1. Scientific Investigations
Unit 3
Scientific Investigations

2. Starter Activity Answer these questions: Name a famous scientist
Name a scientific journal or magazine
What was the most recent scientific discovery / development you heard about?
What is your very favourite scientific topic? (what are you a geek about?!)

3. Unit 3: Scientific Investigations
This unit covers all the aspects of planning, carrying out and writing up a scientific investigation. You will have a certain amount of freedom in choosing an area of science that you would like to investigate.

4. Lesson Objectives To discuss some ideas for a research project
To begin using some research techniques
To understand what is meant by plagiarism

5. Science Practicals
Write a list of science practicals you remember doing…
Join with a partner to expand your list…
Now look at your list and decide which are investigations…

6. How is an investigation carried out?
Write down the stages in any scientific investigation…
Somebody write their list on the board…

7. Scientific Investigation
Idea
Research
Hypothesis
Investigate: Collect Data
Analyse data
Write up/ Conclude
Evaluate / reflect

8. Scientific Report Abstract Hypothesis Aims Method Results Analysis
Conclusion
Evaluation

9. Some of last year’s investigations:
Stretching springs and strawberry bootlaces to investigate Hooke’s law.

10. The Effect of Caffeine on the Heart Rate of Water Fleas

11. The effect of different exercise regimes on heart rate and blood pressure:

12. The effect of acidity on seed germination

13. Some more ideas: The effect of antibiotics on the growth of bacteria
Investigating energy in different fuels

14. Investigating plant ecology
Or invertebrates

15. Carrying Out Scientific Investigations (Paul Anderson)

16. Some of science’s strangest discoveries:

17. Your ideas:
Start to have a think about what area of science you might like to investigate.
Discuss with a partner / small group.
Begin writing down your ideas…

18. Research
Use text books to fill in your information sheets…

19. Writing up your research notes
Put text books away
Use your bullet points to re-write the information into a mini essay. Ensure you use full sentences, be mindful of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Approx half to a full page of A4.

20. Research
This is how you should be researching; using text books, journals and websites.
Write down important bullet points
Write down the title and author of the book and the full website address for websites.

21. Research
Before carrying out your own investigations, you must first thoroughly research it. The first assignment is a literature review

22. Unit 3: Scientific Investigations
Lesson 2: Referencing, Plagiarism and Research

23. Scientific Investigation Words:

24. Lesson Objectives: To think further about possible research topics
To understand what is meant by plagiarism
To be familiar with the Harvard referencing system
(To be familiar with the layout and content of scientific journals.)

25. 10 most amazing recent scientific discoveries

26. Homework
Have you had any more ideas about possible research topics? Discuss…

27. Plagiarism
It is important that you don’t copy / paste information from websites, or copy word for word from textbooks.
It is acceptable to use the occasional quote, as long as it has quotation marks and is referenced.
Otherwise, it can be classed as plagiarism

28. Plagiarism Plagiarism is serious
At university, it can lead to you being kicked off the course.
Attempting it repeatedly at college will lead to failing assignments.

29. Why do people plagiarise?
Laziness
Because they don’t know any different
To look/sound more intelligent than they are!

30. Good Will Hunting

31. Refrencing
Harvard Referencing System

32. Referencing true or false
Information on the internet is 'free'. Anyone can use it without having to reference it.  
As long as I use speech marks, I don't have to say where the quotation is from.  
I can copy pictures/diagrams/photos without referencing them.
If I summarise other people's ideas, I still need to reference them.
If I paraphrase or rewrite the information, I don't need to reference it.  

33. A quick guide to referencing
In the body of text you need to clearly detail the name of the author and the year their work was published – citation
The reader should then be able to cross-reference this to a more detailed list at the end Reference List or ‘Bibliography’
Both should be systematic, uniform and thorough, and really easy to understand
Throughout any written report, make sure you use the same system consistently
So, how do we actually go about referencing.
When you are writing your report/essay/dissertation, if you want to cite someone's work, you should place the name of the Author and the year that the work was published in the main text of your work. This is known as a CITATION.
At the end of your essay, you will have a detailed list of all the sources. This is called the REFERENCE LIST, or BIBLIOGRAPHY.
It is really important that both the citations and the bibliography are consistent, uniform and really easy to understand!
Depending on the type of referencing you decide to use, you may find that instead of the authors name a symbol, or number placed in brackets will be used. Similarly, the bibliography may be set out in several different formats which we are now going to discuss.

34. Harvard System in body text Author (Date)
Darwin (1972) famously outlined his theory of evolution, based on his clos of variations between species around the world.
Bibliography at the end Who, When, What, Where & By Whom
Darwin, C. (1972) The Origin of Species. London: Dent.
There are lots of different ways to reference – choose one style and stick to it throughout your project.
One good easy to follow style that is commonly used is the “Harvard system”
This is an example of how you would reference something you have used from a book.
This uses the AUTHOR, DATE method as shown in the example above for the CITATION in the body text.
In the bibliography at the end of the essay/report, the following information is given
Who wrote it (Author name)
When was it written (Year)
What was written (Title of the book)
Where and by whom was it published (Publishers name and city)
Lots of information about different referencing styles is available on the internet, so if you are unsure, then it’s easy to look it up. As I mentioned before, there are lots of different styles, it’s easiest to pick one method and then stick with it!

