Science Fair Literature Review

 

OVERVIEW

Critically review, analyze, and synthesize 10 articles from professional or legitimate literature relevant to the topic you have chosen. This will help you formulate a good hypothesis and project design.

 

CONTENT TO BE COVERED

Critically review, analyze and synthesize the professional literature relevant to the research questions and the proposed solution. There should be four main sections:

1.       Introduce the literature review.

o        State the purpose of the literature review. (something about your science fair)

o        Explain the focus of the literature review.

o        Explain how the literature review is organized to help the reader be prepared.

2.       Present the relevant literature. This is done by briefly summarizing what you read, and then explaining how that will help your science fair project.  

3.       Summarize the literature and its implications for your science fair. The summary should form an empirical or theoretical rationale for a hypothesis.  Then state your hypothesis.

4.       References.  Use APA format for all references.

 

AVOID COMMON ERRORS

Do:

• Organize the literature into four major sections with the following subheads: Introduction, Review of literature, Conclusion, References.
• Organize the citations into topics. Use the topic name as a sub-head.
• Only use sources where you can find the author or sponsor of the information.
• Select articles that are relevant to the problem and the proposed solution.
• Write only in the third person.
• Present research that builds a bridge between what is already known about your research questions and end with what is still unknown, which, in turn, shows how your project will help bridge the gap in knowledge.

 

Don’t:

• Present less than ten relevant citations in the literature review.
• Use opinion articles or editorials.
• Plagiarize
• Use Wikipedia more than once.

 

Grading:

 

	0-25	26-40	41-55	56-70             (AE Column)
SCORE:     COMMENTS:	Less than 2 criteria in the AE column are included.	2-3 criteria listed in the AE column are included	4-5 criteria listed in the AE column are included	6 or More of the Following Criteria are included • There is a depth of literature that addresses your science fair topic. (This means at least 10 articles reviewed.) • Reference citations are complete and accurate • Majority of sources are primary • Review is more than a series of summaries • Review is well organized (logical flow) • Concludes with a summary and interpretation of literature and its implications for the problem being investigated • Reference list is complete and accurate