<p>I am definitely going to write an essay for this competition. But one problem arises - perhaps the hardest of all - where do I exactly start? I need to find a topic. But what is the best way to find a highly specific topic? Do I read an issue of Scientific American, find an interesting topic discussed there, and research it? Or do I skim through the pages of a college-level textbook and suddenly come across an idea?</p>
<p>Looking from the contest winners for both 2005 and 2004, (I saved 2004's to disk last year) I can see that some of the topics are highly specific, whereas othrs aren't so specific. 2003's Senior Division winner was on superstring theory as a whole - not especially specific. Is it a good idea to research a topic that's as specific as a Scientific American article?</p>
<p>I'm thinking about doing an essay on a topic on astronomy. Perhaps quasars. Hmm..</p>
<p>Finally, are multiple entries generally banned in these competitions?</p>
<p>you know, simfish, I had the exact same problem--not knowing a topic. So I talked to my science teacher and he told me to start with something scientific that interests me. He said that if I'm still having problems, then he would actually give me a topic. so you could try doing that.</p>
<p>i did that competition a few years ago and got something from them but its not a big deal. Usually they take very popular science stuff, things that you might see in the NY Times Science section or Scientific American, rather than "real" science, so i would find something that interests you in a source like that and then do some more research about it.</p>
<p>I'm thinking about going to the Nobel.se website and looking at the topic a winner has won the prize for. Generally, these topics are quite narrow, not so difficult to research, and not all are so esoteric. Though do you need a LOT of resources? Seems like the papers there have 4-5 citations from print sources. THough I still haven't looked at the essays closely yet.</p>
<p>Ok. I think I'll do my project on Bose-Einstein condensates. Any books to recommend? (with explanations appropriate for the lay-person, considering that our essays must be written for the lay-person).</p>