Research Paper Competition 

TCRSF RULE CHANGES:  TCRSF has changed to allow either individual OR team papers. All papers must comply with ISEF and JSHS rules & guidelines. ANOTHER change: grade 6 students may now enter the research paper competition, but just like the project competition, grade 6 research papers are not eligible for state. CHANGE: Due to a successful appeal, research papers entered in TCRSF may now include pictures/photos in them as long as the total size of the research paper is no more than 1.8 MB in size.

TCRSF has two age divisions for the Research Paper Competition.  Grades 6-8 compete in the middle school division and grades 9-12 compete in the high school division.  Although some middle schools include grade 9, all grade 9 students compete in the high school (grades 9-12) division.  (See our Links page for additional competitions through other organizations.)

Our NEW FORMAT for TCRSF research paper competition:  All students register online for the research paper competition.  Research papers and abstracts are then emailed to tcrsf@tcrsf.org.  PLEASE READ the new rules, guidelines, and size limitations for entering your research paper. Do not mail paper copies of your research paper.  The entry fee for research papers is $20 per person.

All research papers in both divisions (middle & high school) will be read and scored by judges online for the preliminary round.  Students will receive judge comments from TCRSF via the email address provided in student registration.  Students will not receive scores, but will be informed whether or not they have advanced to the final round of competition.  For the final found of competition, students will present their research paper to a panel of judges, usually using a symposium style PowerPoint presentation followed by a short question and answer time with the judges.  The student will present only once, and this final round of judging will be the afternoon of TCRSF project judging, specific room to be announced at project/paper check in on Friday of the science fair.  There will be NO CONFLICT in competing with BOTH the research paper and the project competition.  Students are encouraged to participate in both the research paper competition and the project competition, if they so desire.  All research paper awards are awarded at the TCRSF science fair awards program on Saturday of the fair.

Winners of the high school division, grades 9-12, TCRSF paper competition will be invited to compete at the Tri-state North Central Regional Symposium, which is held just before the Minnesota Academy of Science State Science and Engineering Fair.  The number of papers that will be advanced to compete at the symposium is determined by the North Central Regional JSHS.  The three states in our North Central JSHS region are Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Winners in grades 7 & 8 will be advanced to compete with a symposium style presentation (usually PowerPoint) of their paper to a panel of judges at the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair.  Students may enter both a paper and a project on the same work. NEW: students in 6th grade may enter their research papers, but CANNOT advance to state. 6th graders will, however, be eligible for Twin Cities awards, and will certainly benefit from the experience.

If you have questions, please email us: paperjudging@tcrsf.org

To submit your paper online, first register for the research paper competition using student registration.  Then re-name a copy of your research paper file and abstract file to be   lastname firstname grade# paper  and lastname firstname grade# abstract.  If you are submitting a team effort, please name the paper by the team leaders's name and put the word TEAM after the grade number before the word paper or abstract.  Please email your research paper as a PDF (.pdf) or as a Word document (.doc) or as a text file (.txt) attachment to tcrsf@tcrsf.org.  Please also submit your abstract as a second file attachment (same extensions permitted as with the research paper itself).  

For example, if John Q. Public in grade 9 wrote an individual research paper on Mersenne Primes in the Mathematics category, then John would email his paper as:  "Public John 9 paper" and "Public John 9 abstract".  If Jane Doe and Suzy Que, both in grade 7, are submitting a team paper on the Science of Growing Herbs, then if Jane Doe is the team leader, Jane and Suzy would both register and email their paper as: "Doe Jane 7 TEAM paper" and "Doe Jane 7 TEAM abstract".  The title page of the attached research paper and the header of the abstract will both clearly state the full name of ALL team members.

Enter the TCRSF research paper competition:  Electronic submission of both research papers and research paper online registration is due January 15, 2010, by 5:00 p.m. CST (actual time, not your computer time stamp!). IF the online registration & submission deadline is met, then all signed paperwork and registration fees must be postmarked NO LATER than Saturday, January 16, 2010, at the absolute latest.  Your registration is not complete until TCRSF has received all paperwork and fees required.  Paper registrations that are incomplete will be disqualified with no refunds. Please get your paperwork in on time!

First round TCRSF Competition papers are read & scored online by judges January 16-24, 2010. Students are informed whether or not they have qualified for the final round paper competition by email on January 29, 2010. They will prepare a symposium-style presentation to present in the Final round of TCRSF Research Paper Competition held at the TCRSF (at the University of Minnesota location in or attached to the Field House) on Friday, February 12, between 12:00-6:00 and WILL NOT conflict with their project judging!  All research paper awards (as in previous years) will be presented at the awards program for TCRSF on Saturday, February 13, 2010, 10:00 am-12:30 pm. Winners in grades 9-12 advance to the JSHS (Junior Science & Humanities Symposium) North Central Region.  Winners in grades 7-8 advance to present their papers at the Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair. (If they win with both their projects and their papers, they will be able to compete in BOTH competitions at state.)

