Friends of the Library 2012-13
Undergraduate Research Award (FLURA)

Although scholarship in the humanities and social sciences is grounded in the skillful use of primary sources, few undergraduates ever have the opportunity to engage with original historical materials.  To encourage scholarly and creative research and promote the use of our collections, the Friends of the Library and Department of Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) have established an award for undergraduates at UMass Amherst recognizing excellence in the use of primary sources. 

Students are invited to submit papers or projects they have completed at UMass Amherst during the 18 months prior to the deadline for submission.  Submissions will be considered by the Evaluation Committee and winners will be announced in March. The first place award will be presented to the recipient at the Library’s annual Dinner with Friends in April 2013. All winning papers/projects will be published on the SCUA web site and added to the University Archives.  

Eligibility:	Projects must represent work completed for a class or independent study in any field within the 18 months prior to the application deadline and while the student was enrolled as an undergraduate at UMass Amherst.	
Award:	First place award of $750
Honorable mention of $250	
Evaluation criteria:	1.	Papers or projects in the Arts, Humanities, or Social Sciences must draw upon primary sources either from collections in SCUA or from other Library resources.  	
	What is a primary source?   
A primary source is a record of an event, an occurrence, or a time period produced by a participant or observer at the time. Typically, one thinks of primary sources as unique documents or manuscript material (such as letters, diaries, journals, writings, speeches, photographs, scrapbooks, etc.), or the historic records (archives) of an organization (such as correspondence, memoranda, minutes, annual reports, etc.). Primary sources may also include government documents, artwork, artifacts, maps, music, audiovisual materials (film, audio and video tape), and electronic computer files.	
	2.	Creativity and originality	
	3.	Clarity and effectiveness of writing	
Deadline for submission:	March 1, 2013, 5:00 p.m.	
How to apply:	Complete the cover sheet and submit an electronic copy of your paper/project.  Note: your name must not appear on the paper itself. 
Submissions should be sent by email to askanarc@library.umass.edu with “FLURA” in the subject line.  Email askanarc@library.umass.edu with any questions.	
Review committee: A panel of faculty and community experts will evaluate the anonymous entries.

The Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA) and the UMass Amherst Libraries reserve the right to extend the deadline or cancel the contest if too few entries are received. The determination of number of entries required to award a winner is at the sole discretion of SCUA and the Libraries.