1. NORTHERN INDIANA REGIONAL
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR
154 I.E.I. Building
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Phone: (574) 631-6945 E-mail: morris.3@nd.edu
SPONSORS:
Bayer Michiana Astronomical Society
Midwest Cardiovascular R&E Fund NISMEC
Praxair Science Education Foundation of Indiana
Serim Research Corp. Sigma Xi-Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s
TO: Science Fair Coordinators
FROM: Karen Morris, NIRSEF Executive Director
RE: Online Registration of Student Projects at the SEFI website
DATE: January 7, 2009
Enclosed are the directions for registering your student projects online at the SEFI website.
Please note this is a two-step process:
1) First you must sign up as the responsible individual from your school (i.e. the “teacher”)
and
2) then you will receive a Student Registration Code in order for you to register students
yourself or to provide to students so they can register themselves.
After the student registration process is completed, you will be able to view student registration
and project information and, if necessary, make changes. As mentioned in the previous
communication, please have all student project information entered NO LATER THAN
MARCH 6, 2009 so that I may be able to assign projects to their appropriate spaces.
I have limited the number of projects that can be entered per school according to the NIRSEF
quota system that is in place. You should have been notified of your project quota this January.
If you have not yet received my communication, or if you need to increase your quota number,
please contact me as soon as possible so that adjustments can be made.
I would recommend that you sign up early in order to get the opportunity to become familiar
with the online system and the information required from your students for their projects. In
addition, I have included a document for you to provide to your students if they will be
registering themselves to help them through this process. I have also provided some general
guidelines about writing an abstract for the different levels of students who participate in the
NIRSEF. I hope this is helpful!
If you have any questions about the sign up or student registration process or about NIRSEF in
general, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly!
Best wishes,

2. TEACHER SIGN UP INFORMATION
Go to the following link: http://www.sefi.org/teachersignup.php
Step one: Select your school from the drop-down list.
If you are a “home” school, you will not be listed. In this case, click on the link
below the dropdown box to open the “register a school not listed” box, and
follow the instructions.
Step two: Enter your personal information (school information should be automatically entered)
Step three: Press Submit. An email will be sent to you with a password and link to the login site.
When you get this email, please print it and keep for your records.

3. STUDENT REGISTRATION AND PROJECT INFORMATION
FOR TEACHERS
After you, as the teacher, receive your password, you can then log into the teacher administration
page http://www.sefi.org/teacherlogin.php in order to receive the Student Registration Code and
admininster student project information.
After you Login, you will receive the Student Registration Code. You may provide this
registration code to your students to allow them to self-register at www.sefi.org/register.php OR
you may register a student here rather than have your students do it themselves.
IF STUDENTS SELF-REGISTER:
1) Students log into the SEFI website at: www.sefi.org/register.php
2) Student registration page will require the following information:

4. 3) After completing this dialog box and submitting the information by clicking on the
“Submit Registration” button, an email will be sent to the email address with a password
to login and provide project information.
4) Remind your students to keep the login/password email in order to enter their project
information.
IF YOU, AS THE TEACHER, REGISTER YOUR STUDENTS:
1) In order to register a student yourself, rather than have the students do it, click on the
“Register a Student” link. The following dialog box will be seen.
2) After completing the Register a Student dialog box and submitting the information by
clicking on the “Register Student” button, an email will be sent to the email address with
a password to login and provide project information. You may help your students with
this process.
3) Remind your students to keep the login/password email in order to enter their project
information.
4) You will be able to view registered students and edit the data entered (NOTE: this
information includes the login Username and Password for all registered students).

5. FOLLOWING STUDENT REGISTRATION:
1) Once a student is registered, s/he must enter data about her/his project. The Student
Login link is http://www.sefi.org/login.php
2) Students will be required to enter Personal Information and press Save Changes
3) Students can also review their school info (which has been entered for them).

6. 4) Students must then enter Project Information for their own projects (NOTE: ALL
NIRSEF PROJECTS WILL BE PROVIDED TABLE AND CHAIR SPACE. Please check the
box requesting a table for your project.)
5) If this is a team project, check the appropriate box and enter team member names in the
space provided. Only the team leader needs to register full details. Each team member,
however, must register name and contact information as well as click on the team
check box.

7. ABSTRACT WRITING TIPS
ELEMENTARY LEVEL (GRADES 3 – 5):
Elementary abstracts should be between 100 - 250 words and should be displayed with the
project. The elementary abstract clearly indicates the specific parts of the abstract outlined in the
template below. This will help students learn to frame an abstract while informing judges and
the public about the project.
Sample Abstract Template – Elementary Level
Title:
Name:
School:
Purpose of project / experiment:
“I wanted to find out…”
•
Summarize procedures, emphasizing the key points or steps:
“I studied this by doing…”
•
Detail observations/data/results (VERY BRIEF!):
“I observed that…”
•
State conclusions and applications:
“I found out that…”
•
Sample Written Abstract – Elementary Level. A team project that won 2nd place in the 2006
Alaska State Science Fair Abstract Competition)
NO MORE BROWN APPLES
Purpose: We wanted to find out what kept apples from browning the most and thought that
apples dipped in lemon juice in the refrigerator would do this.
Procedure: We bought apples, Fresh Fruit, apple juice and lemon juice. We dipped 2 slices of
apples in each and had four plain slices of apple. We put each in a Ziploc bag and two plain ones
just on a plate. One half of the apples were set in the refrigerator and the other half was left in
room temperature. We checked for any browning every 30 minutes or so and logged it.
Data: We observed the apples with Fruit Fresh had the least browning. The apples with lemon
juice were second and with apple juice were third. Plain apples in plastic bag were fourth. The
plain apples on a plate browned quickest and most.
Conclusion and Application: We found out our hypothesis was wrong. Apples with lemon juice
got second place in both tests. Fruit Fresh kept the apples from browning the most. Knowing
this will help keep apple slices for our lunch from browning.

