Student Conference: Evaluation Criteria, fall 2013

Working Independently

One of the goals of the student conference is to learn how to work independently. With independently we mean that you are able to perform the following tasks individually and without detailed guidance by your supervisor:

find an interesting topic and describe a concrete problem in detail;
plan your work and execute this plan according to given deadlines;
make use of your supervisors advise, but do not depend on it;
push forward your work without the need of being pushed by others;
find useful sources of information on your own;
analyze, compare, and critically evaluate your sources;
develop your own threads of reasoning;
draw reasonable conclusions; and
structure and present your reasoning and findings in an understandable form.

Paper Evaluation Criteria

Your research paper (full paper) will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

The choice of the topic
- Is it of interest to the intended audience
- Is it too broad or too narrow
- Do you have the right (prerequisite) knowledge to master it
The overall form of the paper
- How does the paper look
- Are general structure and layout appealing
- Is the length appropriate
- Does it follow the formatting guidelines
Language and style
- Does the style match the genre (survey, experience report, ...)
- Is the text readable/ comprehensible
- Organisation into sections and subsections
- Are all terms and acronyms explained
- Excessive use of colloquial language
- Usage of summaries, examples, and conclusions
- Usage of figures and tables
- Usage of definitions
- Usage of references and citations
Content of the paper
- Is the work motivated
- Is the area introduced at the right level of detail (for the intended audience)
- Is the reasoning clear and sound
- Are the own ideas sound
- Are the facts and examples correct and appropriate
- Are the definitions and the terminology appropriate
- Are the references and other sources appropriate
- Is something important missing
- How deeply is the topic covered
- Local and global coherence
- Flesh vs. fog ratio
- Does the paper make a contribution
Integrity
- Have all sources been referenced
- Is there a clear distinction between facts and interpretations of facts, ones own ideas and other work, ...
- Usage of copyrighted material (even figures etc.)
- Any signs of plagiarism

Please note that these criteria have very different weights. The very last criterion for example (plagiarism) is weighted very high and you cannot pass the course, when your work is considered plagiarism.

Each paper will be evaluated by at least two reviewers. They will use a special review form to evaluate each paper. Authors will receive copies of the front pages of these evaluations for preparing the final versions of their papers (which will then be published within the conference proceedings).