Eligibility

All current, full-time UCSB students working towards an undergraduate degree are eligible. Projects that have been submitted to the Undergraduate Research Slam and in the Research Colloquium are eligible, as are projects that have been submitted for UCSB course credit.

Type of Entries Accepted

We will accept any creative project, research paper, and empirical research that shows sophisticated use and understanding of library resources. Some examples include but are not limited to: 

  • research essays or papers

  • research conducted with qualitative or quantitative methodologies 

  • software programs, websites, digital stories, infographics, zines

  • musical compositions, films or videos, digital projects or art installations or exhibits

  • film analyses

  • social, cultural or literary criticism

Entry Components and Judging Criteria

Please review the following judging criteria before preparing your submission, and ensure that your entry includes all three components. Submit the Entry Form and upload all required components as a single PDF (.pdf) file. Entries will be judged on three components:  

  • Creative project or research paper (30 points)
    Your project should be your original works that reflects expert and sophisticated use of Library materials, services, and resources. If your project is in a format that cannot be submitted electronically, such as an art installation or exhibition, please submit a document that provides a detailed description of the project in sufficient detail to allow it to be judged.

  • Reflective essay (40 points)
    ​A 500- to 700-word statement describing your research process. Tell us about the criteria you used in choosing your sources, such as their authority, credibility, scope, and coverage. We are especially interested in hearing about what you learned in this process. Some other points that you may want to cover: 

    • How did you come up with your research topic? 
    • What are the methods and strategies that you used to discover your sources?
    • Did you consult with a librarian or professor, or someone else?
    • How did you evaluate the sources that you used?

  • Bibliography (30 points) 
    Format your bibliography using the style guide appropriate to your project’s discipline. Cite all sources that you used, even if you did not directly quote from them. Your bibliography should include a wide range of library materials and resources appropriate to the discipline and to the information need. These may include primary and secondary sources, scholarly and popular literature, data, articles, original compositions, sound or video recordings, computer models, and more.

Judging Panels

Each of the three broad categories will be judged by a panel of faculty members and librarians. The judges will evaluate entries based upon the criteria explained above and will use this LAUR Grading Rubric.