Grants and Writing Resources for Indiana Wesleyan University

Nineteen IWU students joined nine faculty-mentored projects in the Hodson Research Institute in summer 2026, working on crop yields, the gut microbiome, neuron detection, artificial intelligence and personalized health care. One biology team tested probiotic and prebiotic supplements bought in stores and found bacteria capable of breaking down red blood cells in almost every product. The team is now sequencing those bacteria, the university reported in its 2026 President's Report.

Summer Science Research

Since 2011 the Hodson Research Institute has given IWU-Marion undergraduates a fully funded summer of research with faculty mentors. Almost 300 students had taken part by August 2026. Many have gone on to medical school or doctoral programs.

Arthur Hodson set up the Hodson Science Student Research Fund in memory of his wife, Nelle. It pays for supplies, student stipends and equipment in faculty-student research. Chemistry, biology and physics projects come first, other projects in the School of Physical and Applied Sciences are considered, and recipients present their findings at scientific conferences and at scholarship forums at IWU.

Honors Projects and the Spring Showcase

IWU sets aside a day without classes each spring for the Celebration of Scholarship, the campus-wide undergraduate research conference sponsored by the John Wesley Honors College. The day runs on oral sessions and poster displays, with a luncheon that has hosted the current Aldersgate Prize recipient in recent years. Going by the university's research figures for 2022 to 2025, more than 150 students present there every year.

Honors students finish with an Honors Scholarship Project, a research capstone built with a faculty mentor over a research seminar and two project courses. It can be a research paper, lab research, service learning or a creative work. Students who take the final presentation course for no credit present at IWU, usually at the Celebration; for one credit, they present at an external conference or submit to an undergraduate research journal. One honors capstone in psychology led to a study of replacing social media with prayer, run with 150 participants in fall 2024 and presented at the 2025 Christian Association for Psychological Studies Conference.

Where Student Writing Appears

IWU has hosted Caesura, its undergraduate literary magazine, since 1990. A team of three to five student editors plans each issue in the fall and collects submissions in the spring. The 2025 issue, Echoes, drew about 80 submissions and published 40 pieces in 80 pages, the longest issue Caesura has printed. It was released at a poetry reading held as part of the Celebration of Scholarship.

The magazine accepts poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, scripts and visual art. English students can also join the Lambda Tau chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society. Through the society, members can apply for scholarships and internships. They can also submit work for publication and present at its international conferences.

Help With Papers and Dissertations

Peer writing consultants at The Inkwell, the writing center, read any kind of writing and give feedback at every stage of the writing process. They are trained to work with writers at all levels.

Online Campus Library Services (OCLS) helps IWU's adult students and faculty with research and APA Style. Its Paper Format Review checks the title page, in-text citations, APA headings, tables, figures and the reference list of a final paper. Librarians mark the errors and the student makes the corrections. Doctoral students in the DBA, DMin, DNP, DOL and EdD programs can use the review for papers and reference lists in 700-level, first-year courses.

Dissertations go through a separate OCLS dissertation review. The candidate first works with a professional editor on the final draft, checks it against the OCLS checklist and the program's dissertation manual, and makes the changes the professional APA Style Editor requests. A librarian then checks the front matter formatting, Chapter One headings, two tables and two figures, the appendices and the first two pages of references, in-text citations included. When the librarian finds multiple errors, the draft goes back to the candidate with the APA Style Editor and the dissertation chair copied. OCLS asks for at least four weeks, weekends and holidays excluded.

Seminary Scholarships

Current and accepted students apply for Wesley Seminary endowed scholarships through one scholarship application. Amounts and requirements vary by scholarship, and most ask applicants to show financial need. Pastors under appointment through The Wesleyan Church receive $100 off each credit in master's programs.

IWU's library expects doctoral candidates to work with a professional editor before the OCLS dissertation review, and our editors can take on that final edit for grammar, consistency and APA format. See our Indiana Wesleyan University dissertation and thesis editing and Indiana Wesleyan University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty: Citing and Quoting Sources
• Escaping the Revision Pile: Strategies for First-Round Approval
• Formulating the PICOT Question: The DNA of Your Capstone