Title Page: See Figure 1 for the format of your title page.

Title: At the beginning of your written report, write the title of your experiment.

Introduction: Always begin with a brief explanation of the pertinent theory underlying the experiment. This includes the information you discovered by researching your topic.

Question (Problem): Write a brief question about your investigation. Your question is the overlying problem that your experiment is designed to solve.

Hypothesis: Write the hypothesis. Remember this is your “educated guess,” based on your previous knowledge and the research you completed.

Materials: These include consumables (ex. water, paper towels) and nonconsumables (ex. test tube, beaker). Make a detailed list of the materials you used. Be specific about sizes and quantities.

Experimental Design: List the independent, dependent, and controlled variables in your experiment and summarize the procedure.

Procedure: Write your procedure in numbered steps, past tense, and passive voice. For example, if you had to take a test tube and shake the contents vigorously, within your procedure you would write “Once filled, the test tube was shaken vigorously for two minutes.”

Results: Present your observations and results in a form that is easily understood. The data should be in tables, graphs, or illustrations, each with a title. Include any calculations that are used. The results of the calculations can be shown in a table.

Analysis: Summarize the investigation as you would if you were writing a book report. Refer back to your hypothesis. Was it correct, partially correct, or incorrect? Explain how you arrived at your conclusion(s). Justify your method and explain your results. Suggest a theory to support or interpret your results. Discuss any experimental error that may have affected your findings.

Applications: Describe how the new knowledge you gained from doing the investigation relates to your life and our society. It should answer the question, “Who cares?”

Bibliography: Give credit for the resources you used in your research. Your bibliography, at the end of your report, should be in alphabetical order according to the authors’ last name. To find format examples for citing books, websites, etc. refer to http://www.downersgrovelibrary.org/pages/writeabiblio.html.