Steps in writing a research paper:

  1. Gather your references and research notes.
  2. Pick an interesting and informative title.
  3. Write one section at a time (see a list of typical sections below).
  4. Be sure to cite the work and ideas of other people. (Credit to the author of any statement or information which you did not discover.)
  5. Add tables and figures.
  6. Obtain feedback from many readers.
  7. Create a new draft.
  8. Find a second round of readers.
  9. Proofread the final version.
  10. Submit the final paper to the science fair.
  11. TCRSF is now following the national JSHS guidelines & rules for the research paper, with a couple of exceptions: CHANGE: Due to a successful appeal, research papers entered in TCRSF may now include pictures/photos in them as long as the total size of the research paper is no more than 1.8 MB in size. Also, the abstract may be the same length as for ISEF/project rules: up to 250 words.

o        The paper should be a minimum of 5-6 pages and a maximum of 20 pages, including appendices.

o        Photography may be used in the electronic research paper; photography may be used in the oral presentations ... and now in the paper as well as long as the file size restriction is met.

o        Graphs, tables, diagrams, charts, or other graphic representation should be simple to allow the judges on-line access to the research paper.

o        A maximum size limit for the electronic research paper is 1.8 Mb.

o        The judges read both the abstract and the research paper. 

o        National rules limit the abstract to 200 words, but at TCRSF, we will allow the abstract to be up to 250 words to be consistent with the ISEF rules for project competition. Therefore, if the student is competing in both the research paper and the project competitions, they are permitted to use the same abstract for both - until/ if they compete at Nationals. Abstracts for nationals MUST be limited to 200 words.

SCIENTIFIC CATEGORIES for RESEARCH PAPERS: (JSHS categories)

·         Environmental science; Earth and Space Science

·         Engineering

·         Physical Sciences, including chemistry, physics, and astronomy

·         Life sciences

·         Medicine and Health; Behavioral and Social Sciences

·         Mathematics and Computer Science

 

RECOMMENDED OUTLINE for RESEARCH PAPERS by JSHS:

  1. The title page must include the title, the student's name, the student's school, grade and age, category, type of paper (investigative or library research), and advisor's name.

  2. Acknowledgement of major assistance received;
  3. Table of contents;
  4. If applicable, statement that "research involving non-human vertebrates or human subjects was conducted under the supervision of an experienced teacher or researcher and followed state and federal regulatory guidance applicable to the human and ethical conduct of such research";
  5. Introduction;
  6. Materials and methods;
  7. Results (data or findings);
  8. Discussion and conclusions;
  9. References, or literature cited;
  10. and Appendices (if necessary)

TYPES OF RESEARCH PAPERS:

a.  An INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH PAPER is the report of an actual experiment that the student has performed.  Many students write a research paper on their science project.

b.  A LIBRARY RESEARCH PAPER is a report on other people’s work documented by library sources.  Where there is controversy, the student should take a stand, which he or she supports, from the library references.  Winning papers will attempt to propose a new theory, design, or concept from their library research.  This is not intended to be a “report” on a topic.

 

Sections for a typical research paper:

Title

A hint of what's to come. Be brief and informative. The title page must include the title, the student's name, the student's school, grade and age, category (see abstract form for categories, such as biochemistry, computer sciences, physics & astronomy, etc.), type of paper (investigative or library research), and advisor's name.

Abstract

A description of the whole project in 250 words or less. It tells the reader about your topic and what you think is important. (1-2 paragraphs)

Introduction

A discussion of what's been done before and what you plan to do. (1-4 paragraphs)

For Investigative Papers: Materials and Methods

A detailed description of the experiments. Include any details which are important to your experiment. Use complete sentences. (1-5 paragraphs)

For Library Research: Review of Literature

A more in-depth review of other's people's work, documented by library sources.

Results

An organized summary of your data. Provides your readers with proof of your work. (3-10 paragraphs) Tables, graphs, charts, and photographs are good means to communicate your results.

Discussion of Results

This section is where you explain how you interpreted your data. Discuss use of statistics and sources of error. (1-5 paragraphs)

Conclusion

Your conclusion must flow from your results and relate to your hypothesis (whether or not the hypothesis was supported).

References

A resource for readers. Materials you read or people you talked with while preparing for, designing, and writing about your research. Be consistent. For each reference, you will include some general information such as the last names and initials of all authors and editors, titles, dates of publication, and other publication information. Titles of books, journals, magazines, and newspapers are usually italicized or underlined. If you reference a website, be sure to include the date accessed in your reference because web pages can be edited or changed!

Appendices

A place for extra information. Whatever is attached should be short and relevant to your work. Graphs or charts that did not fit in your paper may be in the appendices. Other possibilities for appendices would be source code for computer programs that you authored for your project, or diagrams explaining life cycles or metabolic pathways, etc. that are relevant to your work, or a few photos that are relevant to the project. It is appropriate for some projects to have a "definition of terms" in the appendices.

 

Research Paper rubrics (score sheets used by the judges) are available:

    Investigative Research Paper rubric

    Investigative Research Paper comment sheet

    Library Research Paper rubric

    Library Research Paper comment sheet

 

    Oral presentation rubric

   

 

Final Round Oral Presentation Competition:

  • The research presentation may not exceed 12 minutes, followed by a maximum 5-minute question period. (Nationals allows 6 minutes.) The procedure for maintaining the time includes a 10-minute signal for the student, and finally a 12-minute signal. At the 12-minute point, the student speaker must stop the presentation even if he or she has not finished.
  • Set-up time for the presentation is a maximum of 2 minutes. This set-up time is not included in the above presentation time.
  • Following the presentation, the session moderator will ask for judge questions. (Nationals allows audience questions. TCRSF allows questions only from the judges.)
  • The speaker may entertain questions while the exchange appears interesting and relevant up to 5 minutes of Q/A. 
  • The speaker should repeat a question before answering so the audience may understand the entire dialogue.

 

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