research in your Personal Statement or list your research
activism and wants to study the impact of invasive
on the Common Application Activities Form. You can also
plants on the ecosystem
note any academic honors you have received for that
• The student loves building things or tinkering and
research in the Academic Honors/Awards section of the
wants to create a device that will help people with
application.
physical disabilities
Shaping you into a more interesting inter view subject or
HOW TO CHOOSE A TOPIC CATEGORY:
college-ready STEM student, research experiences teach
Take a look at the 21 categories and subcategories
you organizational skills, persuasive communication,
t ypically used by ISEF.
solutions-thinking, adaptabilit y (because research rarely goes according to your initial plans), and discipline.
SUGGESTED TIMELINE OF ACTIVITIES FOR A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECT
DIFFERENT AREAS OF SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECTS
Expect to spend a few months building your foundation
There are so many exciting areas of research that students
of understanding about all basic information and related
don’t realize are possibilities. Students have carried out
research in your field of interest. You need to have a deep
projects such as:
understanding of all the background material, and related
• “Understanding the genetic mechanisms behind
research is essential before you reach out to potential
muscle grow th and decay ”
research mentors.
• “ The impact of having a sibling with special needs”, • “ The ef fect of dif ferent seafloor material on the
A good sequence to follow would be:
feeding habits of sharks”
• Read all information available using basic websites
• “Using bamboo to create an emergenc y shelter for
and printed material (“Dummies guide to…” ).
sustainable relief ef for ts”
• Outline all information from general to specific.
• “Creating a new automated method of diagnosing
• Create vocabular y lists of all words that are related
colon cancer using digital image analysis”
directly or indirectly to your topic • Use the key words that you have seen in the general
Your choice of research area should be interesting and
information to find professional research “journal”
impor tant to you. By far, the most successful students are
abstracts.
not the ones that carried out a project for the sole purpose
• For tified with this information and background, you
of winning a science fair ( just as Nobel Laureates are
can begin to approach possible mentors.
not the people who have simply read the most scientific journal ar ticles over their careers); they are those that
A FEW TRICKS TO FINDING RESEARCH ABSTR ACTS
choose an area of research that is fascinating to them.
AND ARTICLES Since most research ar ticles are posted on-line in Adobe
HOW TO CHOOSE A GENER AL SCIENCE RESEARCH
PDF format, go to Google.com, t ype in your area of interest
AREA AND A SPECIFIC TOPIC:
with a few specific key words that you have learned.
Some students choose a topic because they are talented
• Click on “Settings,” then “Advanced Search.” In
in a cer tain field of science such as biolog y or chemistr y;
the field that says “file t ype” change it to “Adobe
others choose an area because it has a significance to
Acrobat PDF
them. Some examples of student motivation for carr ying
• Highlight the key ideas and vocabular y in each of the
out a project are:
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abstracts.
• A grandparent might have died of cancer and the
• Keep a list of the following (this will be essential to
student wants to understand more about the disease
refer to over the upcoming months):
• The student visited a developing countr y and wants
› Title of the research ar ticle/abstract
to create ways for people in that countr y to have a
› Primar y researchers (authors) of the ar ticles
sustainable source of food
› Location of research
• The student is motivated by climate change and
› Year of the research
2023 TeenLife Guide to Your Future In STEM
2023 TeenLife Guide to Your Future In STEM
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