Judging Panels

Each of the three LAUR categories (Humanities & Fine Arts, Social Science, and Science & Engineering) has its own judging panel. 

Each judging panel is composed of two faculty members from departments corresponding to the category, and two librarians or library staff members who have expertise in the corresponding academic disciplines.

Entries will be evaluated based on the criteria explained below and will use the LAUR Grading Rubric.

Entry Components and Judging Criteria

Entries will be judged on three components: Creative Project or Research Paper, Reflective Essay, and Bibliography.

Creative project or research paper (25 points)

Your project should be your original work that reflects expert and sophisticated use of Library materials, services, and resources. If your project is in a format that cannot be submitted electronically, such as an art installation or exhibition, please submit a document that provides a detailed description of the project in sufficient detail to allow it to be judged. In either case, your research journey should be evident.

Reflective essay (45 points)

The reflective essay (between 500-1000 words) is the most important part of your application. It should describe your research process and demonstrate how the UCSB Library and its resources helped you create your project. ​Please be sure to cover each of the below bullets in your essay: 

  • How did you come up with your research topic? 
  • What role did the library play in your research efforts? What library services did you use? Did you consult with a librarian, use a research guide, use Special Research Collections, DREAM Lab, or other library services? 
  • What are the methods and strategies that you used to discover and access sources? Did you use specific keywords, search terms, databases, or other means to find sources for your research?  Did you modify your topic during your research process, how and why?
  • What were some of the challenges you faced?  Were you able to resolve them and how? How did you evaluate your sources?
  • What did you learn from your research process?

If you are submitting a project with more than one author, and the other authors are not entering the award, please explain your individual contribution to the project in your Reflective Essay. This way our judges can assess your contribution to the project. 

If you are submitting a project with more than one author as a group, please designate a single student to submit the project on behalf of everyone. In the event that your group is awarded a prize, the award monies are split among the group, and each individual author will be recognized at the ceremony and on social media.

Bibliography (30 points)

Format your bibliography using the citation style appropriate to your project’s discipline. 

  • At the top of your bibliography, please indicate the style you used (e.g. APA, Chicago, IEEE, MLA). 
  • Cite all sources that you used, even if you did not quote or paraphrase from them.
  • Your bibliography should include a wide range of library materials and resources appropriate to the discipline and to your project. These may include scholarly and popular articles, primary sources, data, original compositions, sound or video recordings, computer models, and more.

Once complete, submit the Entry Form and upload all required components as a single PDF (.pdf) file.