Tsunamis
The purpose of your research paper is to give you the information to understand why your experiment turns out the way it does. The research paper should include: The
history of similar experiments or inventions Definitions of all important words and concepts that describe your experiment Answers to all your background research plan
questions Mathematical formulas, if any, that you will need to describe the results of your experiment For every fact or picture in your research paper you should
follow it with a citation telling the reader where you found the information. A citation is just the name of the author and the date of the publication placed in
parentheses like this: (Author, date). This is called a reference citation when using APA format and parenthetical reference when using the MLA format. Its purpose is
to document a source briefly, clearly, and accurately.