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Call for Submissions , Jesse H. Shera Award for the Support of Dissertation Research

Posted November 10, 2015

The Library Research Round Table of the American Library Association announces the 2016 Jesse H. Shera Award for the Support of Dissertation Research. This award provides recognition for proposed dissertation research employing exemplary research design and methods. The deadline for submitting entries is January 31, 2016. The LRRT Shera Award Committee will judge the entries for the competition. The decision of the Committee will be announced by the LRRT Steering Committee Chair, prior to the Annual Conference.

Guidelines

  1. The award is restricted to research designs that have been approved by the doctoral candidate’s dissertation committee and that are about to be employed or are in the initial stage of use. Completed research is not eligible for consideration.
  2. Any research design is acceptable, but the topic of the research must relate in at least a general way to library and information studies.
  3. Candidates should submit a two-part paper based on their approved dissertation proposal:
    • A brief problem statement not to exceed 500 words.
    • A summary of the design/methodology portion of their dissertation proposal, not to exceed 2,500 words.
    • A brief statement from the dissertation committee chair, supporting and approving the research. 
  4. Candidates for this award need not be LRRT members.
  5. Papers will be evaluated in a double-blind, peer review process, on the basis of the following criteria:
    • Clarity of the research design.
    • The appropriateness of the design and method(s) for the research problem.
    • Adequacy of the description of the methodological procedures.
    • The inclusion of definitions of important terms where needed.
    • The adequacy of the data collection instrument(s) or technique(s).
    • Appropriateness of the proposed data analysis for the research problem and methods.
    • Innovation of the research design.
  6. The winner of the award will receive a Certificate and $250.

To submit a paper for the 2016 competition, e-mail 2 copies (one in which your name and any other identifying information has been removed) in PDF format to: [email protected] with the subject line: Shera Award, Dissertation Research