Bede Undergraduate Library Research Award: Home

12th Annual Bede Award For
Undergraduate Library Research   

The College of St. Scholastica Library is offering a $350 award for excellence in undergraduate library research. The purpose of this award is to recognize excellence in the areas of research and information literacy. The Bede Award is named after the Venerable Bede, a Benedictine scholar also known as the Father of English History, whose image will be familiar to those who visit our campus library.

The Bede Award is underwritten by the College of St.Scholastica Library Friends group.

The award recognizes excellence in the following areas:

·         The ability to locate, evaluate and select library research material for integration into an academic paper or project.

·         Personal learning in the areas of information literacy and research which will be carried into future academic work.

 Submission Requirements. Each submission must include:

1. A completed entry form.
    
2. A research paper of 5 or more pages which has been submitted for a course at the College in 2024 or 2025. The paper must have received a grade of A or A- in the course for which it was submitted. The paper must include a list of at least 5 references using any of the major citation styles (MLA, APA, etc…). If possible, please send an unmarked, ungraded copy of the paper. Otherwise, the graded version is fine.
    
3. An email from your instructor to Heidi Johnson--hjohnso2@css.edu--indicating that your research paper received a grade of A or A-.
    
4.  An essay of 500 to 750 words reflecting on the research process for the submitted project. The essay must demonstrate a mastery of research and information literacy skills through a discussion of the following:
   
   a. How the author identified his/her information need and evaluated and selected sources to fulfill that need for the research paper.
   
   b. The process for finding resources; you should identify any special problems which were encountered along with any special insights that were gained through the research process
   
   c. How the research skills learned will be carried into future academic work.

Please note that the judges place extra emphasis on the essay when selecting the recipient for this award.

To submit your research paper and essay, please send the two documents as attachments to Heidi Johnson at hjohnso2@css.edu by Sunday, March 16. Please contact Heidi by email or phone--218.723.6488--if you are unable to submit your documents by email.

 Eligibility: 

• Applicants for the award must be undergraduate students currently enrolled at the College.
• The submitted project may be from any academic program at the College.
• Only one submission per student will be accepted. Works by multiple authors will also be accepted although we will not accept works co-authored by a faculty member. In the event that the prize is awarded to a multi-author project, the award money of $350 will be divided among the winners.
• Previous applicants and winners are encouraged to submit again.

Judges:

Library faculty and staff will assemble a panel for a blind review of submissions to the competition. The panel will use a scoring rubric for evaluating individual submissions. Please see below for a link to that document.

Award Reception:

This year's Bede Award will be announced at a special reception this spring.  The reception will also include a presentation of the Deans'  Purchase Award by the CSS Art Department.

Reference: Jones, L. (2009). The rewards of research: Library prizes for undergraduate research. College & Research Libraries News, 70, 338-341.