Verifiedintermediate
Before you survey anyone
Consent, assent, minors, and the approval that must come before recruitment — not after.
- consent
- irb
- surveys
- +1
Human Participants8 min
Resources
Curated guides, templates, and reading — the things worth knowing before you need them.
50 resources
Verifiedintermediate
Choosing a statistical test
A decision path from your design to the right test, and what to do when the assumptions fail.
- tests
- t-test
- anova
- +1
Statistics8 min
Verifiedintermediate
Common pitfalls in machine-learning projects
scikit-learn's own guide to data leakage, improper splits, and the mistakes that inflate accuracy.
- leakage
- validation
- scikit-learn
Machine Learning20 min
Verifiedintermediate
Designing an experiment that survives review
Variables, controls, replication, randomisation, and blinding — what each one is protecting you from.
- design
- controls
- replication
- +1
Experimental Design9 min
Verifiedbeginner
Figures that survive a judge at one metre
Practical rules for charts that have to be read across a table, in a noisy hall, in ten seconds.
- figures
- charts
- accessibility
- +1
Data Visualization7 min
Verifiedbeginner
How to turn an interest into a project
A four-step method for getting from "I like marine biology" to a question you can test with the equipment you actually have.
- topic-selection
- scoping
- getting-started
Choosing a Topic6 min
Verifiedintermediate
Official ISEF international rules
The current rules and forms. Always download from here rather than reusing a copy from last year — numbering and requirements change.
- rules
- forms
- isef
- +1
Vertebrate Animals45 min
Verifiedbeginner
Poster layout that works in a crowded hall
Column structure, the 40% white-space rule, and what to cut when it does not fit.
- poster
- layout
- typography
Poster Design8 min
Verifiedbeginner
PubMed Central and other open archives
Where to find the full text when the journal wants forty dollars for it.
- open-access
- library
Verifiedintermediate
Reading a paper without reading all of it
The three-pass method: how to decide in ten minutes whether a paper is worth an hour.
- reading
- triage
- notes
Literature Reviews7 min
Verifiedintermediate
Research integrity for student projects
Attribution, data handling, and the grey areas that get projects disqualified.
- integrity
- attribution
- honesty
Research Ethics7 min
Verifiedintermediate
Structuring an analysis you can defend
A folder layout and a set of habits that keep a computational project reproducible.
- reproducibility
- code
- structure
Programming7 min
Verifiedintermediate
The 250-word abstract, sentence by sentence
A seven-sentence skeleton that fits the usual word limit and covers everything judges look for.
- abstract
- structure
- word-limit
Abstract Writing6 min
Verifiedbeginner
The IMRaD structure
What belongs in Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion — and the sentences that end up in the wrong one.
- imrad
- structure
- paper
Scientific Writing6 min
Verifiedintermediate
The questions judges actually ask
Twelve recurring interview questions and what a strong answer contains.
- judging
- interview
- questions
Verifiedbeginner
The timeline nobody tells you about
Working backwards from fair day, including the approval gates that stop work before it starts.
- timeline
- planning
- deadlines
Science-Fair Rules7 min
Verifiedbeginner
What makes a research question testable
The four properties every fair-ready question has, with before-and-after rewrites.
- question
- scope
- testable
Research Questions6 min
Verifiedintermediate
What separates a finalist project from a good one
Patterns that recur in projects that place, drawn from judging rubrics rather than from any single project.
- judging
- rubrics
- quality
Example Projects8 min
Verifiedbeginner
Zotero
Free, open-source reference manager. Captures papers from the browser, syncs across devices, and generates bibliographies in any style.
- tool
- references
- zotero
Citations5 min
Verifiedbeginner
Abstract self-review checklist
Fifteen checks to run on your abstract before submitting it.
- checklist
- abstract
- editing
Abstract Writing3 min
Verifiedadvanced
Biosafety levels and what a school lab can do
BSL-1 and BSL-2 in practice, and which organisms are off-limits in a school setting.
- biosafety
- microbiology
- containment
Biological Agents7 min
Verifiedbeginner
Browse the winning-project archive
Worked summaries of strong projects by category, with what made each one work. Study the structure — never copy the project.
- archive
- examples
- inspiration
Example Projects5 min
Verifiedintermediate
Choosing the right control
Negative, positive, vehicle, and sham controls — and how to tell which your experiment needs.
- controls
- baseline
- confounds
Control Groups6 min
Verifiedbeginner
Citing sources without losing your mind
Why the style matters less than the consistency, and the four fields you must never omit.
- references
- bibliography
- style
Citations5 min
Verifiedbeginner
Control-group checklist
A one-page printable checklist to run against your procedure before data collection starts.
- checklist
- controls
- protocol
Control Groups3 min
Verifiedbeginner
Engineering design criteria template
A fill-in template for stating design requirements, constraints, and test criteria before you build.
