Mrs. Giannantonio's Science Fair Headquarters

The essay for the DuPont Challenge will not be a required element of Honors Chemistry for this academic year. If you are interested in competing on your own, you will need to use the following guidelines. Please inform Mrs. Giannantonio of your intent to participate before beginning.

Deadlines for the DuPont Challenge:

• Mid-September – topics are due! Please hand me a typed paper that includes your name, the topic you have chosen, a thesis sentence, and a bibliography of three sources at the beginning of class. We will spend one day during the week of September 15 in the library searching for topics and references, but feel free to look for a topic on your own. Remember, the judges are looking for topics that are at the fore front of science and technology! They seem to favor (in my opinion) topics that show that science and technology have made the world a better place. Some good places to look for topics:
  • Back issues of Scientific Magazines – Discover, Science, Scientific American
  • Science on File – in the library
  • Science News – online
  • The Internet
• End of September – a typed outline of your essay is due. The outline should give me an idea of how your paper is going to flow. I will return the outlines with suggestions.
• First Week of October – a first draft of your essay is due.
  • Typed, double-spaced, in #12 font
  • 700-1000 words
  • Include parenthetical citations (Author, page) and a "Works Cited" page. Use The Research
  • Paper guide you were given last year to help you with your bibliography and citations. Use the APA format.
  • Have someone read the paper before you hand it in – they may find phrases that are not clear or grammatical errors that you may have missed.
  • Please put your name on the paper – even though you are NOT to put your name on your final copy.
  • I will return these drafts as soon as possible with corrections and suggestions.
• Once I have returned your rough draft, you will be given a week or two to refine your paper and correct any grammatical errors. You may then hand me a second draft. Be sure that the second draft adheres to the contest rules (white paper, one-inch margins, no title page, and no name on the paper).
• Once you have handed me your perfect paper, I will ask you to fill out an official application form. We will attach it to the paper, and send the entries off to the contest. I would like to have every entry in my hands by Christmas vacation. I know that this is early, since the entry deadline isn’t until the end of January, but we also need to work on Science Fair during the first semester, so I like to have this completed early.