Evaluation & Judging

Students who present in-person ten-minute oral papers in the Student Competition will be evaluated in the following areas:

  • Content (Scientific, Outreach, Extension, and/or Education) - 60%

    • Abstract
      • Abstract is informative, well written (5 points)
      • Presentation correlates to abstract (5 points)
    • Content
      • Introduction and background with pertinent literature cited (10 points)
      • Objectives clearly stated and concise/*course design or project clearly stated (10 points)
      • Materials and methods (study/*course design) clear and concise (10 points)
      • Results and discussion clear, concise and accurate/*addresses needs of the target audience (10 points)
      • Significance of results to field of study (10 points)
  • Presentation - 40 %

    • Organization
      • Logical order, minimum redundancy (5 points)
      • Smooth transitions between presentation sections (5 points)
    • Slides
      • Legible with large fonts, color contrast, no conflicting backgrounds (5 points)
      • Text with no grammatical errors; not excessively wordy (5 points)
    • Delivery
      • Clear and audible speech (5 points)
      • Eye contact with the audience (5 points)
      • Effective use of figures and/or tables (5 points)
      • Effective use of time (5 points)

Note: * indicates consideration for extension, outreach, and education presentations

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