Research Paper Outline If you have successfully completed each of the sections of your EnvironMentors project, you should have all the information necessary to create your Final Research Paper. Your final paper should be about 10-12 pages in length, but be sure to consult your chapter coordinator and/or teacher for specific page requirements. Your paper must include the following elements: Title Page • A title that clearly describes your project • A picture or image that relates to your project • Your name, your EnvironMentors chapter, your mentor’s name, and your class name (if applicable) Abstract • A complete summary of your project. See page 109 for more details. Introduction (You completed this part of your paper in Section 4: Project Planning) • Description of your general topic area • Problem statement regarding your specific environmental issue • Explanation of the need for your project • Description of your project purpose • Your research question Background Research (You completed this part of your paper in Section 5: Background Research) • Summary of what you learned from both your Literature Review and your Expert Interview • Discuss both the similarities and differences of the information you studied • Summary of previous experiments in your project topic area • Include your hypothesis in this section. Make sure to present a logical argument for why your background information supports your educated guess. • Remember to properly cite all your information sources, and list them in your Bibliography. Include your interview questions as an appendix. Experimental Method (You completed this part of your paper in Section 7: Designing an Experiment) • Description of your variables (independent, dependent and controlled) and how you will measure them. • Description of your experimental and control data sets. • Detailed information about the location of your study site(s), including maps. • Materials written in paragraph form rather than as a list. • Experimental procedure. This should be written in paragraph form as a description of what you did, rather than as a list of instructions. Results & Analysis (You completed this part of your paper in Section 8: Data Collection & Analysis) • The data you collected in organized tables. This should be your final calculations (means etc.)
• • •
Graphs that display your data in a way that is easy to understand. Brief description of each graph. Include your raw data and calculations in an appendix.
Discussion & Conclusion (You completed this part of your paper in Section 9: Drawing a Conclusion) • Description of how you conducted your experiment and why you designed it the way you did. • Brief description of what each graph in your Results section mean. • Summary of what you learned • Discussion of sources of experimental error • Explanation of whether your data support or disprove your hypothesis. • Summary of how your results address your original research question. • Suggestions for further investigation of your project topic. • How your results can be applied in your community. References • Include the bibliography you created in Section 5. Acknowledgements • Thank the people who have helped you accomplish your work on this research project Appendices • Expert interview questions • Raw data and calculations • Any other information you feel is important