Junior Science Research

Overview

Fall Semester

Fall Meetings for Juniors

Check the big calendar on midwoodscience.org often. Individual, team, or small group meetings are the way business gets done. Large group meetings are rare. Keep your supervising teacher up to date on your progress. Do not hesitate to tell us of problems. Above all, do not miss your appointments. They count significantly toward your grade.

  1. September
    • Large group meetings
      • Entrance meeting
      • Followup meeting
      • Another followup meeting
    • Small group meeting
  2. October
    1. First meeting
    2. Second meeting
  3. November
    1. First meeting (only meeting)
  4. December
    1. First meeting
    2. Second meeting
  5. January
    1. Exit meeting (only meeting)
      • t.b.d.

Preliminaries

Assignment 0: Official Documents

Getting Started

Assignment 1: Resume

Make a resume that would work for a high school student looking for an internship in a university, government, or private institution that does scientific research. Search the internet for examples of resumes and copy the organization and style of one you think will work for you. Try to fill a single page with relevant information about your academic background, work and volunteer experience, skills, and accomplishments. Keep descriptions clear and concise. Submit a single page PDF to Google Classroom byMonday, September 18, 2023. Final drafts are due Friday, October 27, 2023.

Assignment 2: Scientific Interests

Share any 3 resources that would reveal to me a scientific idea that you find interesting, inspiring, or intriguing. It could be a quote, an image, a video, a scientific principle, a working scientist, a historical scientist — anything with a location on the internet that I could follow up on. The resources can be united by a theme or be quirky and disjointed. In general, they should be something that makes you say, "I wanna do something like that". For each resource, include the following 4 items…

  1. A link that I can click on to take me to the resource. It has to be something with a fixed location on the internet and no weird symbols like ?, &, #, =, +. Sometimes students give me links that are search queries. I don't know why they do that.
  2. A description of the resource that is something like a bibliographic entry, but not so formal. If you would like to practice doing bibliographic entries for this assignment, then go right ahead. You will have to learn it eventually. I recommend Citation Machine with APA formatting as a useful tool. Please note that just because something is on the World Wide Web doesn't mean it's a webpage. For example, a YouTube video is not a webpage, it's a video. An article at nytimes.com is not a webpage, it's a newspaper article.
  3. A summary of what you want me to focus on. You have to do this because I don't want to read a 500 page PDF or watch a 3 hour video in its entirety.
  4. Tell me how you could see yourself doing something related to the scientific idea in this resource you found. How do you think you could participate, replicate, imitate, etc.?

You will do this assignment twice.

  1. The first time you do this assignment the resources can be united by a theme or be quirky and disjointed. In general, they should be something that makes you say, "I wanna do something like that". This is meant to be a brainstorming activity, so there is no way you can do it wrong. That does not mean you should not take it seriously.
  2. The second time you do this assignment it should be focused on a single field in science, and preferably on a single concept. In general it should be something that makes you say, "I think I can make this into a project I could work on for the rest of my junior year, and maybe even into senior year". You will not be forced to stick with anything you propose for this assignment. (Flexibility is a virtue.) But you should consider getting focused as soon as possible. (Procrastination is not a virtue.)

Assignment 3: E-mail to a Professor

Pick a professor. You will address the e-mail to this professor. (Underneath your email put a link to that professor's website so your teacher can take a look at it)

Write an email that would be appropriate for a high school student looking for a mentor to work for as an intern/volunteer or looking for a mentor that you would like to give you guidance on a project that you are developing. Write an email that is appropriate to your interests or goals. Write this letter even if you already have a mentor now. Write this letter whether or not you intend to work with a mentor this year. Everyone will do this assignment. Please note that even though this assignment is described as a "letter" it is actually an email. You are not going to be putting pen to paper for this assignment.

Compose a cover letter where you address the following questions:

  1. Who are you?
  2. What do you want?
  3. Why are you interested in this particular lab? (Use specific details from the professor's website)

Underneath your email put a link to that professor's website so your teacher can take a look at it. Also write down what the subject line will be for your email.

Formulating a Project

Assignment 4: Research Plan

A research plan is a succinct detailing of the rationale, research question, methodology, and risks of a research project that should be completed prior to the start of any experimental research. You will prepare a research plan during the fall semester for a project that you could conceivably start (and hopefully finish) in the spring semester. Since situations can change without warning, you will not be penalized if you do not perform this exact project next semester. You are only describing a possibility right now.

