College of DuPage Library

Science Fair Project Research

graph.png
Welcome to the Science Fair Project Research Guide.

Click on a tabs below to find books and websites to help you choose a project as well as resources for research and project materials.

If you need additional help, stop by the Reference Desk or contact a reference librarian: Ask A Librarian.

  1. Topics & "How-To-Do-It"
  2. Databases & Books
  3. Project Material Sources


Websites


How-To-Do-It Books

Click on the links below to access the online book/website or record/description of the book.


Project Examples


Science Fair Project Indexes


Best Bet links: Databases

  • To find research articles on your topic, use Databases. The Library has thousands of journals in PDF or fulltext format. (HINT: Use "Find this" to connect to fulltext in other databases if PDF/HTML fulltext is not listed for an article). Many additional titles are indexed but not fulltext, in which case they must be ordered using Interlibrary Loan.
  • Click this link and look under Science for your area of research.
  • You can access these databases from home. Someone in your family over the age of 18 must have a College of DuPage Lbrary Card (community borrower status, if not a student here.)
  • Academic Search Premier
    Access to the full text of over 4500 scholarly journals. Search by keyword using Advanced Search to link keywords and phrases seaparated by the word "AND". "Click on "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals" if you need academic journal literature.
  • Academic OneFile
    Use Advanced Search to link keywords and phrases you want to match. Choose "Peer-Reviewed" for academic journals.
  • Science Direct
    Full-text of hundreds of scientific journals from the publisher Elsevier. Be sure to select "Subscribed Journals" from the Source drop-down menu.
  • JSTOR
    An archive of the articles in hundreds of journals going back decades or even a century or more up to just a few years ago (but not usually current issues). Many of the journals relate to the sciences. Use Advanced Search to link concepts.
  • Science Online.
    The full text of Science from 1997-Present. Science is available from 1880-1996 in the JSTOR database.
  • Scientific American Archives Online
    Indexing of every issue of Scientific American. PDFs of every article from 1993 to present.
  • High Wire Press
    A searchable resource with full-text journal literature, some free, some for-fee. Go to "More search options" and enter desired terms under "Title & Abstract only," as these are where most important terms in an article will be found; leave search on buttom for "all" to match all terms.

    • The COD Library may not have the journal that your article is in. In that case, a person with a COD Library card may order these articles through
    Interlibrary Loan.


Books

  • Search by Keyword or Subject in the COD Library Catalog
  • Books that check out are in either the General or Juvenile collections and are in order by Library of Congress Call Number.
  • Adults with COD Library card may check out 10 general books at a time.
  • Reference books may not be checked out, but pages may be photocopied in the Library.


Citing Sources

  • Click on this link to Citing Sources
  • Use APA (American Psychological Association) or MLA (Modern Language Association) format for your list of works.
  • APA format is usually the format required by the rules of most Science Fair organizers, including the Illinois Junior Academy of Science. The Citing Sources Guide presents examples from the 6th edition (2010) of APA; the 5th edition archived examples are at the bottom.

Project Material Sources

Tags: 
science fair