Library Research Award

Clark Memorial Library Excellence in Research Award

The Clark Memorial Library will be sponsoring a $400 Research Award this year for the Celebration of Scholarship. The CML wants to recognize excellence in the research for a student paper or project presented during Celebration of Scholarship.

Eligibility

Papers produced during Summer 2024, Fall 2024, or Spring 2025 for an SSU course are eligible. (You may submit the same paper concurrently for a Deans’ Award.) You must present your paper at Celebration of Scholarship to be considered. If this is for a group project, each researcher must apply individually. Applicants who fail to submit the required documents will not be considered for the award.

How to Apply

A complete application consisting of 2 parts should be submitted at the following link:

Apply for Library Research Award

Submit a research process essay: a 250-word (or more) essay describing your research process and use of library tools. Please see details for essay requirements below.
Submit the Bibliography/Works Cited for your final project. We will only accept digital applications Please contact ssulibrary@shawnee.edu if you have any problems submitting your project or have any questions.

The award is being given based on the research process essay. The essay is to help the reviewers understand your research process and what you learned as a part of writing this research paper. Not only do the reviewers want to see the content of your product, we consider this process a learning experience, as well.

Essay Requirements

Please include the following in your research process essay:

Discuss your search strategies. In addition to telling us about the particulars of your research (databases/Discovery Service used, selection of search terms, etc.), reflect on the process itself. Areas to cover: What did you do to ensure you considered multiple perspectives? In what formats did you find information for the paper and how did you determine how authoritative these sources are? What did you do when you were "stuck" during the research process?
Tell us what you learned about the research process itself and how will you apply that to future research – either in an academic setting or in your current or future career.
Tell us how you are going to use the content knowledge you gained as a result of this research. Based on what you learned, are you prompted to continue this line of research and, if so, how? Are you going to apply this in your current or future career and, if so, how?

Contact ssulibrary@shawnee.edu with questions.

Deadline

All submissions must be submitted by Midnight, March 21, 2025.