Oral Presentaion Guidelines

Abstract submission

Abstract Submission for Entry: To be eligible as a presenter, an abstract must be submitted. Entries must be an original creation of the student. Abstracts must be 300 Words or Less. All abstracts must be submitted electronically no later than deadline. The deadline for STEM Day 2025 abstracts is Friday, February 28, 2025 at 11:59pm. 

ORAL PRESENTATION FORMAT

This competition provides an opportunity for graduate students to gain experience and exposure before a scholarly audience while highlighting their research. The top 20 abstracts will be selected for oral presentations. If the submitted abstract is not selected for the oral presentation, it will automatically be considered for the poster presentation.

Competencies: The primary competencies that will be necessary and showcased are:

• • • • • • • • Creative thinking
              • Communication
              • Critical thinking
              • Self-development

Requirements for Entry: Submissions must be from a graduate student. Abstracts that are not chosen for oral presentations are automatically considered for poster presentations. 

View the 2023 Graduate Oral Presentation Guidelines

Length of the Presentation: Each presentation is limited to 5 minutes, including a minute of questions and answers from the audience.

Contest Evaluation: The abstracts will be evaluated BEFORE selecting the finalists who will compete on STEM Day. The abstract should briefly state the research problem, how the problem was evaluated (methods), what was observed or found (results), and how the results are related to the research problem (discussion and conclusions). The abstract should stand on its own and NOT include citations or references within the abstract. The maximum length is 300 words arranged in a single paragraph. Grading Rubric for Oral Research Abstract

Abstracts submitted will be evaluated by at least three judges. The abstracts will be assigned 0-50 points based on the following criteria.

______/10 points Well written introduction
______/10 points Methods are discussed
______/10 points Results are summarized
______/10 points Conclusions are presented
______/10 points Proper spelling, grammar, full sentences, and readability

Note: The STEM Day Oral Presentation Committee reserves the right to reject a submission.