The EEBO in Undergraduate Studies Essay Competition Committee is seeking undergraduate research papers that rely on research conducted using the EEBO collection. EEBO is a Web-based resource containing full-page images of 96,000 books listed in the Pollard and Redgrave, Wing, and Thomason Tracts catalogs. With its substantial coverage of printed material found in England between 1473 and 1700, EEBO provides rich research possibilities for students interested in a wide variety of topics in early modern studies. The goal of the contest is encourage undergraduate students to explore and describe the value of the information that can be obtained through this resource.

Last year, we received many thoughtful entries outlining interesting and unique uses of the information. Many researchers think of EEBO as strictly a tool for more experienced scholars and grad students, but experience tells us that it is a valuable resource for undergraduates across many disciplines,” said Mary Sauer-Games, director of publishing for ProQuest Information and Learning. The essay can reflect research in any number of academic disciplines, including history, literary studies, philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, etc., or they may be interdisciplinary in nature.

The Committee will read and evaluate each eligible essay. Each entry will be judged based on quality and creativity of the thesis, potential for the essay to contribute to its field and to early modern studies more generally, and significance of the study for illustrating EEBO's usefulness in undergraduate research. The committee will then select five papers for the following cash prizes.

• Grand Prize: $1,000
• Second Prize: $750
• Third Prize: $500
• 2 Honorable Mentions: $200

The deadline for receipt of essays is October 31, 2002.

Prizes will be announced January 2003. Only undergraduates at schools with authorized access to EEBO are eligible. Submissions should be addressed to:

More information on the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership is available at http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/eebo/.

Information on Early English Books Online is available at http://wwwlib.umi.com/eebo. Competition guidelines and more information on the EEBO Undergraduate Studies Essay Competition are available by clicking on What's New on the EEBO home page.

The Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP) is currently undertaking the task of converting 25,000 works found in EEBO into searchable text. While the University of Michigan University Library, Oxford University, and ProQuest Information and Learning initiated the EEBO-TCP, over 60 libraries are currently instrumental in making this project possible. The partnership is devoting five years to the first phase of the conversion process, which will create SGML text files and link them to EEBO page images, thereby allowing users to perform keyword searches as well as see features of the original work. The forty-plus library partners in the conversion project also act as co-owners the encoded text files, enjoying full rights of access, adaptation, and distribution.

ProQuest Company (NYSE: PQE) is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is a leading provider of value-added information and content to the library and education, and automotive and powersports industries. We provide products and services to our customers through two business segments: Information & Learning and Business Solutions. Through our Information & Learning segment, which primarily serves the library and education markets, we aggregate and publish value-added content from a wide range of sources including newspapers, periodicals and books. Our Business Solutions segment, formerly known as Bell & Howell Publishing Services, is primarily engaged in the delivery in electronic form of comprehensive parts information to the automotive market. It also provides dealers in the powersports (motorcycle, marine and RV) markets with management systems that enable them to manage their inventory, customer service and other aspects of their businesses. 

ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting, organizing, and distributing information worldwide to researchers, faculty, and students in libraries and schools. Known widely for its strength in business and economics, general-reference, humanities, social sciences, and STM content, the company develops premium databases comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and other scholarly information from more than 8,500 publishers worldwide. Users access the information through ProQuest®, the company's Web-based online information system, Chadwyck-Healey^TM electronic and microform resources, and UMI® microform and print reference products. For more information about ProQuest Information and Learning, visit www.il.proquest.com.