Competition Guidelines & Rubric 2023

Flash Talk Competition

Time: March 31st, 2023

Location: Wooster, OH

 Competition Eligibility   

  • Must be:
    • A graduate student enrolled in the department of Horticulture and Crop Science (HCS) and/or advised by an HCS faculty member
    • OR a graduate student that graduated in the fall of 2023 from the HCS Department.
  • Students who participated in previous Graduate Research Symposium competitions must report additional or different data unless the previously presented data is being used to answer a different research question or different analytical procedures are utilized.
  • Students may participate in either the proposal flash talk or the research flash talk.
  • Students may submit to no more than one flash talk.
  • Students must be registered for the event by the deadline.
  • Students may judge presentations only if they are not presenting a flash talk. They cannot both present and judge presentations.

Abstract Submission Guidelines  

1. General Information

  • All competition and non-competition categories require an abstract submission.
  • Abstracts will be published in the Graduate Research Symposium Program Booklet that will be given to all participants of the Symposium (University affiliates and visitors) via the HCS GSA website.
  • 20% of score will be from the submitted abstract.

2. Submission Date & Scoring 

  • Submitted by Friday, March 3rd, 2023.
  • Must include title, authors, and affiliations.
  • 250-word limit without the title, authors, and affiliations.
  • Times New Roman Font, Size 12, left aligned, and 1.15 spacing must be used.
  • Submitted as a Word Document through the HCS GSA website under the GRS abstract submission form https://u.osu.edu/hcsgsa/grs/
  • Points will be deducted for missing any of the above information or formatting or exceeding the word limit. Attached is an example of correct abstract formatting.

 

  • Sample abstract:

1. Proposal Flash Talk

    • We will have five presentations in a row, then 10 minutes of questions with all participants
    • Time:5 minutes
    • Eligibility for this category: 
      • Student in their 1st year of their program as of the week of the symposium
      • OR a student passed their 1st year but presenting a newly developed project
    • Additional Info: Preliminary data presented can be the student’s own data or obtained from a different source that supports the proposed research.
    • Competition Rules:  
      • Talk should cover only a single project.
      • PowerPoint slide(s) are encouraged. If you choose to use PowerPoint, the deadline to submit your PowerPoint is Friday, March 17th. 
      • The abstract (20%) and the presentation/question session (80%) will count toward the final score.
      • Presentations should be between 4:30 – 5:00 minutes.
      • A 5-point deduction for students who are under or overtime. The microphone will be silenced after 15 seconds over time.

 

2. Research Flash Talk

We will have five presentations in a row, followed by ten minutes of questions with all five participants. 

  • Time:5 minutes.
  • Eligibility for this category: 
    • A student with new research results (not presented at last year’s GRS).
    • OR a student asking a different question or using a different analytical technique with data previously presented at a GRS.
  • Competition Rules: 
    • The talk should cover only a single project.
    • PowerPoint slide(s) are encouraged. If you choose to use PowerPoint, the deadline to submit your PowerPoint is Friday, March 17th.
    • The abstract (20%) and the presentation/question session (80%) will count toward the final score.
    • Presentations should be between 4:30 – 5:00 minutes.
    • A 5-point deduction for students who are under or overtime. The microphone will be silenced after 15 seconds over time.

 

Awards

Monetary awards will be given for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place winners in each competition along with a people’s choice award.  

Competition Rubric

Each competitor must submit an abstract and deliver a talk. Both the abstract and the talk will be assessed for the competition. A breakdown of how the score is determined is below.

PORTION SCORE
Abstract portion (by judge) 20%
Talk portion (by judge) 70%
Abstract requirements & accessibility portion (by planning committee) 10%
TOTAL 100%

 

Please view the detailed competition rubric:

2023 Competition Rubric