<p>I have some questions about the project data booklet and the written report.</p>
<p>For the data book, I didn't know it was needed until after I completed my project. I did my notes, calculations, scratch paper work on either the computer or on folder paper that I threw away after I was done. Should I just try to remember what I did and write it in a composition book? What kinds of things did you guys put in your lab notebooks?</p>
<p>For the written report, what kind of format should you follow, a school-type lab report with sections divided for hypothesis/procedures/etc?</p>
<p>Mine was all computer programs, so I printed them out and put it in a binder. It took like a hundred pages. And judges didn't look at them anyway. =/</p>
<p>This was my table of contents for my project paper:
Table of Contents
I. Glossary of biological terms
II. Introduction
III. Fixation time
--a. Infinite population model
--b. Fitness costs
--c. Comparison to experimental results
--d. Finite population model
--e. Multiple selfish elements
IV. Effects of mutation
--a. Infinite population model
--b. Mutations in toxin
--c. Distribution of fixation times for mutated elements
--d. Plausibility of finite population mutation model
--e. Migration
V. Conclusions
--a. Non-uniform seeding
--b. Similar alternative approaches
----i. “Paternal-effect” selfish genetic elements
----ii. A fitness cost that only occurs in females
----iii. “Isolated flies”
--c. Other extensions [include this section?]
VI. Acknowledgements
VII. Bibliography</p>
<p>So I guess the format you follow varies depending on the project? The judges didn't look at my paper either (can't blame them, it was 49 pages long), so you shouldn't have to worry too much about it.</p>
<p>I did a bunch of computer simulations for that group. Basically, most of it was "how long will it take for malaria to be eradicated under conditions X, Y, and Z." It was a fun project :)</p>
<p>I went to internationals but didn't get anything. It's less a test of how cool your research is than how well you can explain it in ten minutes. And it didn't help that my research was in the "math" category and probably should've been in biology or something. There were lots of judges (like ten maybe) and they didn't really ask questions, you had to explain your project yourself and basically give them a presentation. (But at the local levels they'll ask you more stuff and most of it was completely unrelated to the bulk of my research. As in my work was theoretical, and they'd ask me about what the experimentalists did.)</p>
<p>I'm a programmer, of course debugging was a part of my project! :) I spent like two weeks trying to correct something like *if (a=1) ...<a href="which%20should've%20been%20a%20double-equals%20sign,%20for%20the%20C-impaired">/i</a>. Didn't put it on the poster boards, though.</p>
<p>I thought they prejudged a lot at ISEF, where they would go around and read your papers and etc. :O</p>
<p>My project notebook last year (Microbiology; "Improving the Effectiveness of Almond Oil Soap via Forced Changes in pH and Antibacterial Agents") was 138 pages, but that was with all the data charts, etc.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm a programmer, of course debugging was a part of my project! I spent like two weeks trying to correct something like if (a=1) ... (which should've been a double-equals sign, for the C-impaired). Didn't put it on the poster boards, though.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Of course, that's a given :p</p>
<p>I was asking more towards the presentation aspect, did you put it it in your project databook? Most of my project's "experimental trials" is really just debugging stupid mistakes like getting imaginary numbers because I used the wrong type of slash (I'm not even exaggerating), but I'm not sure how to include this.</p>
<p>I didn't. They had enough programs to read anyway without all the rough drafts...but I guess you could say it's like getting experimental data and realizing the sensors are adjusted incorrectly or something. In which case you'd keep the buggy code...</p>