- template
- requirements
- iteration
Engineering Safety4 min
Verifiedbeginner
Google Scholar
The widest net for academic literature. Use the "Cited by" and "Related articles" links — they are usually faster than a new search.
- search
- literature
- database
Verifiedintermediate
Growing microbes safely in a school setting
Sterile technique, sealed plates, and a disposal plan you can point a reviewer at.
- sterile-technique
- culture
- disposal
Biological Agents6 min
Verifiedintermediate
Hedging: saying exactly how sure you are
The vocabulary of scientific caution, and why over-claiming costs more than it gains.
- claims
- hedging
- precision
Scientific Writing6 min
Verifiedbeginner
Matplotlib example gallery
Every chart type with the code that produced it. Faster to find the plot you want here than to search for it.
- python
- matplotlib
- charts
Data Visualization15 min
Verifiedadvanced
NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods
A free, authoritative reference covering experimental design and analysis. Dense, but the design-of-experiments chapters are excellent and worth the effort.
- reference
- doe
- statistics
Experimental Design60 min
Verifiedintermediate
Null and alternative hypotheses, plainly
What the null hypothesis is actually for, and why "I rejected the null" is not the same as "I proved my idea".
- statistics
- null-hypothesis
- inference
Hypothesis Development15 min
Verifiedintermediate
Operational definitions
Turning "healthier", "faster", and "better" into something two people would measure the same way.
- measurement
- definitions
- reproducibility
Verifiedadvanced
OSHA laboratory safety resources
Official guidance on chemical hygiene in laboratories. Written for workplaces; the hazard-control logic transfers directly.
- safety
- chemicals
- regulation
Hazardous Chemicals25 min
Verifiedbeginner
pandas: 10 minutes to pandas
The official quick-start for the library most data analysis in Python runs through. Worth doing properly once.
- python
- pandas
- tutorial
Programming25 min
Verifiedbeginner
Poster planning worksheet
Block out your board before you open the design software — content first, layout second.
- template
- planning
- poster
Poster Design4 min
Verifiedbeginner
Question, hypothesis, prediction — three different things
The distinction judges probe and most students blur.
- hypothesis
- prediction
- mechanism
Research Questions5 min
Verifiedintermediate
Reading a safety data sheet
Which of the sixteen SDS sections actually change your protocol, and what to extract from each.
- sds
- ppe
- risk-assessment
Hazardous Chemicals6 min
Verifiedbeginner
Rehearsing the two-minute explanation
A drill for building an explanation that survives interruption, noise, and forty repetitions.
- rehearsal
- speaking
- pitch
Verifiedintermediate
Risk assessment for build projects
A five-column method for identifying and controlling hazards in mechanical, electrical, and thermal builds.
- risk-assessment
- electrical
- mechanical
Engineering Safety8 min
Verifiedbeginner
Science Buddies project idea library
A large, searchable catalogue of starter projects by field and difficulty. Useful for seeing the shape of a project, less useful if you copy one wholesale.
- ideas
- browse
- inspiration
Choosing a Topic10 min
Verifiedbeginner
StatQuest
Short, genuinely clear video explanations of statistical concepts, from the basics through to machine-learning methods.
- video
- explainers
- statistics
Statistics12 min
Verifiedintermediate
Structuring a literature review
Why chronological reviews read badly, and what to organise by instead.
- writing
- structure
- argument
Literature Reviews6 min
Verifiedadvanced
U.S. Office of Research Integrity
Educational material on responsible conduct of research. Written for professionals, but the case studies are readable and the principles are the same.
- integrity
- misconduct
- cases
Research Ethics20 min
Verifiedbeginner
Variables: independent, dependent, controlled, confounding
How to identify all four in your own design, with a worked example.
- variables
- confounds
- design
Verifiedadvanced
Vertebrate animal studies: what the rules require
The approvals, supervision, and welfare standards that apply before any vertebrate work begins.
- animals
- welfare
- approval
- +1
Vertebrate Animals7 min
Verifiedbeginner
Which forms does my project need?
An orientation to the common form set and the order it is completed in. Informational only — confirm every requirement with your own fair.
- forms
- approvals
- isef
Science-Fair Rules7 min
Verifiedbeginner
Writing a falsifiable hypothesis
A worked template, plus the four failure modes that make a hypothesis untestable.
- hypothesis
- falsifiability
- template
Verifiedintermediate
Writing survey questions that do not lead
Wording, scales, and order effects — the bias you build in before anyone answers.
- surveys
- bias
- questionnaire
Human Participants7 min
Verifiedintermediate
Your model needs a baseline
Why 94% accuracy can be a terrible result, and what to compare against instead.
- baseline
- evaluation
- metrics
Machine Learning7 min