Judging
Rules
- All papers must be written in English
- Formatting
- Minimum 11 pt font
- Minimum 1-inch margins
- Single- or double-spaced
- Papers may not exceed eight pages (including appendices but excluding references and the abstract)
- The research report may be submitted as a PDF, PostScript, DVI, Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or OpenDocument (.odt) document. Submitting as a PDF is recommended as all entries will be converted to that format.
- The research report should cover the problem or question being examined (and the importance of this problem), materials and methods used to solve the problem, results and their interpretation, and conclusions.
Criteria
- Clarity
- Logical and coherent essay
- Tables, graphs, and figures integrated well
- Creativity
- Originality in problem, methods, and data analysis
- Field knowledge
- Degree of assistance received for research
- Necessary skills to obtain data and perform the scientific process shown
- Literature review
- Understanding of related research
- Scientific literature cited
- Relevance
- Addresses an important question or issue
- Adds to investigated area
- Scientific process
- Defined problem, variables, and process well
- Conclusions drawn from a large enough set of data (not for research proposals)
- Future research discussed