Grants & Awards: Student Research Award:

Student Research Award

Competition Rules

1. Both individual students and groups of students (including the entire class) may be nominated.
   
   
2. All nominations must be made by teachers or administrators in the school attended by the student or group of students. Adult community members such as municipal historians and public library librarians may also nominate students. Each teacher or administrator may nominate up to five entries. Entries from home schooled students are welcome.
   
   
3. The product of student research may be any of the following:
   
   
   • Research paper Two categories of research papers are eligible for an award: (1) the traditional research paper, based on a subject of choice; and (2) a research paper that reconstructs the past by analyzing and interpreting the issues and events mentioned in a historical story, ballad, folksong, folktale, diary, letter, poem, or an oral history interview. (An example of (2): a student uses an 1863 letter written by Colonel Barber in Virginia to his wife in upstate New York as part of a study to reconstruct the colonel’s life, in order to show the impact of the Civil War on the life of a New York soldier and his family.) Students must use historical records to analyze and interpret the issues and events mentioned in the historical items they are using. All research papers must be typed or computer-printed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper and double-spaced with pages consecutively numbered. The text length of the paper must be no less than 1,000 words (notes, annotated bibliography, illustration captions, and supplemental or appendix material do not count in the total). Citations––footnotes or end notes, for example––are required for all sources. Five copies of the paper should be submitted. The research paper will not be returned to the entrant.
     
     
   • Exhibit This category is limited to poster exhibits no larger than 24" x 36". Tri-folded exhibits are welcome. The poster should be shipped in a re-usable carton; exhibits will be returned to entrants if shipped this way. The State Archives is not responsible for any damage or loss suffered by the exhibit in shipment. Student-composed written materials that accompany the exhibit should contain no more than 500 words. This limit applies to labels, captions, etc., but does not apply to documents that may be used as an integral part of the exhibit. If the exhibit is too large or too heavy to be shipped, a videotape, slide show, or photographs of the exhibit may be submitted instead. But copies of the exhibit labels, text, and any additional information that accompanies the original exhibit must be submitted with the entry.
     
     
   • Documentary Five copies of a documentary must be submitted. Five copies of the script for the documentary must also be included. Productions should be no more than fifteen minutes long. Documentaries must be submitted in a VHS videotape, CD, or DVD format, and will not be returned.
     
     
   • Performance Five copies of the performance must be submitted in a VHS videotape, CD, or DVD format. Five copies of the script for the videotaped performance must also be included. The performance should run no more than fifteen minutes. Submitted media will not be returned.
     
     
   • Proposal for designation of historic marker, property, or district All proposals must be the result of research using historical records. Proposals must be typed or computer-printed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper and double-spaced with pages consecutively numbered. The text length of the proposal must be no less than 1,000 words (notes, annotated bibliography, illustration captions, and supplemental or appendix material do not count in the total). Citations––footnotes or end notes, for example––are required for all sources. Five copies of the proposal should be submitted. The proposal will not be returned to the entrant. All proposals submitted to the State Archives for designating historic properties, districts, or markers are for Student Research Awards purposes only. To officially designate a historic property or district, contact New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Field Services Bureau, at (518) 237-8643, ext. 269. To receive more information about the State Education Department's Historic Marker Program, visit the website http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/services/marker/srvmarker.html
     
     
   • Websites, PowerPoint presentations, and other computer-based entries. Five copies of the computer-based entry must be submitted on either a CD or DVD and must be PC compatible. If you have questions about electronic formats, please call the State Archives at (518) 474-6926 or send an e-mail to archedu@mail.nysed.gov prior to submitting an entry. There is no word count limit on PowerPoint presentations. All entries must follow the guidelines mentioned above regarding annotated bibliographies and the use of historical records. Website entries do not need to be submitted on disk, but must have a valid URL address. Five copies of written materials must also be provided. Submitted media will not be returned.
     
     
4. An annotated bibliography is required for ALL entries. The bibliography should contain all primary and secondary sources used in preparing the entry. The annotations for each source must explain how the source was used and how it contributed to the project. The bibliography may be as long as necessary. When using Internet sources, students must link to the specific historical record used, not just the general website of the institution. We encourage students to work with their teacher or school library media specialist for assistance preparing the annotated bibliography.
   
   
5. A substantial portion of the student research must be based on historical records from archives, museums, historical societies, libraries, local governments, community organizations, businesses, families, or individuals. Historical records must not be published copies of documents. They must be original documents created at the time period on which the research is focused. The use of Internet websites, such as those of the New York State Archives, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives, is encouraged. However, the Internet should not be the only source of historical records. The following are some examples of eligible historical records and where they might be found:
   
   
   • Personal papers: original letters, diaries, journals, photographs, drawings, and financial records from family collections or archives.
     
     
   • Business records: ledgers, correspondence, journals, minutes of meetings, advertisements, and research and development files. Business records are usually located at the business itself, in the possession of the family that owned the business, or at local archives, libraries, and historical societies.
     
     
   • Local government records: minutes of board meetings, tax assessment records, engineering and highway department records, police and court records, budgets and annual reports, and other types of records created by the local governments themselves. These records are usually located at individual local government units, such as school districts, towns, villages, counties, cities, fire districts, public benefit corporations, and BOCES.
     
     
   • Community organization records: correspondence, speeches, membership lists, financial records, and minutes of meetings. Community organizations may include local churches, labor unions, political parties, service clubs, and philanthropic and fraternal groups. The records of these groups may be in the possession of each specific organization, or located at local historical societies, archives, and libraries.
     
     
   • State and national records: censuses; vital, property, and probate records; and wills. Copies of these records are often located in local government archives, as well as at local historical societies and libraries, which may have microfilm copies.
     
     
6. Students MUST use historical records (described in item #5), but they may also use published primary materials. Such primary sources can include board minutes (for example, county board proceedings), broadsides, maps, annual reports, periodicals, or newspapers. Primary materials can also include items contemporary to the period that is the subject of the research (for example, Godey's Ladies' Book to document nineteenth-century fashion, crafts, recipes, etiquette, etc.; Harper's Weekly to document the Civil War years; Life Magazine to document the World War II years). All these primary materials are generally located in special collections of libraries, historical societies, museums, or local governments.
   
   For more information on locating and using primary materials, refer to the State Archives’ publication Consider the Source: Historical Records in the Classroom, mailed in October, 1995 to all school district libraries and non-public schools in New York State. Consider the Source may be purchased for $10 from the Archives. Contact archedu@mail.nysed.gov or call (518) 473-8037 to request an order form.
   
   
7. Oral history interviews are not eligible for this awards program. However, such interviews may be used as a historical item as part of a research paper, as described in #3, Research Paper, above (“a research paper that reconstructs the past [using historical records] by analyzing and interpreting the issues and events mentioned in … an oral history interview.”)
   
   
8. Research projects prepared for other competitions (such as History Day) are eligible if they meet other relevant criteria, especially the use of historical records in research.
   
   
9. Citations and bibliographic references must follow a standard consistent bibliographic format regardless of which style manual is used.
   
   
10. Any plagiarism will result in disqualification.
    
    
11. All entries must be accompanied by an entry form (see below). Submit five copies of the entry form.
    
    
12. Award winners are ineligible to win more than two years in a row.

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Complete Student Research Award Guidelines and Forms in PDF format (Requires Adobe Reader)

Timetable | Selection