Graduate Research Forum
Graduate Research Forum
Graduate Research Forum 2021, a part of Student Research Week, will be held March 29 – April 2, 2021.
Participant Criteria
Eligibility
Participants must be UCF graduate students enrolled in the spring 2020 term. Projects submitted must be research conducted as part of a UCF graduate program or class supervised by UCF faculty/instructors. Students may only submit one proposal as the primary author for the Graduate Research Forum.
Presentation Format
Participants will need to select the presentation format when submitting their proposal and can only present in one format (oral or poster) per year. Once proposals are submitted students cannot change presentation format.
Originality of Submissions
While papers may have previously been presented or published, the submission should be the original work of the author. If the presented paper is a result of a collaborative student-faculty project, it is expected that the majority of the research to be presented was completed by the graduate student.
Primary Author and Co-Authors
Only one presenter is allowed for oral presentations. Co-authors are permitted, but a student should be listed as the primary author on only one proposal submission. See requirements below for additional information.
Copyright Permission
Submission of your abstract implies your agreement to the following copyright permission statement:
The author licenses the University of Central Florida to publish the abstract in the Graduate Research Forum Proceedings and elsewhere as the university deems appropriate. The author retains copyright and retains the non-exclusive right to publish or license this work or any derivative.
Author warrants that he or she has the right under the Copyright Act to grant this license to the University of Central Florida and that no other person has rights to this work which are inconsistent with the author’s power to give this license and this warranty.
Note: If papers have previously been published, it is the author’s responsibility to ensure republication is permitted and to properly document previous publications according to the requirements of the original publisher.
Incomplete Projects
Scholars often present their work before their projects are complete. If you are working on a project for a class, you may not have your final results or final product by early April when the Forum will take place.
- If you have any preliminary results, use them as examples of the kind of results you hope to obtain. Discuss the significance of these results.
- If you don’t have any preliminary results, you can focus on projected results: what do you think you might find when your results are complete?
- Whether you have complete, partial, or only projected results, keep in mind that your explanation of those results—their significance—is more important than the raw results themselves.
Poster Presentation Formatting and Requirements
Suggested Format
Because students from a wide variety of graduate programs participate in this event and because formatting styles can vary greatly by discipline, no specific layout or sections are required. Participants are free to format their poster in any way they would like or according to their adviser’s recommendations. Please note that while content format is flexible, all posters must still meet the requirements listed below.
However, posters are typically comprised of visual and textual content, such as tables, graphs, images, and citations, and convey information succinctly. Since posters are a common format for presentations at academic conferences and symposiums, participants may want to review examples from these events or seek out formatting examples from professional organizations in their discipline.
Requirements
- Posters will be displayed on whiteboards with magnets (provided the day of the event)
- Posters must be no larger than 48″ wide x 36″ tall in order to fit on the whiteboard
- Participants must bring their printed out poster the day of the event
- Participants must be physically present during the judging time of 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on March 31, 2020
- All presentation information should be on your poster; there will be no space in front of your poster for displaying items
- Co-authors are permitted, but please note: only the primary author will be recognized in the event program, receive a name badge at the event, and a scholarship award (should the poster be judged exemplary)
- Students can be listed as a co-author on multiple proposal submissions, but can only be listed as a primary author on one proposal submission (i.e. one student cannot submit two proposals as a primary author)
- During the specified judging times at the Graduate Research Forum, the presenting author will be required to be at their poster station and authors should be prepared to explain their presented work
- Participants must submit a PDF of their poster by March 24, 2020 (a submission link will be provided to those with an accepted proposal)
Oral Presentation Requirements
- File format must be PowerPoint
- No animation or video is allowed
- There will not be a slide limit, but it is highly suggested that presenter limit their presentations to 5-7 slides
- Universal fonts (i.e., Arial, Times New Roman, Palatino) are strongly recommended to ensure compatibility
- Presenter should prepare to communicate his/her research to a multidisciplinary audience and judges; presentations will not be organized by discipline
- Each participant will receive 10-minute time allotment for presenting
- Participants must be physically present during their scheduled presentation session time on April 1, 2020
- There will be no co-presenters allowed for oral presentations, as the judging will be based heavily on the individual communication of the project
- PowerPoint slides will be pre-loaded on a laptop the day of the event and no changes can be made at the event
- Oral presentations are not eligible for the statewide research forum
- Participants must submit their PowerPoint slides by March 24, 2020 (a submission link will be provided to those with an accepted proposal)
Judging Process
Judges for the Graduate Research Forum come from across the UCF community. Ensuring that your project is designed for an audience of educated non-experts (i.e. professors in other departments) is a good practice when preparing your presentation. The following criteria will be used by Graduate Research Forum judges to award scholarships for exemplary presentations.
Poster Presentations
Poster judges will be paired up in teams and each team of two judges will have a group of presentations to evaluate. Judges may divide the reviews as they wish, meaning presenters may only see one judge. However, each judging team will come together to choose one winner from their group.
- Methodology
- Poster Organization and Overall Clarity
- Quality of Figures, Tables, Graphs, Photos, Illustrations
- Presenter’s Depth of Understanding and Ability to Explain Project
- Contribution to the Field of Study
- Evaluator’s Overall Sense of the Poster
Oral Presentations
Oral presentation judges will be paired up in teams. Each team of two judges will have a group of presentations to evaluate and each judging team will choose one winner from their group.
- Clarity of Information on Slides
- Presenter’s Delivery
- Presenter’s Knowledge of Topic
- Communication of Topic to General Audience
- Organization of Presentation
- Evaluator’s Overall Sense of Presentation
- Presentation was within 10 minute time limit
Poster Printing
Students are required to print their own poster. The College of Graduate Studies does not provide printing services. However, some departments do have large-format printers, so inquire with your program for details. Remember, a PDF of your designed poster will be required to be submitted by March 24, 2020. It is highly suggested that you have your poster submitted for printing well before that date.
Campus Options:
- UCF Print Shop – printing.ucf.edu
- The Spot – https://spot.ucf.edu/printing
Online Option:
- Make Signs – https://www.makesigns.com/products/scientific-posters
Printed from your PowerPoint or PDF file. You must account for shipment time. - Staples – https://www.staples.com/services/printing/custom-banners
Pick up at a local Staples store
Convert your file to a PDF. Choose “Upload Your Own Design”, Banner Size should be 3’ by 4’, Orientation is ‘Landscape’. Before you confirm you will be able to preview it. Be careful of your margins because things too close to the edge will be cut off, as you will see in the preview. If this happens, you will need to go back to your PPT slide to adjust it and then convert it to a PDF.
Helpful Workshops
Pathways to Success Workshops
- Presentation Skills
- Planning Poster Presentations
Register for Pathways to Success workshops through your myUCF Student Center under Graduate Students then Pathways to Success.