You are not expected to write a complete research plan in one shot. You will submit 3 drafts of this assignment and receive feedback on each draft. You are expected to act on this feedback and refine and expand your research plan over time. The final draft will be dueWednesday, January 3, 2024and will be graded.

Students who are part of a team are expected to each write a separate and complete research plan. No copypasta! The separate plans can be about different aspects of the same project or they can be about different projects in the same general field. Teams can have a maximum of 3 members.

A research plan consists of the following parts:

  1. Rationale

    Provide a brief synopsis of the background research that supports your hypothesis or motivates your scientific question or engineering goal and explain why this research is important. Include at least 5 citations from high value sources. Anything with a DOI is probably good. Additional citations from lower value sources are also OK. Do not cite Wikipedia, WebMD, Google, "some people", "many people", "they", etc. No "click bait" references either. This part is typically 2 to 3 pages long.

  2. Hypothesis / Research Question / Engineering Goal ← CHOOSE ONE

    State your hypothesis / research question / engineering goal. State it in a way so that it logically follows from the background research described in your rationale. This typically requires 1 to 3 sentences.

  3. Methods
    1. Procedure

      Describe your experimental design including all procedures for gathering data. If your procedure was influenced by any previously performed experiments, you must cite your sources. All images, diagrams, renderings, drawings, flowcharts, photographs, etc. must be original. If you absolutely need to use an image produced by someone else, you must cite your source. This part is typically 1 to 2 pages long.

    2. Analysis

      Describe the analytical methods you will use to test your hypothesis / answer your research question / decide if you have reached your engineering goal. This part is typically 1 page long.

    3. Risk Assessment

      All students must provide an assessment of risk with techniques to minimize this risk. Categories of risk include, but are not limited to, human subjects; vertebrate animals; potentially hazardous biological agents; hazardous chemicals, activities or devices. If you believe there are no risks associated with your project, you must explain why you are making this claim. Very few projects have zero risk associated with them. This part is typically 1 to 3 paragraphs long.

  4. References
    • Follow A.P.A. formatting. Include DOIs or URLs (never both) as applicable. Be sure that URLs do not include tracking code. Provide at least 5 references. (Image references do not count towards this total.) This part should be single spaced with hanging indents (also known as outdents) and a blank space between entries. Entries should be sorted alphabetically by author. The paragraphs after this are sample entries for a journal article, YouTube video, book, and newspaper article.
    • Haq, S.A., Tavakol, M., Silber, S., Bernstein, L., Kneifati-Hayek, J., Schleffer, M., Banko, L.T., Heitner, J.F., Sacchi, T.J., & Puma, J.A. (2011). Enhancing the diagnostic performance of troponins in the Acute Care Setting. Journal of Emergency Medicine, 40(4), 367–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2008.02.049
    • Cowern, Dianna. (2020). Friction - Physics 101/Ap [sic] Physics 1 Review with Dianna Cowern. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://youtu.be/fCe6UyNyPTg
    • Myers, D. G. (2011). Myers' Psychology for AP. New York, NY: Worth.
    • Sims, W. (1920). The Moon Rocket.: Admiral Sims Explains Its Action In a Vacuum. New York Times, p. 8. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/16/archives/the- moon-rocket-admiral-sims-explains-its-action-in-a-vacuum.html

Adapted from the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) rules and guidelines.

More

Fall Lab Logs

Honors Science Research

Honors credit is available for juniors and seniors who work on their project under the supervision of a mentor (PhD, MD, other qualified professional) affiliated with a regulated research institution (university, hospital, government agency, etc.). Eligible students will have their class grade weighted by 1.05 when their transcript average is computed. (AP classes are weighted by 1.1, in comparison.)

In order to qualify, students need to…

Extra Credit

STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Math

Public Lecture

Attend an approved STEM lecture

  • Attend, listen, and take notes.
  • Retain your admission ticket, program, or any other handout given at the lecture.
  • Have your photo taken at the event by a teacher or other approved attendance taker.
  • Complete this assignment while the lecture is still fresh in your mind. (Print the page before you go.)
  • Type up your responses to the questions and submit them to your supervising teacher the next business day along with proof of attendance. Be prepared to discuss the lecture at your next meeting.

Possible Lectures

Competitions and Events

Participate in STEM competitions or attend STEM special events.

  • Review this list at the begining of the school year.
  • Find an event or competition you are interested in.
  • Tell your supervising teacher what you intend to do.
  • Provide evidence of completion or participation.
  • Manage your time effectively. Anticipate Deadlines.
  • Provide evidence of completion for full credit.

Last Updated 8 September 2022.