Application Elements
The committee evaluating the applications recognizes that different fields of scholarly
pursuit use different language and measure the significance of the work in different
ways. We are using two versions of the application form: for creative inquiry projects
and for research projects. The first question on the application form will ask you
to choose the type of the project you will be doing. If you are not sure (or if your
project has elements of both research and creative inquiry), please ask your faculty
mentor or email ourci@towson.edu.
Research projects application
This version of the application form has the following prompts:
- Plain-language abstract of no more than 200 words that describes your project for
those unfamiliar with your discipline. (This is a short summary of your application.
Try to write it in a way that would interest the reader to find out more from the
rest of the application.)
- Describe the significance of the project. (If your project benefits an academic field
or serves the broader community, please describe the benefits here.)
- Specific goals and timeline. (This is an opportunity to explain what you plan to do
for the project. It is entirely possible that things will not go according to plan.
If such a possibility exists for your project, please briefly explain how you would
adjust.)
- Description of your methods. (Please describe the research methods you will use in
the project. This is also a good place to describe your prior experience. If you are
in a very technical field, an additional description of your methods may be provided
in the supporting document. Please try to keep your description to this prompt as
non-technical as possible.)
- Describe how this project connects to your personal professional goals. (Please describe
how this project fits with your professional goals.)
- Your Resume/CV. (Please show it to your faculty mentor first.)
- Supporting documents. (This is an optional field; you may choose to include a file
with graphs or other images relevant to your proposal. The preferred format of the
file is PDF.)
Creative inquiry projects application
This version of the application form has the following prompts:
- Plain-language proposal of no more than 200 words that describes your project for
those unfamiliar with your discipline. (This is a short summary of your application.
Try to write it in a way that would interest the reader to find out more from the
rest of the application.)
- Describe the significance of the project. (Please define your audience and describe
the motivation behind your project. Are you taking any creative risks in the project?)
- Describe how this project connects to your personal professional goals. (Please describe
how this project fits with your professional goals.)
- Specific goals and timeline. (This is an opportunity to explain what you plan to do
for the project. It is entirely possible that things will not go according to plan.
If such a possibility exists for your project, please briefly explain how you would
adjust.)
- Description of your methods. (What artistic tradition will you use as the starting
point; describe what influences you. Think of this as a project-specific statement.
This is a good place to describe your prior experience.)
- Describe how this project connects to your personal professional goals. (Please describe
how this project fits with your professional goals.)
- Your Resume/CV. (Please show it to your faculty mentor first.)
- Supporting documents. (This is an optional field; you may choose to include a file
with images or video relevant to your proposal. There is a size limit of 10MB on this
file.)
Faculty Recommendation
Your faculty mentor must submit a confidential letter of support to ourci AT_TOWSON by the published deadline date. You should ensure that your faculty mentor will submit
a supporting letter on your behalf. Faculty mentors should note the information about faculty responsibilities if the application is successful.
Evaluation Rubric
This section describes how the committee will evaluate your application.
Significance of the project
For research projects: how well did you articulate significance of the project in
the context of the discipline, or applications of the discipline, or significance
to the community.
For creative inquiry projects: is the concept of the project well-articulated, is
the target audience described and is appropriate for the project?
Goals and timeline
Are the goals reasonable given your preparation and timeline; is the project well
thought-out; are there contingency plans? Did you provide clear milestones within
your timeline?
Methods
For research projects: Is the methodology appropriate to address the research question?
Do you have basic skills and knowledge required to use the proposed methods?
For creative inquiry projects: do you have good command of basics of the artistic
tradition of the project? Does the description of project give a sense of artistic
voice; or could it lead to the discovery of the artistic voice?
Personal/professional goals
Does the project provide a good foundation for your personal and/or professional plans:
graduate school or other nationally competitive opportunities; would the training
provided by the project substantially extend the standard coursework at TU?
Award Conditions
You must present your poster at the annual Research and Creative Inquiry Forum.
Research Award Recipients