General instructions

• 1.5 spacing on all pages.

• Use one‐inch margins on all sides.

• Number all pages at the bottom in the middle.

• Use a plain font (like Roboto, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Arial).

• Except for the title page and section headings, use 11 pt font.

• All sections (except the title page) should have a title in bold 16 pt font.
  
  

Research paper structure

Your paper should have the following sections in this order:

• Title Page 

  • Put on a page by itself.

  • Center vertically and horizontally on the page.

  • You must include:

    • name of your project,

    • your name(s),

    • your school with the school logo.

• Table of Contents

  • Put on a page by itself.

  • List all sections on the left side of the page, except title page & table of contents

  • List the corresponding page numbers on the right side of the page (you should

  • check these after you finish your entire paper, to make sure pages haven’t shifted)

• Abstract

  • Put on a page by itself.

  • Summarise your entire project.

  • Maximum of 350 words.

  • Include your question, very brief procedures, and your most important data and conclusions.

  • Include a list of 4-5 keywords.

• Introduction

  • In paragraph form, give information to give the reader background and context to convey the importance of your research. It should begin by broadly introducing your topic, then narrowing to your focused research question or hypothesis.

  • Base your writing on your literature research, not your opinion.

  • DO NOT directly copy/quote from one of your sources – it should be written in your own words. Very short quotes (1‐2 sentences) are acceptable if placed in quotation marks.

  • Minimum of half of a page (11 full lines) and maximum three pages. 

  • You may include pictures, tables, and graphs to further support the information presented in the introduction. Make sure you refer to them in the text - they should not be there for decoration only! Add captions and cite the sources. 

  • DO NOT include a summary of your question, hypothesis, or procedure.

  • UN Sustainable Development Goals:

    • In form of a list or table, state two or three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that your project aligns with or contributes to.

    • For each stated goal, add its icon and brief 2-3 sentence clarification on how exactly your project aligns with it or contributes to it.

    • Include SDG icons for each goal you list. You can find them here.

  • Research Question or Engineering Goal:

    • This is the question you are answering in your experiment.

    • Write it as a question, not a statement. Your independent variables should be clear from your question.

    • If you are doing an ICT or engineering project (one where you are attempting to construct something, rather than answer a question), you should write your goal as a statement, not a question.

  • Hypothesis:

    • Make predictions about ALL of your independent variables.

    • Include a brief reason why you are making that prediction.

    • Use complete sentences.

  • Variables:

    • NOT complete sentences

    • Include the following:

      • Independent variables:

        • Factors you are directly changing in your experiment

        • Each project must have at least 2

        • List the general variable you are changing, not the specific substances/conditions you will test (Ex: “type of liquid”, not “Sprite, orange juice, and water”)

      • Dependent variable(s):

        • Things you are observing or measuring in your experiment to answer your research question.

        • DO NOT write as a question.

      • Constants:

        • Factors that stay the same throughout all parts of your experiment.

        • Give at least 2 constants; most experiments will have more.

        • DO NOT include methods of measuring/calculating as constants.

• Materials

  • Make a bullet‐point list.

  • Include ALL materials you actually used in your experiment

  • Include a picture of the materials you used, preferrably gathered in one place. DO NOT include separate pictures of each separate material, or pictures you found online. 

  • For ICT projects - list the programming languages and software used. 

• Methods

  • Type up your procedure as a numbered list.

  • Write in 2nd person's present tense (like you are telling someone what to do).

    • Correct: 1. Measure 200 mL of water and pour into the bowl.

    • Incorrect: 1. I measured 200 mL and poured it into the bowl.

  • Include diagrams, if necessary, to explain the setup. Add captions when doing so.

  • Be detailed – one of your classmates should be able to read your procedure and do your experiment!

  • If you repeat the same steps but use a different chemical/liquid/size of object, etc., it is fine to say "Repeat steps x to xx using [new material] instead of [original material]."

  • Steps should be no more than a few lines long – if they are longer, break them up into simpler steps.

  • DO NOT copy and paste steps from any source – if you got ideas for your procedure from another source, you should rewrite them in your own words. (The source should be listed in the bibliography.)

  • Pictures:

    • You must include pictures of your experiment and yourself performing the procedure/building the model... You may accompany each enumerated step of the procedure with corresponding pictures, or put a collage of numbered pictures after the text.

    • All pictures must have a caption, explaining what is in the picture.

    • For ICT projects - add screenshots of the code in stages. You must use captions to explain.

    • IMPORTANT NOTE: Research papers without convincing pictures of students working on their project, completing the steps listed in the procedure, progressive screenshots of the developed code etc. will almost ALWAYS be disqualified by the evaluators in the pre-selection round. 

• Results

  • Data tables:

    • Give each data table a descriptive title – one that indicates what data is in the table.

    • Clearly label all rows and columns.

    • Include units either in the row or column label, rather than each cell.

    • DO NOT put more than one type of data in a single cell – one measurement per box!

    • Include ALL of your ACTUAL data from your experiment – you may not use predicted data.

    • If you made other important observations that are not easy to put into a data table, write them out in complete sentences and include them here.

    • Make sure that you explain the importance of your observations/data in the results section and refer to your data tables and graphs, e.g. As can seen in Table 1...

  • Graphs:

    • Choose the correct type of graph for your data.

    • Give each graph a descriptive title – one that indicates what data is on the graph.

    • Label the y‐axis and include the units.

    • Label the x‐axis and, when necessary, include units. Bar graphs need an x‐axis label that is separate from the individual category labels!

    • The data in your graphs must match the data in your tables.

    • If you choose to graph the average of your trials, also include the average on your data tables.

    • DO NOT try to include more than one type of data on a single bar graph. Remember – you must be able to clearly label and give a unit for the y‐axis.

  • Pictures:

    • Results section can contain several pictures of your final product, design, experiment result, etc.

    • For ICT projects - instead of data tables and graphs, you can include screenshots of the final code, code output, user interface, or finished software/website you created.

  • Analysis:

    • In sentences and paragraphs, summarize your data.

    • If you made any mistakes or had any difficulties that you think may have affected your results, discuss them here.

    • If you did any calculations, include a few full examples of how the calculations were done.

• Conclusion

  • In sentences and paragraphs:

    • explain whether or not your data support your hypothesis,

    • answer your research question or validate your engineering goal,

    • give at least one idea for improving your project or for continuing your project with other experiments.

• Bibliography/References

  • Put on a page by itself.

  • Follow APA style.

    • Entries must be correctly formatted and alphabetized.

    • For help use scribbr or any other online citation generator.

    • If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Methods section. Reference them following the recommended format of APA style, as shown here.

    • Do NOT use Wikipedia, Quora, or similar websites that allow any user to give information as sources.

    • Remember, www.google.com is a search engine, not a website with actual information – you cannot cite it as a source.

    • You must have at least 5 sources!

• Acknowledgements

  • You may include several short paragraphs with acknowledgments and thanks to all people, organisations, institutions and/or sponsors that supported you in preparing the project.
    
    

Research paper file submission

• Research papers should be submitted as a PDF file. 

• After saving your research paper as PDF, check the file size. Our registration system may not accept your file if it is too large. A good rule of thumb is not to exceed 20 MB. You may find solutions for reducing the file size online easily.

• Do NOT send your research paper as a text file of any format, because your original formatting may not be preserved.

• File name should have this format: BOSEPO 20xx - Project Title, e.g. "BOSEPO 2026 - Smooth Surface Finish for a Smooth Ride".

• The project title registered through our system and the project title used to name the research paper file must be identical.

• Not following these regulations may lead to disqualification.