35. Referencing Websites & Journals (Harvard)
General format for journal articles:
Surname[s] of author[s], Initial[s]. (Year) Title of article, Journal Title, Volume (Part), Pages
Wong, S. T. and Goodin, S. (2009) Overcoming drug resistance in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Pharmacotherapy, 29 (2),
Websites: include the date accessed
(Accessed 16/03/2009)
When referencing a website or a journal article, the principles are the same as for a book, you just have to put in some other information..
For a journal article, in the body text, you would cite the author and the date.
In the bibliography, you also need to give the following information.
Who wrote it- Surname[s] of author[s], Initial[s].
When was it written - Year
What was written - Title of article,
Where was it published –Journal title
Where can I find it in the journal – Volume of the journal, part number, page number
An example is given above.
For a website, you should list the web address as your citation and then again in your bibliography, list the web address and the date that you accessed the website. If the website has a title, for example – Cancer Research UK website, you can also write this down next to the web address.

36. Sources
There are lots of different types of sources you can use while doing academic work. These can include:
- Books - Journals - Web pages - Pictures/graphs - Newspapers/TV - Lecture Notes
The key to avoiding plagiarism is to make sure that you acknowledge your sources in the text. To do this properly you will need to do two things:
1. Take good notes, making sure you have sufficient detail to allow you to trace your sources.
2. Follow a standard system of referencing
Both these things will help you avoid wasting your time. You will probably need to revisit sources and ideas and well referenced notes are the short cut to doing this without starting again from scratch!
There are lots of different sources that you will be using in your projects, and this remains the same for any sort of academic work you will undertake.
Hands up – give me some examples of sources
The key to avoiding plagiarism is to properly acknowledge these sources EVERY TIME YOU USE THEM
You need to be able to take good notes, which will allow you to trace your sources. Chances are you'll need to revisit sources and ideas and well referenced notes are the short cut to doing this without starting again from scratch!
And, we have already discussed that as well as good note taking, using a standard referencing system, like Harvard will make your life much easier.

37. The “perfect” notes.. Notes can be useful to help you understand what
you have just read, or they can be used to jot
down any questions that you have, or ideas that
you want to pursue further.
Important things to note down:
Any facts and figures
Direct quotations I might want to use
Paraphrase, not just copying chunks
Source details!!!
Note taking is a skill that you will develop over time, and practice makes perfect.
Notes are a good way to help you understand what you have just read, and can be used to formulate any questions you may have coming from that source, leading to ideas that you want to investigate further.
As you study and write your notes, don't copy chunks of text directly out of the book, instead always write your study notes in your own words (but note which book or article your notes were drawn from).
Once you have taken notes from the original source, work only from your notes: put the original article or book away.
Check your writing against the books and articles you are using as sources. If the words you've written are too similar to the original, you should try to revise your own wording.
Things you should be noting down are
Any facts and figures
Direct quotations you might want to use
Practice paraphrasing - When you paraphrase another author's writing you are rewriting their argument using your own words, phrasing and interpreting it in your own way. Source details!!! – this is most important, get into the habit of writing down as much information about the source (Author, date, title, etc)

38. Some final hints! If in doubt: reference it.
Make sure you record the source when taking notes. When taking notes make it clear if you are copying directly, paraphrasing or summarising.
Use different colours when you write down direct quotes
ALWAYS make notes in your own words.
Don't cut and paste!
Be prepared to go and find a reference for something you already know, for instance a scientific claim, in order to back it up
Some final words of advice
If you are in any doubt about whether or not you should cite a source, cite it.
When you are making notes, make sure you record the source at the time and make it clear if you are copying directly, paraphrasing or summarising. This will save you time in the future as you will not have to come back to the source to check! A good tip for doing this is to have a “colour coding” system, so get some nice coloured pens and use different colours when you write down direct quotes!
If you can, try and ALWAYS make notes in your own words.
Don't cut and paste! When using information from the internet, write it down in your own words rather than just copying and pasting.
Be prepared to go and find a reference for something you already know, for instance a scientific claim, in order to back it up. This will make your research much more credible.

39. Reference your sources!
In a nutshell..
To avoid plagiarism…
...And to show you’ve really extended yourself during your research...
Reference your sources!
Finally, the best way to avoid plagiarism and end up with a really excellent extended project report is to ALWAYS REFERENCE YOUR SOURCES!!!!

40. Different sources and how to reference them…
Read the information sheet…

41. Referencing Activity…
Read the example essay and then complete the referencing activity.

42. Homework Task: Complete another research sheet on the following topic:
The Effect of Light Intensity on Photosynthesis
This time, use at least 2 different text books.