The department of English and Creative Writing is making funding available to support students who are pursuing independent research in English and Creative Writing. These projects may be during a leave term, over winterim, or a school break, or concurrent with an "on" term (if the student provides a written plan about how they will balance the research with their classwork, or if the research is part of an independent study with department faculty). Preference will be given to projects that relate to the disciplines of literary studies and creative writing (e.g., archival or field research for a thesis or a fellowship). Students may not earn academic credit for this research. Individual awards will be limited to $3,000.

Written proposals must be submitted via email to the Chair and Administrator of English and Creative Writing. Please save your your proposal as a PDF and title the document LastName_FirstName_R_Year.pdf. There will be two cycles of applications each year—due April 1 and October 1. Additional off-cycle proposals will be accepted and reviewed via email to the Chair and Administrator on a rolling basis after each deadline, with the caveat that they are subject to available funding. Proposals must include the following information:

1. A 1-2 page overview of the project that clearly demonstrates how this project relates to the fields of literary and/or creative studies
2. a description of the research site, community or archive where you will be working and evidence that you have made contact with the museum, archive, or interview subjects and are seeking permission to do research or conduct interviews
3. A description of prior work done in the fields of literary studies and/or creative writing that has prepared you for this project
4. A completed budget template with proposed expenses (see sample budget template)
5. A list of other funding sources to which you plan to apply or from which you expect to receive funding (please list amounts)
6. A signature from a faculty member in the Department of English and Creative Writing, who has read and approved your research proposal