"Re: Research Rewards. I did an independent study with a student over J-term, and I am encouraging her to submit her well-researched paper for the Library's award. She voiced concern that her paper would be up against other students' honors theses and other massive works. I understand that you perhaps can't fund multiple awards, or that doing so would water-down the prizes, but I wonder if there is some way to take into account the time-scale on which work was completed. An honors thesis is awarded with an honor's degree, a semester's long project with course credit...I would hope there is some way to also encourage students who undertake an ambitious (and more-than-required) amount of work over J-term, for instance."
Thanks for your suggestion regarding our undergraduate research award. Others have also provided this feedback, and we have considered separating theses from the rest of our entries. However, it would require additional funding and be more complicated to administer. (For example, we could not make thesis submissions due until the every end of the academic year, and the award would almost certainly be made in absentia, after that student has graduated). That said, this is an idea we will continue to ponder. In the meantime, we do try to take into account expectations for various types of submissions, and we have had two years (out of six, through 2016) in which our junior/senior winner was not a thesis writer.
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