RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR THE
SUSSEX COUNTY SCIENCE FAIR (SCSF)





CONTINUATION OF PROJECTS:



1. As in the professional world, research projects may build on work performed previously. A valid continuation project is a sound scientific endeavor. Students will be judged only on laboratory experiment/data collection performed over 12 continuous months beginning no earlier than January 2012 and ending April 2013.

2. Any project based on the student’s prior research could be considered a continuation project. If the current year’s project could not have been performed without the outcome of a past year’s research project, then it is considered a continuation for competition. These projects must document that the additional research is a substantive expansion from prior work (e.g. testing a new variable or new line of investigation.) Repetition of previous experimentation with the same methodology and research question, even with an increased sample size, is an example of an unacceptable continuation.

3. Display board and abstract must reflect the current year’s work only. The project title displayed in the Finalist’s booth may mention years (for example, “Year Two of an Ongoing Study”). Supporting data books (not research papers) from previous related research may be exhibited if properly labeled as such.

4. Longitudinal studies are permitted as an acceptable continuation under the following conditions:

a. The study is a multi-year study testing or documenting the same variables in which time is a critical variable. (Examples: effect of high rain or drought on soil in a given basin, return of flora and fauna in a burned area over time.)

b. Each consecutive year demonstrates time-based change.

c. The display board is based on collective past definitive data and its comparison to the current year data set. No raw data from previous years may be displayed.

5. All continuation projects must be reviewed and approved each year and forms must again be completed for the new year.