<p>The kinds of kids who win Siemens and STS competitions are the kind of kids who are not daunted by papers in science journals. Really, the structure of papers in science journals are NOT complex at all; sometimes the subject matter is, but if were doing science research you would already know the content of the paper thoroughly. The structure is very simple:</p>
<p>-Introduction: why are you doing this research? What’s the purpose, what do you aim to find? Who else has done similar things? What have they found? How does their work relate to your work? What do you expect to find in your own research? These are the questions you answer in the introduction. Usually you include a short literature review in a scientific article, longer if it is a formal research paper.</p>
<p>-Methods: Describe what you did – what instruments you used, the participants or specimens you used and how you found/recruited them, exactly how the procedure went. It should be detailed enough that someone could attempt to replicate it from your article.</p>
<p>-Results: Here is where you produce the results of your research.</p>
<p>-Discussion/Conclusions: Interpret the results of your research, talk about the significance and how it relates to other research in the field, discuss strengths and weaknesses, discuss implications/applications for the research, and recommend future directions for the research, and then summarize.</p>
<p>Very simple format, and this format will be expected of you from high school on up. You will be expected to use the appropriate jargon in your field. Yes, it is supposed to be complex, not easy.</p>