Acknowledgments

From Stepping Up

Who Can (Help You) Do Your Project

Stepping Up Guide

Section Home Acknowledgments Mentor Contacts Who Am I Looking For? Why do you Need a Mentor?

Mentors and all other major sources of assistance should be acknowledged with due credit. This is a matter of academic and professional integrity. Science fair participants at all levels of competition must give appropriate credit to significant sources of external assistance. It is possible that the level of outside assistance will be brought into question. Science fair participants may sometimes be faced with a situation where they have to prove the credibility and integrity of their work.

For further advice on the subject, you can consult the following sections:

• Referencing: Credit Where Credit is due
• The Did-You-Really-Do-Your-Project Judge

Don't forget them!

• In the long report, it is best practice to acknowledge all significant contributors to the project by describing the nature of the support that they provided (material or samples, training, supervision, helpful discussion, funding, ...).
• There should be a section on the backboard to thank and acknowledge mentors and their research institution.
• When completing a presentation, think of mentioning your mentor.

For your mentors extraordinaire, a nice thing to do is to contact them before and after a science fair event. Before: to let them know that you finally present, and perhaps to invite them to the fair; after, to give them news of the results, to share your experience with them, and to express gratitude.