8. JUNIOR LEVEL (GRADES 6 – 8):
Junior abstracts should be between 100 - 250 words and attempt to reach the senior level 250
word limit. These abstracts should be displayed with the project in order to inform judges and the
public about the project. The junior level abstract is more a narrative of the project (compared to
the elementary abstract) but still clearly and succinctly describes all project aspects.
Sample Abstract Template – Junior Level
Title:
Name:
School:
Purpose of project / experiment:
• An introductory statement of the reason for investigating the topic of the project.
• A statement of the problem or hypothesis being studied.
Summarize procedures, emphasizing the key points or steps:
• A summarization of the key points and an overview of how the investigation was
conducted.
• Omit details about the materials used unless it greatly influenced the procedure or had to
be developed to do the investigation.
• An abstract should only include procedures done by the student. Work done by a mentor
(such as surgical procedures) or work done prior to student involvement must not be
included.
Detail succinctly observations/data/results:
• This section should provide key results that lead directly to the conclusions you have
drawn.
• It should not give too many details about the results nor include charts or graphs.
State conclusions/applications.
Sample Written Abstract – Junior Level (from Science Buddies Website:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_sample_abstract.shtml)
AN ANALYSIS OF AA BATTERY LIFE UNDER DIFFERENT DEVICE DRAIN
“Advertisers are always touting more powerful and longer lasting batteries, but which batteries
really do last longer, and is battery life impacted by the speed of the current drain? This projects
looks at which AA battery maintains its voltage for the longest period of time in low, medium,
and high current drain devices. The batteries were tested in a CD player (low drain device), a
flashlight (medium drain device), and a camera flash (high drain device) by measuring the
battery voltage (dependent variable) at different time intervals (independent variable) for each of
the battery types in each of the devices. My hypothesis was that Energizer would last the longest
in all of the devices tested. The experimental results supported my hypothesis by showing that
the Energizer performs with increasing superiority, the higher the current drain of the device.
The experiment also showed that the heavy-duty non-alkaline batteries do not maintain their
voltage as long as either alkaline battery at any level of current drain.”

9. SENIOR LEVEL (GRADES 9 – 12):
Intel ISEF rules require abstracts of no more than 250 words to be displayed with the project.
An abstract gives the essence of the project in a brief but complete form to judges and the public
viewing the project. Tips on Abstract writing can be found at the Society for Science & the
Pubic website at: http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/primer/index.asp
Sample Abstract Template – Senior Level
Title:
Name:
School:
Purpose of project / experiment:
• An introductory statement of the reason for investigating the topic of the project.
• A statement of the problem or hypothesis being studied.
Summarize procedures, emphasizing the key points or steps:
• A summarization of the key points and an overview of how the investigation was
conducted.
• Omit details about the materials used unless it greatly influenced the procedure or had to
be developed to do the investigation.
• An abstract should only include procedures done by the student. Work done by a mentor
(such as surgical procedures) or work done prior to student involvement must not be
included.
Detail succinctly observations/data/results:
• This section should provide key results that lead directly to the conclusions you have
drawn.
• It should not give too many details about the results nor include charts or graphs.
State conclusions/applications.
Sample Written Abstract – Senior Level (From Society for Science & the Public Website)
PERIOD ANALYSIS OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE X10
AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE ORIGIN OF LOW STATES
“Cataclysmic variables are binary systems, each consisting of a white dwarf (the primary) and a
low mass star (the secondary). Usually, matter flows from the secondary onto the primary,
producing X-rays upon impact. However, previous observations have indicated that certain
cataclysmic variables frequently exhibit low states – a dramatic decrease in mass transfer (and
thus X-ray production) for an extended period of time. Low states can last up to several years,
and this phenomenon is currently not well understood. This research is primarily focused on
creating a model to elucidate the origin of low states using data gathered from X10, a magnetic
cataclysmic variable that experienced a low state in year 2005. The model proposed in this study
attributes low states to the magnetic interactions between the secondary’s starspots and the
primary, and its predictions on which systems should exhibit low states and which ones should
not have all been confirmed by past observations.”

10. STUDENT REGISTRATION AND PROJECT INFORMATION
FOR STUDENTS
In order to register yourself on the SEFI website, you must first obtain the Student Registration
Code from your teacher or the Science Fair Coordinator at your school. After this, follow the
steps below:
1) Students log into the SEFI website at: www.sefi.org/register.php
2) Student registration page will require the following information:
3) After completing this dialog box and submitting the information by clicking on the
“Submit Registration” button, an email will be sent to the email address with a password
to login and provide project information.
4) REMEMBER TO KEEP the login/password email in order to enter your project
information.
5) Once you, as a student, are registered, you must enter data about your project. In order to
do this, go to the Student Login link at http://www.sefi.org/login.php

11. 6) You will be required to enter Personal Information and press Save Changes
7) You can also review your school info (this data has been entered for you).

12. 8) You must enter your Project Information for your own project (NOTE: ALL
NIRSEF PROJECTS WILL BE PROVIDED TABLE AND CHAIR SPACE. Please check the
box requesting a table for your project.)
9) If this is a team project, check the appropriate box and enter team member names in the
space provided. Only the team leader needs to register full details. Each team member,
however, must register name and contact information as well as click on the team
check box.