Writing Introduction Pieces
Hello everyone. Welcome back to episode two of introduction to portfolio. I'm Advik and I'm from Downtown East High School in Pennsylvania. And shout out to TSA Global for letting me host this. So now in this video, we're going to talk about the first thing the judges read after the table of contents, the introduction section of the portfolio.
So there's three types of introductions and that kind of goes with the um different types of events model that I was going by in the last video.
So for data science and analytics and like geospatial and all these research based events, you're going to have a formal introduction. So you're going to be talking about what your problem is and how it relates to the real world. And it's a little bit more formal than engineering design. I'll get into that a little bit later in the video, but you'll see what I mean.
Secondly is audio podcasting. It's more so just grading yourself in a reflection. That's what the entire portfolio is. It's less so defining a problem. It's more so talking about what you did and how you did it and why you did it, right?
And then lastly engineering design and all the other physical model events. So it's more that it's also discussing the issue like data science and geospatial but there is less practice or there is more practicality to it. So when you're talking about how you're analyzing the problem you're also hinting at what your solution is going to be and what it can be around.
Right? So uh firstly data science this video will cover how to do the introduction purpose and methods.
So, for introduction, make sure you're opening with an attention getter. I'm not saying, "Wow, boom." You know what I mean? Like, this isn't like an English essay, right? This is serious, but talk about how what you're investigating is a problem. Give like a big headline. So, again, I'm going to go back to what my group did the year I'm recording this. So, we talked about the lack of affordable housing. So, our attention getter was a question, right? It was posing a question to the judges, asking them, "Have you guys ever had to deal with the lack of affordable housing?" Obviously, not in those words.
Um, and then after you captivate the judges with whatever you're doing, right, you go into depth about why the issue you're investigating is important and how it can affect them, right? So, I'd say ask yourself these three questions when you're writing the introduction.
So, firstly, ask yourself, how does this issue relate to you and your community because judges like to see a personal effect when you're doing something no matter what, right? So if you talk about how oh maybe your uncle grew up in subsidized housing and he couldn't afford to get out of it because of the lack of affordable housing and the reasons behind it in the United States right this it'll relate your story to what you're talking about and the judges will sympathize with that right?
Then secondly why is this a significant issue in the world right now I mean for the lack of affordable housing I feel like I kind of lucked out or like everyone in data science kind of lucked out on that front it's a pretty serious issue and it's very significant especially everything in the United states right now that's happening. It relates to that, but waiting for the 2026 theme to come out, I'm not sure what it'll be like. So, make sure that your issue will relate to it somehow, right?
And then how does this relate to the annual theme? Make sure that you somewhat talk about it because the judges also are going to be looking to see how does this fit in the actual theme because they'll be forming a picture in their head thinking of, oh, this is what the documentation portfolio should look like and you want to make sure that whatever your documentation portfolio is, it fits into that picture.
So next is the like touch you also you should touch on your methodology in introduction section right so and then talk about the consequences if the issue isn't resolved as soon as possible so talk about what could happen in the future if x y and z just doesn't happen right especially with like affordable housing half of the US could be projected to go homeless by 60 if nothing's changed right?
And then obviously make sure your introduction is in a sense that it's chronologically ordered so you're not just jumping from you know saying that the lack of affordable housing can cause this and that to something completely unrelated, right? You want to make sure that it makes sense and the judges will understand it on the first read.
So, moving on to purpose. Your purpose should also relate to your introduction. It should talk about what you're doing and why. So, this is where the personal effect kind of gets put into play because when you're talking about why you're doing this, you also want to go into why am I actually doing this? You don't want to just write it for the judges, you're writing it for you, too.
And then methodology, that's pretty straightforward. It's just what you did and how you did it. So for example for data science right we collected data sets from governmental areas and then we also created algorithms on Python. That's our methodology. Um every methodology is unique to whatever your event is. So in geospatial obviously the methodology is different but it should still um encapsulate everything that you did.
