This essay is about the scientific method and how to follow its procedure.

The Scientific Method is a process used to evaluate, assess, and analyze a problem or question in the field of science. It has been used many, many years. It gives the proper framework for obtaining knowledge, testing it, and reporting results. Following the sequence of the method provides success. The following pages contain a summary of the Scientific Method.

The first step in the sequence is stating the problem. To do this, you want to ask a question about something you would like to know more about. Look for something that you question, or wonder why it is so. Then, state your question/problem carefully. After all of this is done, you would want to find the answer to your question so you would move on to the next step in the sequence.

The second step in this sequence is gathering information. Doing this step well makes it easier to come up with a good experiment that makes sense. You can find information in numerous ways. You can do research using written sources like newspapers, magazines, the internet, and more. Also, you can always talk to other people to pick up information. Sometimes, you can even use knowledge you have learned from your own past experiences. Using this information, you can make a good hypothesis, which is the next step.

Thirdly, you must form a hypothesis. What you want to do is make a good educated guess on what you think will be the outcome of the experiment. Using the information you gathered on the previous step, this shouldn't be too hard. After you have done this, you must move on to testing your hypothesis and learning from it!

Now, to the hands-on part, which is actually doing the experiment. In this part, you want to do several things. You want to make sure to do proper planning, and get all the supplies you will need. It can never hurt to have lots of extra stuff on hand just in case you run into any problems, or have to do more than three trials. Then you want to figure out all of your constants and variables in the experiment. This is also sometimes called the experimental vs. control Group. Make sure not to test more than one or two variables at a time. Otherwise, you would not have clear data results.

Another key thing to remember in your experiment is safety. The most important thing is that you never do an experiment by yourself! Always have a lab partner with you, so that if you were to have a problem, your partner would be there to assist you. For most all experiments you need to have protective eyewear. Also, remember insulated gloves if you are handling something hot and rubber gloves for strong chemicals. You also want to make sure to have the proper safety equipment in the lab you are testing in. You may need an emergency eye wash station, fire extinguishers, or anything else related to a specific thing you may be testing. When testing any chemicals, even household types, be sure you have researched to know if there is any possibility of dangerous reactions.

During the experiment follow your plan carefully. Take notes on interesting and unusual observations. Keep a log or record of the data. Make sure to record any even that occurs in the lab, even if you just spill something. Don't just rely on yourself to remember.

After you have completed your experiment, you are then going to state a conclusion. To do this, you must first analyze the results you got from the experiment. You would want to definitely check to make sure everything makes sense and you see no errors. If everything looks good, then you are set. Sum up what you have learned and make a statement of your findings. Be sure to support these findings thoroughly with your data. You will be reporting your results in a variety of ways in the next step.

Finally, you would want to report your results. There are a variety of ways you can do this. The most common way is a written report on the experiment and findings on your topic. The first part of the report should be the abstract. An abstract is a brief description of what you did and what you found out. Next, comes the title page. Try to come up with a cool title for your paper, and include your name here. After that, put a table of contents. Make sure to also put acknowledgments to those who assisted you. Then write up the experiment report. Make sure to include the purpose, materials used, your procedure, the results, and your conclusion and discussion. You would also include a research report based on the early gathering of information you did. Graphs are sometimes a great visual tool depending on your data. Last but not least, you can always include pictures of before, during, and after the experiment. This would give other people a more clear understanding of what happened. It would also be helpful to include a bibliography. This provides people with the sources you used in case they wanted to gather further details from these sources.

If you choose, you can submit this information to web sites, magazines, or whatever other sources you think would benefit from the information. Always try to publish clear, step-by-step results, with your lab records! If you don't, then your experiment could be useless. One great thing about reporting what you found, is that other scientists can try your experiment and see if they get similar results! They can help detect if there were any errors in your experiment. In turn, if another scientist attempts your experiment and it doesn't seem to work, then you can try to determine if there is an error in their procedure.

Well, that concludes my report. I hope you have learned a little about the Scientific Method like I have. It is a very useful tool in Science, and I highly recommend you use it when doing experiments!