Read the project guidelines before starting your project. The requirements vary from school to school and fair to fair. For example, some schools don't want you to use animals or living objects in your experiment so studying how fast snails move on different surfaces would result in a failing grade or disqualification from the science fair. Understand the project rules before you do anything.
Give your project a catchy name. Once you have an idea, think of a title that reflects what the project is about. A title can be as short as a couple of words or be a question. If you are studying plants and how they grow if fed water or soda, you may consider calling your project "Soda versus Water: Watch My Plant Grow." The audience should get an idea of what you studied just by reading the title.
Pick your brain for a good question. According to the University of Washington, finding a subject to study for your project is the most difficult part of the assignment. If you can't think of anything right away, think of things that interest you and then come up with a question about that topic. You can do a science project on just about anything, including studying the effects of playing video games with the lights on or off, cell phones and texting, or chewing gum.
Write down your prediction, or hypothesis, for your project. A hypothesis is no longer than a sentence or two. When thinking of your hypothesis, pretend you're a fortune teller looking into a crystal ball. Try to predict what will happen with your project. It is okay if you are wrong, since a hypothesis is just a prediction of what you think could happen, not what will happen.
Gather all the materials you will need to complete your project. If you are doing the plant experiment, you will need two of the same plants, a liter of soda, water and a ruler to measure plant growth. You will also need a journal to keep records of what you did each day. If you don't have the necessary supplies around your house, ask your teacher if he could supply you with the materials or ask your parents for help.
Conduct your experiment. Most projects take place over time. Don't wait until the day before the project is due to start your work. Plan ahead and start early. The plant experiment cannot be started two days before the due date. You will need to start watering the plants at least two weeks before the project is due as you'll need to watch how the plants grow over a 14-day span to see if water or soda fosters or inhibits growth.
Compile the results and data of your experiment. This tells your teachers, judges and anyone else looking at your project what happened while you were doing the project. You may want to include a visual, like a line graph or pie chart, to show the data. Keep a log of what you did every day you worked on your project. Write down anything you saw or noticed. In the plant experiment, write down what days you watered the plants and how much you fed each plant. Measure the plant each day to determine if it grew or not. When done, you can make a line graph showing the growth over time, if it happened at all.
Write your conclusion. This is the part of the project where you say what you found out. Your conclusion should be at least three sentences. Write down what you observed and the results of your experiment. If you are having trouble writing your conclusion, read your hypothesis again. Was your prediction right or wrong? Explain what you learned.
Put together a well-organized display. Fold a piece of poster board into three sections so it can stand on it's own when unfolded. Divide the poster board into sections. There should be a section for your hypothesis, materials used, steps taken, data and your conclusion. Label each part of the display with markers, construction paper and colored pencils. If you have sloppy handwriting, type up each section on the computer, print it out and then cut and paste each part onto the display.