What to Expect During the Judging

What Should You Do?

1. You should prepare an oral summary of the important points in the project that you can present in no more than 60 seconds. Your judges will already have read your abstract, so if you've done a good job there, your summary will remind them of questions that occurred to them earlier.

2. Following your summary, you may find it useful to prepare several short capsule descriptions of important aspects of your project. You know your project better than anyone, so you should have the best ideas of what is important, but you could prepare answers for such questions as "Where did you get the idea for this project?" "What is special or distinctive about your project?" "What is the next thing you would do with your results?" "What questions has your project now generated?"

3. If yours is a team project, one person should act as the team spokesperson at the beginning and present the oral summary. This summary should include the rationale for the project being a group, rather than an individual enterprise, and how each member contributed. Each member of the group should be fully knowledgeable about the project and be prepared to then discuss his/her part.

4. You will be provided with a list of judges for your category and their qualifications. Know who your judges are for two reasons:

• Be sure to have each judge initial the front of your project placard in the space provided at the conclusion of each interview. This is your record of your project's judges.
• Each project will be provided a form for you to evaluate your judges. Turn it in at the conclusion of all judging.

5. Judges’ decisions are final, and no appeals will be permitted.

What Should You Expect The Judges To Do?

1. At the beginning of the judging period, the chair of the judging panel may assemble and speak to the entire group of students. Watch for this.

2. You should be interviewed by at least three different judges who will spend about 8 minutes discussing your project with you. It is difficult to space these interviews equally, so don't get discouraged if there is a long wait between judges. Don't worry about comparing the number of your judges with your neighbors.

3. Many judges prefer to learn about your project by asking questions. Be prepared for them to interrupt your presentation.

What Will Judges Look for?

The judging panel will evaluate your project based on the following criteria:

• Scientific Approach to the Problem
• Has the exhibitor followed a scientific approach to the objective of the project?
• Does the exhibitor recognize the scope and limitations of problem?
• How orderly has the analysis been?
• Has originality been shown in setting up a systematic work schedule and in securing data?
• Are the project’s conclusions consistent with project’s data?
• Original Project Journal/Scientific Notebook/Log
• Did the exhibitor keep an original, dated day-by-day project journal/scientific notebook/log that records all plans, procedures, observations, failures and successes?
• Only spiral or bound notebook are acceptable.
• Thoroughness
• Has the exhibitor searched the literature concerning the project?
• Has s/he made thorough use of data? Has s/he constructed charts and graphs wherever applicable?
• How successfully has the original plan been carried through to completion?
• Ingenuity and Creativity
• Has the exhibitor made use of available equipment? Is the explanation of project clear and concise?
• How much originality was shown in method chosen?
• How effectively has student used her or his material in solution of problems?
• Have safety precautions been observed in conducting experiments?
• Exhibitor’s Advancement in Science
• Is the exhibitor aware of basic scientific principles that lend support to her/his methods and conditions?
• Is the exhibitor aware of the value of the empirical method, of the necessity of repeated trials and the importance of controlling the variables in experiments to reach valid conclusions?
• Is the exhibitor research-minded?

What Other Things May Happen During The Judging?

This is a major event for Rochester Institute Technology and National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and they are proud to give publicity to you as a promising scientist. Although it may interrupt a judging interview as officials and VIPs come through the exhibits, you should recognize it also as an honor for you and your fellow participants.