(This is a sample Science Fair Research Paper. Your paper should be typed double spaced using
Times New Roman 12pt. font. Follow the guides for spacing and formatting. This paper uses a
modified MLA style. Your directions are italicized)
Title of Your Research Paper
(This is centered and typed 5 single spaces down from the top 1” margin)
Your Name
Your Science Teacher’s Name
Grade level
(This section is started 15 single spaces down from your title)
Cartersville Middle School
Date
(This section is started 15 single spaces down from your grade level line)
2
Table of Contents
(This page is labeled in bold on the first line of the page-skip down 4 lines to intro.)
Introduction
page 3
Review of Literature
page 4
Experiment and Data
page 5
Results
page 7
Conclusion
page 9
Works Cited
page 10
Acknowledgments
page 11
3
Introduction
The purpose of this project is to investigate which brand of paper towels will absorb the
most water when cleaning up a spill. The hypothesis states that if comparing Bounty, Scott,
Sparkle, and Western Family brands of paper towels then Bounty paper towels will absorb the
most liquid compared to the other brands of paper towels. The information gained from this
experiment will help consumers know which paper towel will absorb the most of their everyday
spills. The research on the Internet states that Bounty paper towels are 20% more absorbent than
other leading paper towels. This project will be done to determine which brand of paper towels
will do the best job for consumers.
The controlled variables in this experiment are the size of each paper towel and the
amount and type of liquid in each beaker. The paper towels are all the same size, and water will
be used each time. The manipulated variable was the different brands of paper towel. The
responding variable was the amount of water that will be in each beaker. To measure the
responding variable I will measure how much water I squeeze out of the paper towels into the
graduated cylinder, I will measure in milliliters. My hypothesis is that Bounty paper towel brand
will absorb the most liquid compared to four other brands of paper towel.
(The introduction should answer the following questions: What is the problem you are
investigating? Why did you choose to do this experiment? What are the controlled, manipulated,
and response variables? What is your hypothesis?)
4
Review of Literature
This project is about the absorbency of paper towels. Paper towels are interesting to learn
about. There are several things to learn how they absorb water and how much water each brand
of paper towel can or will absorb in a certain amount of time. Paper towels absorb water when
the water fills up into tiny air pockets in the paper towel. Once you get one part of the paper
towel wet it absorbs into the rest of the paper towel in approximately 50 seconds or less.
Water absorbs into the paper towel by water being pulled into little open spaces between
the fiber, soaking the absorbing the water and soaking the paper. Paper towels are one of many
things that are absorbent. Paper towels are one of the most used absorbent items used in
households in the U.S.
(The Review of Literature section of your paper should be 1-2 pages in length. It should include
the relevant information on your research topic. This is where you tell your reader all the
interesting information about the processes that are involved in your topic. This is organized into
paragraphs on each sub-topic and will include information from all of your sources. Be sure to
put the information in your own words. Plagiarism is a serious offense!)
5
Experiment and Data
Purpose
The purpose of this experiment was to see which brand of paper towel most absorbent for
consumers.
Materials

1 roll each of Bounty, Sparkle, Scott, and Western Family brands paper towels

a round funnel

several beakers

a graduated cylinder

water
Procedures
1. First gather all of the materials that you need. 2. Then pour 200 milliliters of water in the beaker that you have. 3. Place a round funnel on top of the graduated cylinder.
4. Then take the first brand of paper towel on your list and place it in the beaker.
5. Time for 15 seconds.
6. After 15 seconds, take the paper towel out of the beaker. 7. Squeeze all the water out of the paper towel into the graduated cylinder. 6
8. Record how much water is in the graduated cylinder. 9. Take the amount of water that was poured into the graduated cylinder and subtract that from
200 milliliters.
10. Next, try the test with 4 other brands of paper towels. 11. Each paper towel needs to be tested 4 times, but you need to record your data for each paper
towel on your data table. 12. Make sure that the water doesn’t spill in any of the tests or you will have to restart the tests
over. 13. Record all data on your data sheet.
(All of this information can be found on your planning page from your science teacher. You will
use this same information for your backboard too.)
7
Results
The original purpose of this experiment was to see which paper towel brand would be the
most absorbent for consumers’ needs.
The results of the experiment were that the Sparkle brand paper towels were the most
absorbent. It absorbed on average, 50ml of water, when the Bounty brand paper towels absorbed
only 44.75ml of water. Western Family brand paper towels absorbed 34ml of water on average,
and Scott brand paper towels only absorbed 33ml.
8
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
9
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
(This section of your project is where you share what you found out by doing your experiment.
This is the place to include graphs of information as well as any other results.)
10
Conclusion
My hypothesis was that Bounty paper towel would be the most absorbent. The results
indicate that my hypothesis should be rejected because sparkle paper towel was the most
absorbent out of the four test groups. Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if next
time that I do an experiment that maybe I will need to do more test groups.
My findings should be useful to consumers because now they can use my information to
know which brand of paper towel can absorb the most of their everyday skills.
If I were to conduct this project again I would use more test groups and I would use
different test groups to see if there are paper towels that are more absorbent than Sparkle paper
towel.;
(This section of your project answers these questions: Did your hypothesis prove to be true or
false? How do your findings benefit other people or how might others use your findings? If you
were to do this project again, what would you do differently?)
11
Works Cited
Adams, Charles. The Wonderful World of Science. Denver, Colorado: Great Big Books
Company, 1999.
Germaine, Susan. A Handbook for Consumers. Dayton, Ohio: Brooks Brothers Books
Incorporated, 2006.
Oscar, Proscer. “Bounty Paper Towels.” Bounty Dec. 2008 <http://www.Bountyfamily.com>.
“Paper Absorbency.” World Book Encyclopedia. 2008.
(The Works Cited page is very important as it gives credit to the resources you used in gathering
information for your project. Please follow your teacher’s instructions for citing your resources.
For this research paper we are using MLA style.)
12
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my language arts teacher for helping me learn how to write a
research paper. I would also like to thank my science teacher for helping me to learn how to do
experiments and learn first hand about science. My parents also helped me by providing all the
money to get the needed supplies.
(This section is provided for you to thank anyone that helped you with your project.)