Grants and Writing Resources for the University of Tennessee Knoxville

Two juniors in the Tickle College of Engineering, a civil engineering major and a computer science major, won Goldwater Scholarships in spring 2026. They were the only UT students chosen that year. Their awards raise the count of UT Goldwater Scholars since 2010 to 35.

Undergraduate Research on Display

The Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement, known as EUReCA, reached its 30th year in 2026. Enrolled undergraduates enter alone or in groups, each with a UT Knoxville or UTIA faculty mentor, and apply with an abstract of 150 to 200 words that covers purpose, methods, results and conclusions. Mentors approve every application. Divisions judge the entries, departments and colleges pay for the prizes, and winners are honored at an awards ceremony. Classroom projects such as capstones compete in a separate category.

Prize money goes to the student's MyUTK account through the Office of Financial Aid. Students who hold federal or state aid, the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship included, may see that aid reduced.

Honors Fellowships and Student Magazines

Scholars in the Chancellor's Honors Program can be selected for honors fellowships of several kinds. Summit Fellows apply for up to $1,500 and Catalyst Fellows receive $2,500 in guaranteed funding, both for undergraduate research, study abroad, internships, or creative and entrepreneurial ventures. Global Fellows go on a fully funded, faculty-led immersion abroad at the end of the first year and can apply for up to $1,500 more.

The English department lists its student publications in one place. Phoenix, founded in 1959, publishes undergraduate creative writing and visual art twice a year, and it was the first place Cormac McCarthy's fiction appeared in print. Grist, an annual literary journal, is run by English graduate students. Vol of Duty, started in 2025, carries undergraduate writing and reviews of video games and new media.

Graduate Research Funding

The Graduate School's Graduate Student Research Awards fund requests of $1,000 to $5,000. The proposal is a narrative of no more than 1,000 words written for a reader outside the field, with a budget, a two-page CV and a letter from a faculty mentor. Money can pay for supplies, participant incentives, transcription, lab fees and travel to do research. It cannot pay for conference travel, salaries or publication costs. A subcommittee of the Graduate Council chooses the winners.

Students don't apply for the endowed graduate fellowships; departments nominate them. For 2026-2027 the list includes $10,000 Yates Dissertation Fellowships for doctoral candidates at the dissertation stage, $5,000 Dawn and Lawrence Taylor Dissertation Awards in the College of Arts and Sciences, and $5,000 Herman E. Spivey Humanities Graduate Fellowships for new students in the arts and humanities. Master's and doctoral students can also test their research talks in the Three Minute Thesis competition: one static slide, three minutes, and a cash award for the winners.

Writing Support and Thesis Review

The Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center holds 45-minute one-to-one consultations, in person or online, from its main room in HSS 212 and satellite spots in Hodges Library, the ANR Building, the Veterans Success Center and the Engineering Study Center in Ferris Hall. Graduate consultations cover coursework, theses, dissertations and application materials, and English learners can book EAL specialists. Editing, proofreading and formatting fall outside the free service. For writers who want paid editing, the center keeps a list of local freelance editors and makes referrals through a Request for Freelance Editing form; the writer and editor settle the fee between them.

Every thesis and dissertation goes through a preliminary format review. Students upload a draft of at least one chapter through Vireo, and the Coordinator of Student Services checks margins, font and spacing, the bibliography, the table of contents and the abstract against Graduate School requirements. The coordinator also runs virtual Format Chat sessions. Once accepted, the final work is posted publicly on TRACE, with embargoes of one, three or six years available for patents, sensitive data or publisher limits.

Before a thesis goes to format review or a seminar paper goes to a professor, a last pass for grammar, consistency and format can help. Read about our University of Tennessee dissertation and thesis editing and University of Tennessee Knoxville essay editing, or email editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter
• How to Write a Literature Essay: Mastering Close Reading
• Escaping the Revision Pile: Strategies for First-Round Approval