Grants and Writing Resources for Eastern Kentucky University

EKU's mock trial team won three tournaments in a row, taking first place at the EKU Colonel Classic Invitational, the Mid-Missouri Mock Trial Invitational and the American Mock Trial Association regional. The university reported in April 2026 that the run earned the team a bid to the AMTA Opening Round Championship Series, the qualifying round for the national championship tournament. On March 5 of that year, four EKU students were among 36 undergraduates from Kentucky who presented research to state lawmakers at Posters-at-the-Capitol. Their topics ran from the health of airline pilots to traces of pharmaceuticals in produce.

Research Funding

Undergraduate research at EKU runs through the Office of Student Research & Creative Endeavors (SRCE), which matches students with faculty mentors and takes applications for its internal awards through InfoReady Review. The Travel Award helps students present at professional conferences or show creative work at professional venues. The Poster Award pays for printing. With a Research Assistant Award, a mentor can pay an undergraduate $10 to $15 an hour for work on a faculty project.

Students facing financial obstacles to starting a research project can apply for a Research Supplies Award; award guidelines posted in January 2025 set each award at $100, with ten normally made each academic year and a written statement of support required from the mentor. Undergraduates in any major whose work concerns the conservation of forests, amphibians, reptiles or carnivores can apply for the $500 Paul John Kalisz Conservation Award.

Showcases and Prizes

The Scholars Showcase takes place each April. For its University Presentation Showcase, undergraduate and graduate students submit an abstract through Encompass covering purpose, methods, findings and conclusions, and the guide lists first- and second-place undergraduate and graduate winners for 2026. Graduate students can also enter the Three Minute Thesis, a talk for a general audience with one static slide and a three-minute limit. First place in the master's and doctoral categories pays $400.

A course paper can win money too. The Library Research Award for Undergraduates pays $1,000 for first place and $500 for one honorable mention, funded by the Friends of EKU Libraries. Entries must be original, unpublished research done for an EKU credit course, revised drafts of graded work are welcome, and a team that wins splits the prize equally. Each project goes into the libraries' permanent collection, and the award has its collection in Encompass.

Honors Theses and Student Media

Every Honors Scholar finishes with an honors thesis on a topic the student chooses. The Honors program covers most expenses for students whose proposals are accepted at the Kentucky Honors Roundtable, the Southern Regional Honors Council or the National Collegiate Honors Council. The Honors Theses collection describes the thesis as a faculty-mentored capstone paper or creative project.

The Eastern Progress has covered EKU since 1922 and now works in print, online, podcast and video. It has received a Pacemaker 100 award from the Associated Collegiate Press.

Aurora is EKU's online literary and arts journal. It started in 1935 as a paperback magazine called Belles Lettres, took the Aurora name in 1969 and has published online since 2003. Its history page dates its awards to the 1970s, among them the Roy B. Clark Award for best original fiction and the Presley Grise Award for best original poetry. A 2022 university story described the journal as the product of English 420: Stylistics, Editing, Publishing, with prizes in each genre; the 2021 poetry winner received $100. The spring 2023 issue on the site names winners in seven categories, poetry and short film among them.

Graduate Support

A full-time graduate assistantship of 20 hours a week pays a $5,600 stipend per semester and a six-credit-hour tuition waiver; a 10-hour position pays $2,800 a semester with a three-credit-hour waiver. Graduate students carrying research costs on a thesis or dissertation can apply to SRCE for its Thesis and Dissertation Award, which reimburses eligible expenses and is open to undergraduates writing theses as well.

Help With Writing and Theses

The Noel Studio for Academic Creativity works with undergraduate and graduate students from every EKU college on written, oral and visual communication. Essays, speeches, research posters and personal statements for graduate school or scholarships all qualify. Appointments last one hour, in person on the Richmond campus or live on Zoom, and consultants concentrate on organization, development and evidence.

The Graduate School accepts theses and dissertations only in electronic form, and its thesis guidelines link a formatting guide, a template and a checklist. Candidates are notified by EKU email of any formatting changes required before publication, every ETD goes to ProQuest as a condition of graduation, and no student is cleared to graduate until the Graduate School has approved the thesis. Electronic theses and dissertations from fall 2010 onward are in EKU's Online Theses and Dissertations collection.

Since the Graduate School emails required formatting changes before a thesis is published, a final edit from our editors for grammar, consistency and format is worth scheduling before submission. Honors theses and Library Research Award entries are welcome too. See our Eastern Kentucky University dissertation and thesis editing and Eastern Kentucky University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• How to Write an Argumentative Essay: Beyond For and Against
• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter
• ProQuest Readiness: The Final Mechanical Audit