What is an investigatory project?

So, when you are performing a practical in the laboratory, you are guided by your teacher and most probably you are already aware of the possible outcome and the reasons for it.

But when you are performing an investigation, you are not instructed on the process to follow, rather you are given a general idea about the investigation. Also an investigation always starts with a question or hypothesis. These are more open-ended than the practical work you do in the laboratory.

The projects on the other hand are even more open ended than the investigations. It also requires evaluation of your findings, redefining ideas and designing further investigations. This may lead to evidence that enables answering the questions posed at the beginning. The projects are often initiated with an individual’s own interest and can be done by either a single individual or a group of individuals.

Now, the investigatory projects are compulsory assignments that involve purely experimental procedures so that it can be reported on, duplicated, or may adapt something that someone else has already discovered. In some cases it may involve some other form of investigation also.

Why is it important?

One of the major components of the practical assessment of 30 marks in Class-XI and Class-XII Biology is the Investigatory Project.

The Investigatory Project and its Project and its Record along with it’s Viva Voce together has a weightage of 5 marks.

Therefore, it is essential to prepare the project report (record) in a proper manner to get the maximum possible marks in the practical examination.

Need a list of sample topics for the project!! Read this article.  

How to write the report of the investigatory project?

A sample format on how to properly write the project report is given as follows:

Front Page / Cover Page

• In this page you will have to write the Title of the project or name of the project that you are working on.
• It also should contain other information such as the name of the student; AISSCE roll number; subject name and subject code; name of the guide teacher/supervisor along with his/her designation; School name and address.
• If you want more details and a sample format for the front page, then go to this link .

Certificate  

• This will be the second page in your project report.
• This page will contain a certificate that will certify your project.
• It will have information like your project title, your name, roll number, guide teacher’s name, school name, etc, along with space for school stamp and signature of the guide teacher, external practical examiner, principal.

Click here to get a sample format for the certificate page.

Acknowledgement

• This is typically the third page that acknowledges individuals that have played a direct or indirect role in completing your project work.
• You should put your full signature at the end of this page.

Table of Contents

• This is the fourth page containing all the major headings and subheadings of your project.
• It should contain the respective page numbers also.

Click here to learn how to generate the table of content for your investigatory project automatically.

Objective / Aim of the project 

• This page expresses the aim of the project as clearly as possible.
• If the investigatory project aims to achieve more than one objective, then all those objectives are mentioned in this page.

Introduction / Theory

• This should give a general idea of the project that you have worked on and should introduce the reader to your project.
• You should also mention all the necessary concepts that are associated with your project.
• Take help of your guide teacher in case of any help.

Materials required

• In this page all the materials or apparatus used are mentioned.
• You should write this in the form of a simple list.

Procedure

• In a simple manner, write the steps that you have followed during your experiment.
• You may include a diagram or photo of the experimental setup.

Observation / Result

• Once the experiment is performed you should record your observations.
• You can represent your observations in the form of a table or chart or text or picture or a combination of these.

Analysis and interpretation

• Based on the observations, analyze your data.
• You should write whether the hypothesis, if any, is true or false.

Discussion: 

• It is not essential to make a discussion page.
• If you want to mention any implication of your results and suggest any extensions of any kind that can be undertaken, you can do so here.

Limitation:

• Mention if there are any limitations of the project or the experiments that you have performed.
• It is not essential to include.

Precaution

• Mention all the precautions that should be followed during the experiment.

Conclusion: 

• Based on the results obtained and related work done, write the conclusion briefly.
• You may also write whether the objectives of your project have been met or not.

Bibliography / References

• This should be the last page of your project write up.
• Here you should mention all the resources that you have used in terms of articles/books while working on the project.
• If you are giving reference to a book, it must contain the name of the author, publisher, year of publication.
• If you are giving reference to an article, it must contain the web address (URL) and the date when you had accessed the website.

How to format the report in MS Word?

• Set the page size to A4.
• Leave proper margin so that your content remains visible even after spiral binding or stapling. You can set 1 inch margin from all the sides.
• You should use the same font type and font size for all the headings.
• Also for all the main content of the project write up use a common font type and font size.
• Start new headings like procedure, observations on a new page.

Click here to learn how to easily format your word document using the style tool.

How to write the project report in case of a theory based investigatory project?

When you are working on only a theory based investigatory project, for example, ‘stages of human foetal development’, which does not have any experimental component, the project report should be slightly different than the above mentioned format.

In such cases material required, procedure, observation, results, analysis, discussion, limitation, precautions will not be part of the project report.

After the Introduction heading, there should be an elaborate representation of the theory.

The theory should be divided into various topics and subtopics. It can include diagrams/info-graphics related to the topic.

Once the theory is completed, the project report should wrap up with the conclusion and bibliography page.