Moving on to audio podcasting. So the intro cover is the cover art work log and self-evaluation. So, the cover art is actually worth 20 points out of the 50 points in the documentation portfolio, which is worth a lot, but you know, still make sure that it looks good. Make sure that it's modern, it's sleek, you're not judged on how, you know, mind-boggling the cover is, but just make sure it fits your theme. So, if you're talking about like a political podcast, I mean, risky, maybe put a picture of Capitol Hill in the back, right? Don't just have random images just to have them, right?
So next, make sure you have good work logs and you're recording them as you go because they are a part of your overall score like I showed you in the rubric video just before. Now record it after every meeting. That is a must because showing your timeline will help the judges understand your project. They won't have to be saying, "Oh, when did they do this? Did they do this last minute?" They'll actually understand and they know if they're lying, so it's not worth it to lie because they'll just take away from your actual score.
Um, next, the self-evaluation. Don't under or overachieve or be humble cuz that's the worst thing to do. The judges will take your own feedback into account. So just don't say, "Oh, maybe we earned a two in this category because it could be better." If you're talking about how it could be better, then they'll be like, "Oh, why didn't they do this?" They're not going to give you points if you say, "Oh, it was terrible." Right? They're not going to give you pity points. That's just not how it works. So, make sure it's honest, but it's also not saying, "Oh, we scored a 10 on everything." Like, you didn't. Nothing anyone has ever created is perfect. We've seen that. So just make sure that it's not over under it and it's just right. You know what I mean?
And also when you're writing the self-evaluation, you have to write your reasoning for why you scored each point under it. Make sure all teammates are included in that, especially someone who did a specific section because if someone writes it last minute, then they won't be able to talk about everything that you guys actually accomplished, right? So in the like for example in the audio podcast, right? If I had just written it by myself, I wouldn't have learned about something that someone else did in the background that could have raised our score or impacted the justification in any way.
And then lastly, engineering design. So what I'm going to talk about right now, we'll cover the identification and definition of the problem, the information gathered, and potential solutions. So it's the same thing as data science for identifying the problem. You need an attention getter, how it affects you, why it matters, etc., etc. But you have to fit all of that into two pages instead of three spread out ones.
So again, I'm going to emphasize this a lot, but make sure you're concise. Don't just say something for the sake of saying because you will need that space and when you have to cut it, you won't realize that, oh, this isn't vital information cuz you wrote I don't want to say junk, but junk in the first place. You know what I mean?
Secondly, make sure that you're backing up everything that you're saying with credible sources. Don't just state an outright false fact. So, if I just said, um, 50% of babies grow to be 7 foot, that's just wrong. And people will know that, right? That's exaggerating. But these judges are experts in their field, especially at higher levels. So, they'll be able to call when you're, you know, saying something that's just not true. So, back up all your information with studies, especially studies done by prestigious or not prestigious, but just universities and public research journals in general because they know what they're talking about and the judges know. They know what they're talking about. So, when they see that, they'll say, "Oh, okay. makes sense. And also make sure your info relates to exactly what you're saying.
Don't just take something that says, "Oh, same topic," and then relate it to that, right? Especially if you didn't actually read the study. I know that's very time consuming. So, you can just read the abstract. Make sure it's saying exactly what you're saying in your portfolio. Don't exaggerate just in case the judge, you know, themselves actually read the study and they know, oh, that's just not true. You'll get called and then obviously you'll lose points.
So lastly, when we're going into potential solutions, make sure that you um think out every solution you make and don't, you know, take from someone else. Even if you think you know what you want to do from the start, you might not. Cuz especially like if you CAD out all the solutions and you realize, oh, this one might be a better fit for the challenge, we just didn't think of it beforehand. So doing this could actually raise your score because you'll come up with a better solution. Um, and at higher levels like states that are competitive like PA, Texas, Florida, Georgia, you know, and like nationals as well, CAD out all of your possible solutions. It just shows that you took the time to do so.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to watch this video. Shout out to TSA Global for letting me publish this on their platforms and comment if you have any questions. Have a nice night everyone.