Office of Undergraduate Research

Judging Information

The success of undergraduate research events is due in large part to the many judges who formally evaluate presenters. These evaluations are used to: 

  1. provide feedback to the student presenters and
  2. determine presentation awards.

Overall Philosophy

The primary responsibility of a judge is to evaluate students on how effectively they communicate their research to a generally educated audience, rather than assess the scholarly merits of the research itself.  Students’ research mentors—not judges—are responsible for evaluating the technical quality of the work.

Quick Links

If you have questions before an in-person event, please contact OUREvents@purdue.edu. For questions on the day of an in-person event, please stop by the judge check-in table during the event.

There are two groups of judges:

  1. Formal judges include anyone affiliated with Purdue as:
    • a faculty, staff, post-doc, retiree, or graduate student, or
    • an alumnus, industry professional, or member of the community.
  2. Peer judges include any undergraduate or professional student who is either currently enrolled at Purdue or affiliated with Purdue through a research program.

Formal judges should complete a pre-conference registration to identify the presentation formats/sessions they intend to attend as a judge. Please save the dates/times you select in your calendar. 

Peer judges do not need to apply advance. Directions for undergraduate students are available at the event. If peer judging is part of a course or program expectation, follow the directions provided to you by your course instructor or program coordinator.

Certificate

Formal judges will receive a certificate that will be available to download via the OUR website shortly after the conference.

Incentive

Any formal judge who meets the following requirements will receive a $20 gift card:

  1. Complete the formal judge registration
  2. Be affiliated with Purdue as faculty, staff, post-doc, graduate student, official retiree, or approved by the Purdue OUR.
  3. Complete 6 or more evaluation forms that are unique and correspond to actual presentations. (e.g., a "no-show" does not count towards the 6+ forms needed.)

The OUR will send electronic gift cards to judges meeting these requirements approximately one month after the event. Redemption policies:

  • Individuals have 30 days after notification of receiving the gift card to identify issues with redemption.
  • Individuals have until June 30 (end of the fiscal year) to redeem their gift card.

Peer judges are not eligible for judge incentives or certificates from the OUR. Some courses/programs, however, have an expectation or incentive for peer judging. This information will come from the course instructor or research program coordinator.

Judges will submit presentation evaluations based on these criteria. 

Formal poster judges are randomly assigned poster presentations (typically 4-5 per hour). Flow for the poster session includes:

  • Device: Bring a Wi-Fi-enabled device, preferably a phone or tablet, to submit evaluations.
  • Check-in: Arrive at least 10 minutes before your first session. The check-in table will be outside Grissom 118; see the check-in map for directions.
    • Event staff will provide judging information sheets at check-in.
    • Review the list of presenters and mentors of each poster for potential conflicts of interest.
    • Notify event staff if you are available to evaluate additional presentations.
  • Evaluate: Repeat the following steps for as many presentations as reasonable within each session.
    • Find the presentation by number and introduce yourself as a judge.
    • Listen to the full presentation (you may take notes).
    • Ask questions if needed for understanding.
    • Complete the Qualtrics evaluation form to submit evaluations and feedback. You may attend multiple presentations and then fill out the evaluations at the end of the session.
    • After submitting evaluations, mark the judge information sheets and return them to the judge check-in table.

Judges will submit presentation evaluations based on these criteria. Formal talk judges are randomly assigned presentations by room (1 to 3 presentations per hour/room). Flow for the poster session includes:

  • Device: Bring a Wi-Fi-enabled device, preferably a tablet or laptop, to submit evaluations.
  • Check-in: Arrive at least 10 minutes before your first session.
    • Event staff will provide judging information sheets at check-in.
    • Review the list of presenters and mentors of each poster for potential conflicts of interest.
    • Notify event staff if you are available to evaluate additional presentations.
  • Evaluation: Repeat the following steps for each talk in a session.
    • Listen to the full presentation (you may take notes).
    • Ask questions if needed for understanding.
    • During the break between presentations, complete the Qualtrics evaluation form to submit evaluations and feedback.
    • After submitting evaluations, mark the judge information sheets and return them to the judge check-in table.
  • Event Moderation: Each room is expected to have a moderator to introduce speakers and keep time.
    • If no moderator is present, a judge will serve in that role. Please tell event staff at check-in if you are willing to moderate.
    • Each presenter has 15 minutes total for the talk and questions. Five minutes are scheduled between talks for transitions and evaluations.
    • Speakers must begin and end on time. Students should not begin before their published presentation times so attendees can arrive as planned.

 

Judges will submit virtual presentation evaluations based on these criteria. Due to the sensitive nature of the research data presentations, people without a Purdue login cannot view/judge the virtual presentations.

Flow for judging virtual presentations includes:

  • Assignments: On (or before) the first day virtual presentations are available, you will receive an email with instructions and a list of specific, randomly assigned presentations to judge
    • Review the list of presenters and mentors of each talk for potential conflicts of interest.
    • These presentations are pre-recorded and last approximately seven minutes each.
    • You will have at least four days to view these presentations.
  • Evaluation: Repeat the following steps for each assigned virtual presentation.
    • Listen to the full presentation (you may take notes).
    • Complete the Qualtrics evaluation form to submit evaluations and feedback by the last day of the virtual session.

 

Formal and peer judges use the same judge evaluation form.

Submission Timeline: Timely submission of evaluation forms are essential to processing feedback for students and making award selections.

  • Posters and Talks: Due within or directly after the session ends. (Same-day judge evaluations allowed if preapproved by the OUR.)
  • Virtual Presentations: Due by the last date virtual presentations are available. If a presentation link is missing, please check later in the availability to see if it was added late.
Evaluation Criteria: The evaluation form is based on these criteria and use these ratings:
  • Not Observed: No evidence of the criterion during presentation.
  • Observed: Evidence of the criterion during presentation, regardless of quality.
  • Observed with High Merit: Exemplary evidence of the criterion during presentation typically seen in someone who recently entered their field (i.e., a first-year graduate student, early-career researcher, or entry-level professional).
Evaluation Development: The OUR developed these criteria and ratings based on feedback and experiences of judges from many events. Feedback about the evaluation may be submitted via the post-event feedback survey.