F1 Biology
Poster Project
Your task is to produce a detailed poster about a living organism
Your deadline is the ……………………………………………………….
The first thing to do is to pick your organism! How will you do this?
You could use your own knowledge, books and web resources to help
you. Will you choose a mammal? Maybe an elephant or a tiger? What
about plants? Flowers, trees, single celled organisms like some types of
algae? (I think bubble algae are particularly interesting!)
Write down the name of your chosen living organism below.
……………………………………………………………………………………….....
Search Strategy
Planning stages
Before you attempt to open textbooks or search on Google you would
benefit from writing down everything you already know about your
chosen subject. Note everything you already know down here.
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Now you can see what you DO know, it is easier to see where there are
gaps in your knowledge.
What questions do you need to answer to fulfill the project
requirements?
The mind map below will help you. Try to think of questions that begin
with these five key words, for example; How does my organism find
food? Where can my organism be found? What does my organism
eat?
Who
Where
When
Main Idea
What
Why
How
2
Set yourself some questions to answer and start planning
your research below.
3
Locating sources
Using a wide range of resources will allow you to create a varied and
informative poster. Which of the resources below would you use?
Text books used in class
Library Books
Internet
Newspapers/magazines
People
Reference Books, e.g. encyclopedia, World Book
Plan your search terms!
When using the library catalogue, book indexes or searching on Google you
should use relevant keywords. Jot some down in the spaces below.
Using your sources
REMEMBER - you must always acknowledge where you got your
information. This allows your marker to check your information and
shows that you have made an effort to research properly. You will lose
marks if you forget to include this information!
A bibliography is a list of resources used. You will create your own and
include the following information for each item


Author
Title
4



Date of publication
Publishers
If the information was on a website – the web address.
Using the template below will be a BIG help to you! Copy it out and use it for
each source, websites, books and magazines, whatever you use.
Book Template
Author
Title
Date of publication (this can often be found on the very first page of a
book)
Publisher (again, this can often be found on the very first page of a
book)
Website Template
Author
(It may be difficult to find out the author of a website, but you must try.
It is not correct just to write BBC if on a BBC page. The author can
sometimes be found at the foot of the page or on the home page for
that website, or by looking for the copyright symbol (©). If you need
help finding an author, please ask the library staff. )
Title
Date the information was published on the internet ___________
The FULL URL of the site you used (This can easily be copied from the
address bar and pasted into a word document.)
The date that you last accessed that website.
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Taking Notes
Researching a number of sources means you will be presented with a
lot of information, keeping this organised can be challenging so how
you take your notes is very important!
TOP-TIPS for note taking
 Do not simply copy what another author has written – this
includes information found on the Internet. Use your own
words, unless you are including quotations which you should
copy directly and enclose in quotation marks. If you disagree
with what an author is saying include this as a quote and
explain your opinion.
 Set limits for how long you will spend researching and how
long you will take to create your poster. It is easy to get
carried away researching and find yourself pushed for time at
the creation stage. You do not want to have fantastic notes
but a poor end product!
 Always keep your topic in mind when reading sources. Does
the information you are taking down in notes help you answer
the questions you set yourself earlier?
 STOP when you have enough information to complete the
task – too many notes can become confusing.
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Evaluating
As you approach the end of your research it is important to consider
whether you have answered the original question and filled the gaps in
your knowledge. Have you answered the questions you set yourself?
You may want to go back and repeat some of the process to produce
a better final result!
Here are some questions to think about.
Did I find out all
that I needed
to know? (If
not, what
prevented
me?)
Which
information
sources gave
the most useful
results?
Do I need to
find out more
information?
My
research
What were my
most effective
questions? (Do
they have
anything in
common?)
Is the final
product
effective?
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