terms, and explain prior/background results. (Novel

concepts developed as part of your project can be presented here or in
Section 4, as appropriate.)

3. FINDINGS – What are your findings and supporting arguments?

a. What did you discover and/or prove? Describe your result(s) in detail. If
possible, provide both formal and intuitive/verbal explanations of each
major finding.

b. Describe your methods in general terms.

c. Present rigorous proofs of the theory results – or, if the arguments are
long, give sketches of the proofs that explain the main ideas.

d. For numerical/statistical results, include tables and figures that illustrate

your data. Include relevant statistical analysis. Were any of your results
statistically significant? How do you know this?

4. CONCLUSIONS - What is your assessment of your findings?

a. How do the results address your research question? And how have you
advanced your readers’ understanding relative to what is already known?

b. Discuss possible limitations. Did any questions or problems arise that you
were not expecting? What challenges do you foresee in extending your
results further?

c. What application(s), if any, do you see for your work?

 5. REFERENCES – What are your sources?

a. This section should not exceed one page. Limit your list to the most
important references.

b. List the references/documentation used which were not of your own

creation (i.e., books, journal articles).

c. Your reference list should be written based on the Chicago Manual of Style.
For more information, you may visit the websites below:

- http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html

- http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.ph

IV. Abstract:

The abstract should be 250 words or less. Do not discuss specific aspects of the research
in detail, including experimental procedures and statistical methods. Any Information
that is unnecessary to include in a brief explanation should be saved for the written
research paper or the project exhibit board.

If the project is a continuation from a previous year, the abstract should only summarize
the current year’s work. If it is necessary to mention supporting research from previous
year(s), it must be minimal.

If the abstract text includes special characters, such as mathematical symbols, which
can't be translated electronically, spell out the symbol.

Do not include acknowledgements in the abstract. There should be no references to

mentors, institutional facilities, and awards or patents received.

Title

Finalist’s Name (or names, if a team project)

School Name, City and Region

Purpose

● An introductory statement providing background or the reason for investigating

the project topic.
 ● A statement of the problem the research is looking to solve or the questions being
tested.

Procedure

● A brief overview of how the investigation was conducted, highlighting key points,
and including methods and resources used.

● Do not provide details about materials used in the research unless they greatly
influenced the procedure or were needed to conduct the investigation.

● An abstract should only include procedures done by the finalist. Do not include
work done by a mentor (such as surgical procedures) or work done prior to the
Finalist’s involvement.

Observations/Data/Results

● This section should provide key results that lead directly to the conclusions.

● Do not include unnecessary data or observations about the results, nor tables,
charts, graphs or other images. While these belong in the research paper or the
project board, they do not belong in the formal ISEF abstract.

● Unless significant, do not include any of the experimental design difficulties

encountered in research.

Conclusions

● This section should be confined to a short summary in 1-2 sentences. It is a

reflection on the research process and results, which may include conclusive
ideas, important applications, and implications of the research.

● The ISEF abstract does not include a bibliography. ISEF requires the bibliography
as part of the research plan to be provided on Form 1A.

Ethics Statement. Scientific fraud and misconduct is not condoned at any level of
research or competition. Plagiarism, use or presentation of other research’s work
as one's own and fabrication of data will not be tolerated. Fraudulent projects are
disqualified from the competition.