Grants and Writing Resources for DePaul University

DePaul student reporters won seven student categories at the Chicago Headline Club's 49th annual Peter Lisagor Awards on May 8, 2026. Five went to work from the Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence, among them Best Investigative Reporting and Best Education Reporting. A joint entry from La DePaulia and The DePaulia took Best Community Reporting, and Good Day DePaul won Best Campus Coverage by Student Journalists.

Undergraduate Research Grants

Undergraduate research funding at DePaul runs through the colleges. In the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (LAS), the Summer Undergraduate Research Grant supports a research, scholarly or creative project under a faculty sponsor. Its 2026 guidelines set a $1,500 stipend for a one-student project, smaller amounts per student for teams of two or three, and up to $250 per project for expenses. Applicants need a primary major in LAS and a cumulative GPA of 3.0, and the proposal runs no more than 1,000 words. The same page lists the Undergraduate Research Fund, which repays LAS majors for presenting original research or creative work at scholarly meetings.

The College of Science and Health pays $2,490 to $4,980 through its Undergraduate Summer Research Program, for 15 to 30 hours a week with a faculty mentor. Recipients present at the CSH Undergraduate Research Showcase and in DePaul Discoveries. Under the university's Undergraduate Research Assistant Program, a faculty member and a student apply together, and CSH lists URAP support of up to 75 hours a quarter.

Prizes for Papers

The History Department's Annual Student History Conference takes papers written for any DePaul class. One of its prizes is for the best graduate history paper. The others go to the best History 299 paper and the best 300-level paper.

History of Art and Architecture runs an annual Student Symposium and Essay Prize. A committee of the department's faculty judges final papers from capstone and 200- or 300-level art history courses on clarity, argument and methodology. Every entry needs notes, a bibliography and cited illustrations. At the symposium, capstone students give short talks drawn from their senior theses.

Where Student Work Appears

LAS has published Creating Knowledge, its journal of undergraduate scholarship and creative activity, every year since 2008, in print and online. Departments solicit the submissions, so a student starts by contacting a faculty member in the major or minor. Selection is competitive. The English department sponsors Crook and Folly, a student art and literary magazine once called Threshold.

Science students publish in DePaul Discoveries, the College of Science and Health's peer-reviewed undergraduate research journal. Volume 15 came out in 2026.

Honors Program seniors finish with a senior thesis or an interdisciplinary capstone seminar built around a substantial research project. A thesis writer works with two faculty members from different disciplines. Those who finish are invited to present a summary of the research at the annual Honors Research Conference.

Graduate Research Funding

The LAS Graduate Research Fund pays for research and creative work tied to a student's program and for presenting papers at academic conferences. Under its January 2025 guidelines there is no set cap on a request. Full- and part-time graduate students in good standing may apply twice each academic year, with priority for first-time applicants who have advanced standing. Philosophy doctoral students may apply for travel completed before the end of the sixth year or before the dissertation defense, whichever applies.

The College of Science and Health has a separate Graduate Research Fund for research costs and conference travel, reviewed on a rolling basis with a mentor's endorsement. In the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media, the Graduate Research Assistant Program places graduate students on faculty research and creative projects, and a limited number of grants and stipends go to MA, MS, MFA and PhD students.

Fulbright, Truman, Boren, Rhodes and the other featured scholarships need review or endorsement by DePaul. Applications go through the DePaul National Scholarships Adviser, who helps students pick a program and strengthen their materials. Two 2024 graduates spent 2024-25 in the Student Fulbright Program, one on a study award in England and one teaching English in Greece.

Writing Tutors and Thesis Deposit

The University Center for Writing-based Learning runs the Writing Center for all DePaul writers, students and alumni included. Peer writing tutors work in Schmitt Academic Center 212 at Lincoln Park and in DePaul Center 10001 in the Loop. Appointments are face-to-face on either campus, online in real time, or by written feedback. The tutors are graduate and undergraduate students and professional staff. They help a writer get started on an assignment, revise a draft and cite sources, and on grammar and style they work from the patterns of error in the draft. Instructors can request a Writing Fellow for a course; students send drafts through the course site and get them back the next week with comments in the margins.

Finished theses and dissertations are archived in Via Sapientiae, DePaul's open repository. The LAS collection holds electronic copies, and most are also indexed in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. The College of Science and Health keeps a separate collection and posts its submission steps on its graduation requirements page.

Before you submit a DePaul thesis, dissertation or Creating Knowledge piece, our editors can give it a final edit for grammar, consistency and format. Visit our DePaul University dissertation and thesis services and DePaul University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• How to Write a Critical Essay: Mastering Academic Critique
• Theoretical Frameworks: The Logical Skeleton of Your Dissertation
• From Dissertation to Publication: The Final Scholarly Synthesis