Grants and Writing Resources for Duke University

In February 2026 Duke was again named a Fulbright Top Producer, after 22 of its students were selected for Fulbright awards for the 2025-2026 academic year. Their grants span 15 countries on four continents. A month earlier, one undergraduate and two recent alumnae were among the 150 people worldwide chosen as 2026 Schwarzman Scholars for a year of graduate study in China.

Library Prizes for Undergraduate Writing

Duke University Libraries runs five research and writing awards. The Aptman Prizes reward undergraduate research that analyzes and synthesizes sources from the general collections, and the Holsti Prize goes to undergraduate work in political science or public policy built on primary sources; each pays $1,000. The Middlesworth Awards are two $1,000 prizes for undergraduate papers or projects based largely on holdings of the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. A faculty member, instructor or program sponsor makes the nomination, and group projects split the prize.

Creative writers have two library prizes of their own. The Rudolph William Rosati Creative Writing Award is open to first-years and sophomores, the William Styron Creative Writing Award to juniors and seniors, and each pays $1,500, according to the library awards page.

Undergraduate Research and the Spring Symposium

The Undergraduate Research Support Office pays for the practical costs of a project. Its URS funding includes an Independent Study Award of up to $500 for supplies, a Conference Award of up to $800 for presenting at a national or regional meeting, and assistantship wages for students working on a faculty project outside course credit. Trinity students working toward Graduation with Distinction can apply for the T-SUMR Fellowship, formerly the Deans' Summer Research Fellowship, for six or ten weeks of full-time summer research.

Each April the office holds the Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at The Edge in Bostock Library with Duke University Libraries and Muser. Students present posters and flash talks. The 2026 program added Distinguished Senior Thesis Talks, given by three seniors pursuing Graduation with Distinction, one from each of the symposium's academic areas.

Graduate Fellowships and Travel

The Graduate School funds dissertation fieldwork at two scales. Its Dissertation Research Travel Award: Domestic pays up to $4,000 for research inside the United States, and the international version pays up to $5,000 for research abroad; each department can nominate two Ph.D. students a year, and neither award covers conference travel. Students who need a full nine months abroad can apply for the James B. Duke International Research Travel Fellowship, which pays a stipend and tuition and adds a $2,000 travel allowance.

Third-year and later Ph.D. students in programs without guaranteed twelve-month funding can apply for a Summer Research Fellowship covering a full summer stipend plus summer tuition and the health fee. Separate summer fellowships support research on racism and systemic inequalities and on women or girls of color, and the annual fellowship list also includes the Aleane Webb Dissertation Research Fellowship and the Evan Frankel Fellowship for humanities Ph.D. students. Once past the preliminary exam, a student presenting at a conference can get a Conference Travel Award for 70 percent of the cost, up to $525 domestic or $700 international. The department pays the rest.

Help With Writing

The Writing & Communication Center, part of the Writing and Rhetoric Program, works with presentations and posters as well as papers, at any stage, in person or online. Undergraduates and Graduate School students have first access to appointments, and Graduate School students are asked to book one appointment a week and use walk-ins beyond that. Undergraduates working on honors theses or other writing projects can join the Undergraduate Writing Accountability Group, which checks in weekly and holds Friday writing sessions.

Graduate students have the Graduate Writing Lab, run with The Graduate School in the Murthy Digital Studio and on Zoom. Sessions mix structured writing time with one-on-one consultations and group talk on dissertation genre, abstracts and responding to faculty comments.

Journals and DukeSpace

Duke's undergraduate research journals include Duke Vertices, an undergraduate research journal and science magazine founded in the early 1980s and revived in 2018, and the Duke Student Global Health Review. Theses and dissertations approved by The Graduate School go open access in DukeSpace and to ProQuest, with embargo options of up to two years. Seniors graduating with distinction can also deposit their theses in DukeSpace if their department takes part.

When a paper, thesis, or dissertation is ready for a final edit, our editors can help. See our Duke University dissertation and thesis editing and Duke University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• Literature Synthesis: Moving Beyond the Summary toward Authority
• Crafting Deep-Dive Narratives for Elite Programs
• ProQuest Readiness: The Final Mechanical Audit