ISEF/Intel/Siemens Papers?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>My local science fair to qualify for ISEF is coming soon and I was wondering how broad/in depth people go in their work for these prestigious science competitions. Are they comparable to the kind of papers in professional journals - with one main focus and multiple experiments to support the discovery? Or is it more centered around one experiment, like the good old days of the elementary school scientific process, with a procedure for maybe a 20 step experiment and results from that one experiment. For example, are projects characterizing genes/proteins and run a whole plethera of experiments, or would it be more realistic to see projects on the specific action of an enzyme-substrate complex in regards to molecule x (shown through light microscopy or something, where the only results would be pictures and not whole databases of numbers) I guess this question primarily applies to the "college research lab" type papers, where the students have access to high tech equipment and put 30 word titles :P </p>

<p>I had trouble finding samples of work from any of these competitions, and I'd like to get an idea of what collegiate-level research at the high school level is. If anyone knows where I could find sample papers, or has some knowledge of what I should expect, I'd greatly appreciate it.</p>

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<p>If you go to the Intel site (sciserv.org, I believe) and look at previous years' finalists, there are abstract/excerpts from their papers. The research methodologies vary widely. For example, in a theoretical project, there may well be no lab work at all -- just notes and ideas scribbled until something clicks, makes sense and can be proved. Some folks work for 2-3 years in a lab, over summers and during the school year. Some folks spend one summer.</p>

<p>I know kids who worked in labs and helped their mentors with projects; I know others who did that, but also had access to do some of their own work. My son's mentor gave him papers to read, made sure he understood the existing reserach, and turned him loose.</p>