University of South Florida

College of The Arts

University of South Florida

College of The Arts Student Research Poster Competition

The College of The Arts Office of Research will host the 2024 Research Symposium as part of SPOTLIGHT, Thursday, October 24, 2024. The symposium will showcase the research of undergraduate and graduate students in all COTA disciplines and allow them to obtain feedback from faculty and peers. The event brings together design, art and performance student scholars as well as faculty mentors and jurors, in an effort to foster further academic collaboration in the college.

All COTA students are encouraged to apply. This is an excellent opportunity to practice presenting research in an audience-friendly manner. Being able to communicate design, art and performance research to the public is an important skill.

Poster Review and Awards

Posters that meet submission qualifications will be printed and mounted by the COTA Office of Research. The Research Symposium is open to the university community.

All posters will be reviewed by jurors who will evaluate various aspects of the poster itself, as well as the scholars' ability to effectively communicate their research topic. Based upon the jurors’ evaluations, research awards will be presented to winning participants at the research symposium. Participants present their research poster in-person the day of the symposium in open-house style format.

Winners will be notified by e-mail after the symposium. An outstanding Research Award will be given to one undergraduate student and one graduate student in the amount of $500. Awards for Excellence in Research Awards will be given to two undergraduate students and two graduate students.

Poster Requirements and Submission

Poster size: 36 inch x 48 inch (ARCH E), portrait (vertical)

File size: 25 MB, high resolution for printing

Text size: All text must be no smaller than 18-point font

Include: Project Title, student name(s), COTA School/Dept in bottom right corner

Submission format: PDF only

Submission: Submit online by Sunday, October 13, 2024 by 11:59 p.m. EST.

  1. The student research poster competition will be held from 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. on October 24, 2024 prior to faculty research presentations.
  2. Posters will be evaluated by the jurors using the criteria listed in this document. The winners of the student poster awards will be selected by the jurors.
  3. There will be monetary awards for Outstanding ($500) and Excellence in Research ($250) for undergraduate and graduate students.
  4. Posters must be prepared by the students themselves, posters that are prepared with help from a USF faculty member will be disqualified. Students are able to present research that has been performed together with their faculty advisor; however, advisors shall not give feedback to the student in regards to the preparation of the poster.
  5. Students can submit multiple posters to increase chances of being selected. However, no more than one abstract will be chosen to present.
  6. Awards for the winners of the student research poster competition will be notified after the symposium via email.
  7. The deadline to submit posters for consideration is October 13, 2024 by 11:59 p.m. EST. Please submit all posters to https://forms.office.com/r/GHifNdTnx5. Notification for acceptance will be emailed out on October 18, 2024 by 5:00 p.m. EST.

If you have any questions regarding the COTA Student Research Poster Competition, please email COTA-Research@usf.edu

Poster Evaluation Criteria:

The poster competition jurors will use the following criteria to evaluate each poster.

  • Is the research statement clearly presented?
  • Are the research objectives highlighted on the poster?
  • Is the material presented on the poster well organized and easy to follow?
  • Is the research problem solved using an appropriate methodology and is this methodology explained effectively?
  • Is the poster clearly understood without any explanation?
  • Is the poster well composed in regards to all visual elements?
  • Are there an adequate number of sources and are all sources correctly cited?
  • Are the conclusions listed and is the significance of the research findings highlighted?
  • Is there a reference to a literature review or precedent study performed prior to the study to support the research argument? (when applicable)
  • Does the poster make effective use of illustrative material?
  • Are all of the illustrations and images used by the author correctly cited including original works?
  • Does the illustrative material support the argument of the poster?
  • Is all text legible and per the font sizing described under the “Poster Sizing Rules”?