Presenting research

NES JSHS: Information for Participants

Ready to showcase the hard work you have done at the JSHS?

How to Succeed at the NES JSHS

Research takes hard work and dedication.  So does communicating what you have accomplished.  Students who wish to succeed should familiarize themselves with the rules of competition and guidelines for presentations.  The regional competition will follow the same guidelines and judging rubrics.  The process for selecting the students who move on to the national competition are as follows:

  1. Citizenship: Participants must be US citizens or permanent residents.
  2. Statement of Outside Assistance: Participants must have a completed SOA that has been signed by themselves and their mentor.  You will not be invited to participate if your SOA is incomplete.
  3. Written Report: Students will write an abstract and longer report in APA style about their work.  This document will be used to determine which students will be invited to give a talk and which will give a poster presentation at the regional event.
  4. Day of Event: The top two presenters will be selected from the talks. Third through fifth place will be selected from either the talks or poster presentations.  These top five finishers will be invited to attend nationals.  Five alternatives will also be selected.  

Judges for the regional competition will be experts in their field, which may be different than the field of the project they are evaluating.  Materials should therefore be prepared with a general educated audience in mind.  They should:

  • Tell a story where your research is the hero
  • Clearly state the importance and impacts of the research
  • Minimize the use of specialized terms or acronyms when possible, and explain them sufficiently when necessary
  • Have a consistent tone and style, all sections use a similar level of vocabulary and sentence structure

Below are some tips and tricks specific for different types of communication. 

Your abstract and written report are the first impression of your research for judges.  They are also what determines which participants will be invited to give a talk and therefore have a better chance of being selected to attend Nationals.  It is therefore critical that you put your best foot forward and write a paper that is a joy for reviewers and leaves them wanting to hear more.

Abstracts are submitted as a separate document.  They should...

  • Be a concise summary of your project, not more than 250 words in length
  • Contain a few sentences about each of the major parts of your project including your hypothesis and conclusion
  • Have a header section that includes the title of the research; authors' names; your school name, city, and state; and your mentor's name.

Your written report is a longer explanation of your work no more than 40 pages in length.  However, it should be only as long as necessary to tell the story of your research.  Adding in unnecessary information or being overly repetitive will decrease your score.

Written reports should..

  • Be written in APA style.
  • Avoid unnecessary jargon and explain any technical terms you do use.
  • Use simple pictures and diagrams to illustrate your methods.
  • Have graphs of data that include units and are large enough to have readable axis labels.
  • Acknowledge any assistance you received.
  • Be written in your own words using a consistent style throughout.
  • Highlight any obstacles you overcame through adjustments to your procedure.

As you write your report, keep in mind your audience.  Judges will be experts in a field of science or engineering, but not necessarily the same field as your research.  Explain your work clearly and succinctly.  Highlight the differences between your project and prior research.  Reiterate throughout the work how your project will solve an important problem or answer a long standing question in the field.  You will then set the stage for a successful presentation at the symposium.

Each presentation is 12 minutes long with 6 minutes for questions.  Presentations should be made in PowerPoint or similar software.  Your presentation should include the motivation for your research and hypothesis, and focus on your results.  Remember to tell a story where your data or design is the hero.  

Tips for Talks at NES JSHS:

  • Font sizes should be big enough that all characters, including axis labels on graphs, are easily readable
  • Slides should have a simple color scheme with high contrast between the background and text or graphics
  • Engage the audience through techniques such as eye contact, rhetorical questions, voice intonation, and appropriate humor
  • Props or visual aids such as the device you built for your project are not allowed.  Use pictures or a short video instead
  • Convey one important idea per slide.  Overcrowding slides can make it harder for your audience to understand all of the information they contain.
  • Use all of your allotted time without going over.

Remember to practice and use notecards if necessary.  When nervous, people tend to rush.  You might forget important points or not spend enough time on your results.  Notecards are a good way to make sure you cover everything.  Practicing your talk by saying it out loud in a safe environment will help your pacing.  The more you practice out loud, even without an audience, the more natural you will sound on the day of the event.

Posters should be 36" x 48" and follow a trifold style layout: two 12" sections on the outside with a 24" section in the middle.  Students will submit an electronic version of their poster before the event.  Judges will first review the posters electronically.  RWU will print posters to be displayed at no cost to the students.  Students will have 3 minutes to summarize their research to judges on the day of the event.  Participants should have more information dense elements such as graphs, photos, diagrams, and charts than text on their poster.

Tips for Posters at NES JSHS:

  • All text should be readable on the poster from 4 feet away, including labels and footnotes.
  • Your title should be in 72 point font or larger.
  • Props of any kind including phones or laptops are not allowed.  Only your printed poster is allowed.  Include pictures of your experiment, device, or app that you have built in the poster instead.
  • Organize your poster in a logical order that highlights your results.
  • Minimize the text used on your poster.  It is not necessary to include your abstract.

Your poster should be a concise summary of your project that conveys the important results without further explanation.  On the day of the event, your 3 minute talk should highlight to the judges the most important points and reiterate your results.  Practice your pitch before the day of the event in order to be more confident and composed during the symposium.