Office of Undergraduate Research

Proposal Scoring Guidelines

Proposals submitted to the Office of Undergraduate Research will be evaluated based on the following rubric.

Intellectual merit (35%)

The intellectual merit of the project should be evaluated on two primary factors: 1) The rationale for the project should be founded in the literature or a clear description of the inspiration or connection to scholarly work. The rationale should also contain a clear description of how this work is related to the mentor's research program. 2) The result of the project should be of high quality with the potential to be a manuscript, conference presentation, performance, or exhibition.

5 - The rationale and potential for a high quality result are both strong.
4 - Either the rationale or potential result is not of a quality expected for publication or exhibition without additional work.
3 - The rationale has limited connection to recent scholarship and/or the potential result is likely to only make a limited contribution to the field.
2 - The rationale is inconsistent or contains errors and/or the results are likely to have little potential to make a tangible contribution to the field.
1 - The rationale contains serious errors and the results are likely to have little/no potential to make any contribution to the field.

Broader community impact (10%)

The student should clearly state how this project has the potential to impact the community-at-large.

5 - Has potential to make a substantial contribution to the community-at-large.
4 - Has potential to make a contribution to the community-at-large.
3 - Has potential to make a limited contribution to the community-at-large.
2 - Has little potential to make a contribution to the community-at-large or contains errors.
1 - Has very little/no potential to make any contribution to the community-at-large or contains serious errors.

Academic Statement (15%)

The student should describe why they are interested in the project and the value of the project to their academic and professional development.

5 - Student provides an excellent description of their interest in the project and why it will fit into the student's career aspirations and their academic program.
4 - Student provides a good description of their interest in the project and why it will fit into the student's career aspirations and their academic program.
3 - Student provides a satisfactory description of their interest in the project and why it will fit into the student's career aspirations and their academic program.
2 - Student provides a poor description of their interest in the project and why it will fit into the student's career aspirations and their academic program.
1 - Student provides an unacceptable description of their interest in the project and why it will fit into the student's career aspirations and their academic program.

Articulation/Description of the project (30%)

The proposal and academic statement should be written in a manner that is easily understood to persons both within and outside of the field of research. Proposals that give the impression that they were written by their faculty mentor or heavily copied from existing theses, grants or publications, without much effort by the submitter, will be rated low.

5 - Project and statement are easily understood to persons both within and outside of the field.
4 - Project and statement are understood to persons both within and outside of the field with some effort.
3 - Project and statement are written for persons within the field but difficult for persons outside the field to comprehend.
2 - Project and statement are difficult to understand for persons both inside and outside the field.
1 - Project and statement are nebulous and/or difficult to understand for persons both inside and outside the field.

Faculty support letter (10%)

The faculty mentor should assess the student's abilities to perform the project as described in the proposal and clarify how the proposed work aligns with their scholarly work. The reviewers should NOT give a numerical score if the Faculty support letter is missing. We will contact the faculty to obtain their statement about this particular research project.

5 - Faculty support letter describes the student's ability to perform the project in the proposed time frame as excellent.
4 - Faculty support letter describes the student's ability to perform the project as above average.
3 - Faculty support letter describes the student's ability to perform the project as sufficient.
2 - Faculty support letter describes the student's ability to perform the project as minimal.
1 - Faculty support letter describes the student's ability to perform the project as poor.

 

The final score will be calculated by multiplying the points assigned in each category by their respective weights.

Last Updated: 6/27/22