42 nd Student Research Conference

1. 42nd Student Research Conference Gary A. Ransdell Hall Saturday, March 24, 2012 7:30am-6:30pm Thank you for your participation!

2. 42nd Student Research Conference The WKU Student Research Conference received a record 277 student submissions this year from disciplines university-wide. As an interdisciplinary conference, sessions are arranged into five, broad categories: Business, Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary. Judging assignments were made to place individual judges as closely as possible within the broader category that best fits their background. However, a few judges were placed outside of their anticipated category because of staffing needs. All judges should remember that as an interdisciplinary conference, good judging does not rely on your expertise within the students’ presentation areas. Judging criteria are arranged to score students on their Organization and Content, Presentation Techniques, and Student Responses to Questions, allowing for equitable scoring on subjects across the breadth of disciplines that will be presented at the conference.

3. A judges’ table will be set up in the 1st floor lobby of GRH until 4 PM on Saturday, March 24. Judges will check in here upon arrival.

4. Judges’ Arrival Times Poster Session Judges

5. Poster Judges’ Arrival Time

6. Sign-in • The judges’ table will be set up outside of the Educational Resource Center on the first floor of GRH. • Evaluation score sheets and directions to your session will be given to each judge. • All you need to bring is a pen or pencil. Moderators should bring a wrist watch or electronic device with a clock. • Judges of oral/paper sessions should arrive at their rooms around 15 minutes early to make sure the equipment is working, to meet their fellow judge/s, and to instruct student presenters to pre-load any PowerPoint presentations to the display computer.

7. Moderators • Each session has a moderator • Moderators will: • Make sure presentations begin and end on time. • Facilitate questions and answers after each presentation. • Collect evaluations, place the winner on top of the stack of forms, and return them to the judges’ tables in the lobby making sure that the session’s winner is clearly labeled.

8. Judging • Each judge will be provided an evaluation sheet for each presentation in the session. • The evaluation sheets are broken into three sections: 1) Organization & Content, 2) Presentation Technique, and 3) Response to Questions. • Please circle the Likert-type scale choice (1-10) that best describes the presenter’s work.

9. Judging • Example from evaluation form: Introduction/background/rationale or reason for scholarly activity 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (simply circle one) • When you are finished with the session, tally the scores on each evaluation form. Please feel free to discuss and make clarifications with other judges. The moderator will collect the forms after you are finished. The person with the highest average score will be the winner for the session.

10. Important Points • If a situation arises and you will not be able to judge, please let Dr. Farley Norman know at 270-793-6712 or Mr. Derick Strode at 270-303-1489. • Judges should check presenter attendance to make sure all presenters are present, announcing that students should stay until the end of their session to be eligible to win. • Judges may ask questions to presenters after each presentation, or may choose to save questions for the end of the entire session. • Be certain a clear winner has been chosen for your session before you leave the room and make sure the winner is reported at the judges’ table immediately following your session.

11. Report Winners by the following times: • Poster Session • 1:45-3:30 pm • Report session winner by 3:45 pm

12. And, again… Thank you so much for your participation in the 42nd WKU Student Research Conference! ~WKU Student Research Council