Preparing a Great Science Fair Display Board

Your science fair display board will be the way you present your project to the world. It is how your project will be viewed and judged. You worked hard to pick a great project, design and conduct a valid experiment and reach conclusions. Now, make sure to put the same care and thought into your display and presentation.

The keys to a good science fair display are simplicity, clarity and neatness. Make sure that the judges can understand your hypothesis, experiment and conclusions quickly and easily. Everything must be neat, organized and lined-up well. No sloppy work, crossed-out words, erasure marks, pictures falling off, etc. And triple-check your spelling!

What You Need

You will need the following things for your science fair display:

• a white, tri-fold cardboard display board. These are available at office supply stores and on-line. A colorful background may work with some presentations, but more often it is distracting. Keeping it simple usually works best.
• bright colorful lettering for the titles and descriptions. Either print them using a computer, or buy premade adhesive letters. Both of those look neater and more professional than hand written lettering.
• colorful construction paper behind your typed descriptions, charts and graphs acts as a frame to set them off from the white background. Color coordinate your display to make it eye-catching and pleasant to look at.
• include at least one photograph or drawing.
• your logbook, which you used to record your experimental data.

Your Logbook

Your logbook, which should be neat and legible, should also be a part of your display. It should include:

• a title page
• a table of contents
• a purpose statement
• an abstract
• your hypothesis
• a list of materials
• the procedure
• all data
• charts, graphs, and all analysis of your data
• your conclusions
• background information (including a correctly formatted bibliography)
• acknowledgments (Did you receive help or materials from teachers, parents, a librarian, etc.)

Your Science Fair Display Board

Be sure to include all of the following items on your science fair display board:

• the title
• a purpose statement
• an abstract (if required)
• your hypothesis
• the procedure
• data and results - charts, graphs, analysis
• your conclusions