2023-2024 Winners
The Library is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023-24 Library Research Scholarship Award. The Award is designed to recognize and reward exemplary library research skills. Students submit a research paper or presentation that they have completed for a PCC course together with reflections on their process. Librarians review the submissions, looking for evidence of excellent research skills and strong information literacy. Information literacy is one of PCC’s General Education Learning Outcomes and an information literate student possesses crucial skills to succeed both in and out of the classroom.
Winners, listed alphabetically below, are each awarded $500 scholarships for the 2023-24 academic year.
Timothy Akert Timothy's paper on the novel The Great Gatsby for his Writing 102 course with instructor, Valerie Vinyard, adeptly synthesized both critical reviews and the primary source text to paint a picture of a complex and culturally significant protagonist. In his reflections, he noted his use of Library tools and resources including reference help and tutorials, as well as both print and online books and articles. He discussed evaluating sources found in his search for relevance and reliability and cited his selected sources consistently and correctly, demonstrating his information literacy.
Drew Frehs Drew's winning paper on Ursula K. Le Guin's short story "The Ones Who Walk from Omelas" was written for Dr. Jennifer Wiley's Writing 102 course. In the paper, Drew nicely integrates both biographical information about the author and also literary criticism of her work. In his reflections, he discussed learning about Library databases such as Gale Literature Resource Center and JStor from a librarian visit to his class. He parlayed this help into a robust and varied list of sources which were well cited throughout the essay. Drew took advantage of Library tools and services to conduct his research and deliver an excellent paper.