SHAKSPER 2000: EEBO Essay Contest

From: Hardy M. Cook (editor@ws.bowiestate.edu)
Date: 12/27/00 

The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.2373  Wednesday, 27 December 2000

From:           Hillary M Nunn <hnunn@umich.edu>
Date:           Friday, 22 Dec 2000 12:30:09 -0500 (EST)
Subject:        EEBO Essay Contest

CALL FOR PAPERS

The EEBO Undergraduate Studies Essay Competition

Bell & Howell Information and Learning and the Early English Books
Online Text Creation Partnership are sponsoring an essay competition for
undergraduate students.

The EEBO in Undergraduate Studies Essay Competition Committee is seeking
undergraduate research papers that rely upon research conducted via the
Early English Books Online collection of primary texts.  The Committee
consists of professionals and scholars drawn from both industry and
academic contributors to Early English Books Online(tm) .  Essays may
reflect the approach of any number of academic disciplines - history,
literary studies, philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, etc. - or
they may be interdisciplinary in nature.  The chief requirement is that
the papers draw substantial evidence from the works included in Early
English Books Online.

The Committee will judge the entries using a "blind" review process to
select five papers for the following cash prizes.

Grand Prize:  $1,000
Second Prize:  $750
Third Prize:  $500
2 Honorable Mentions:  $200

Early English Books Online contains pages images of 125,000 books listed
in the Pollard and Redgrave, Wing, and Thomason Tracts catalogs.  With
its substantial coverage of printed material found in England between
1473 and 1700, EEBO provides rich research possibilities for students
interested in a wide variety of topics in early modern studies.

The Committee will read and evaluate each properly submitted essay.
Criteria for selection include:
* Quality and creativity of the thesis
* Potential for the essay to contribute to its field and to early modern
studies more generally
* Significance of the study for illustrating EEBO's usefulness in
undergraduate research

All papers must be written by an undergraduate student who is a United
States citizen.  Any entrant under the age of 18 must have a parent or
guardian's permission to enter this contest.  The essay should reflect
work done between January 1, 2001, and October 31, 2001.  Proof of
enrollment during this time period must accompany each submission.  All
contestants must be enrolled in an institution with approved access to
Early English Books Online.  Deadline for receipt of essays is October
31, 2001. Prizes will be announced by January 15, 2002.

Essays must be the original, unpublished work of the student.  Only one
essay per student may be submitted.  All essays become the property of
Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company, which reserves the right
to publish the essays in any form it sees fit, either electronically or
in print.  By entering the essay contest, entrants grant further
permission to the sponsors to use the entrant's name and photo; to
publicize the winning entries as well as the names of all the winning
essays, all without royalty or other additional compensation.

The prize winners will be notified by U.S. Mail.  The winner must
provide proof of identity and may be required to execute an Affidavit of
Eligibility/Liability and Publicity Release and a statement certifying
that all material submitted as part of the entry is original and does
not infringe upon the copyright, intellectual property or other right of
another person or entity.  If a potential winner fails to return the
required documentation within 15 days following attempted notification,
the prize will go to the next runner-up.

The transfer of prize property will occur as soon as practicably
possible, but no later than ninety (90) days after the award is granted.

Essay Format and Citation Style

Submitted essays must consist of no more than 20 pages of written text.
All entries must be accompanied by a one-page abstract. The essay must
be typed in 12-point font, double-spaced with 1" margins and the pages
numbered.  Required cover pages and illustrations are not included in
the allotted twenty pages.  Each paper must include a bibliography.

Each essay must make use of text(s) as found in Early English Books
Online. The essay should use EEBO PAGE IMAGE NUMBERS when making
references to the texts as follows:

In the opening remarks in A briefe and true report of the new found land
of Virginia (1588), Thomas Hariot claims that "There haue bin diuers and
variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited
abroade by many that returned from thence" (Image 3).

For all other matters of citation and style, essays must adhere to MLA
or Chicago Manual of Style guidelines.

No name or identifying references (i.e. school, professor or author's
name) may appear on the essay itself, even though style guides may
require such notations.  Such information can only appear on the cover
page described below.

Required Submission Materials

Cover Page
All submissions MUST have a cover page listing your name(s), college,
mailing addresses and phone numbers both at home and at school, email
address, and title of your paper.  This page should be the only one
where your name appears.

Abstract
The second page should NOT show your name or any personal information.
Instead, it should serve as an abstract of your paper and should include
the following information:
* The title of your project
* An account of how and why you chose the topic, as well as when you
worked on it.  If the paper was written for a class, please include the
name of the instructor
* An explicit statement of the paper's thesis
* A description of the way the paper uses documents from EEBO
* An evaluation of the value of the paper's conclusions for others in
your field of study

Letter of eligibility
Include a letter on school stationery from the Registrar's Office,
verifying that you were in fact enrolled during the time in which the
paper was written.

Submitting Your Materials

Submit one copy of your essay and other required submission materials.
Keep a copy of your essay and other submission materials since no
materials will be returned.

Entries must be received by 5:00 p.m. on October 31, 2001.

Entries may not be faxed or emailed.

Please mail your submissions to the Committee Chair via this address:

EEBO Undergraduate Studies Essay Competition
c/o EEBO Product Manager
Bell & Howell Information and Learning
300 North Zeeb Road, Box 78
Ann Arbor, MI 48106

Neither the Committee nor Bell & Howell Information and Learning are
responsible for lost, late, or misdirected entries.  Any entries
postmark or received after the above deadline shall be returned to the
entrant.  Neither the Committee nor Bell & Howell Information and
Learning are responsible for printing or typographical errors associated
with the content or any condition beyond the control of Bell & Howell or
the Committee which may cause the contest to interrupted.

For More Information

To find out more about Early English Books Online, please contact
pqsales@bellhowell.infolearning.com.

Read more about the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership
at http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/eebo/, or email Hillary Nunn at
hnunn@umich.edu.


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