Research stage
Choosing your topic
You need to choose a relevant topic in biology to investigate. You must agree this topic with your teacher or lecturer.
Deciding your aim
Once you have chosen your topic, you need to decide on the aim of your investigation.
Your teacher or lecturer will provide advice on the suitability of your aim.
Experimental research
- When choosing your experiment(s), remember that it must allow measurements to be taken.
- Make sure you take a sufficient number of measurements over a wide enough range to meet the aim of your investigation.
- You must repeat measurements.
- You will use your raw experimental data during the report stage.
Internet/literature research
You need to find data/information from the internet, books and/or journals that you can compare to your experimental data. This could be:
- a table or a graph
- information such as a diagram or text which is relevant to your aim
This data/information does not need to exactly match your experiment but could illustrate the trend or pattern expected in your experiment.
It is important that you record where you get your data or extracts from in enough detail that another person could find it. This is known as a reference.
In your report you will need to describe the biology relevant to your aim.
You can gather extracts from the internet, books and/or journals to help you write your description of the underlying biology. During the report stage you will need to show your understanding by writing this description using your own words.
