The results of the Fall 2013 Gale Cengage SUNY-wide essay competition are in. Three awards were given: 1 for the best graduate essay ($500); 1 for the best undergraduate essay using ECCO ($250); and 1 for the best undergraduate essay using NCCO ($250). Essays were read by an independent judge.
The winners are
Erin Annis, “The Scotch Intruders”: The Political Context for Scottish Integration into the Eighteenth-Century British Empire
HIST 600 Research Seminar, SUNY Binghamton (Dr. Douglas Bradburn)
Stephanie Boutin, “True Victorian Womanhood and Manhood”
ENG 316 Victorian Nonfiction & Poetry, SUNY Plattsburgh (Dr. Genie Babb)
Christy Harasimowicz, “Samuel Richardson’s Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded: Justification of Masculine Activity and the Avenue to Virtue”
ELIT 287 From Romance to Gothic, SUNY Oneonta (Dr. Jonathan Sadow)
Congratulations to all who submitted essays.
Early Modern Online Bibliography 
February 5, 2014 at 1:30 pm |
Anna,
This is very exciting news. I hope that perhaps the students could offer abstracts and some discussion of their works, and perhaps the faculty member would alos like to comment.
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February 7, 2014 at 6:30 pm |
This contest was an extremely good experience for my students. Not only did they gain valuable research experience, the use of ECCO allowed them to interact with eighteenth-century materials in a way that wouldn’t be possible without it. The contest also gave them a nice incentive to do serious research. Congratulations to Christy and all of the contest winners!
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February 7, 2014 at 7:30 pm |
Thanks, Jonathan. I agree that the access to ECCO allowed students a window into the period not visible without that access. I was impressed with essays I received. Students are still discussing ECCO this semester. Congrats to you and to Christy!
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February 7, 2014 at 8:05 pm |
Having access to NCCO made writing this paper all the more interesting. It allowed me to easily sort through countless resources to find primary documents that helped me come to different conclusions about the people of the Victorian Era. Not only was NCCO a helpful research tool, it was an interesting research tool. This was the first time I was able to sort through so many periodicals and monographs from the nineteenth century. It was so much easier and much more fun to look through the articles because they were written by people of this time period!
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February 7, 2014 at 8:30 pm |
Nice job, Stephanie! I look forward to reading your essay!
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February 8, 2014 at 7:20 am |
Without access to ECCO, I could not have written this paper. The wide range of primary sources it contains allowed me to discover far more in the time I had than would have been possible without access to this database, and it also easily allowed me to cross-reference the images I was looking at with other contemporary documents that provided additional insight into the meaning of the prints. Since I learned about ECCO for my paper I have used it extensively in other research projects and when putting together the primary readings for a syllabus. It is a wonderful resource!
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February 8, 2014 at 1:22 pm |
I’m so glad that using ECCO last semester is continuing to be useful! Many of us feel that it is now a necessary resource in the classroom, though many of us seem to feel that coaching is necessary in order for students, especially undergraduate students, to feel adept at using it.
Congratulations on writing a winning essay! I hope Gale posts them so that we can read them.
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February 8, 2014 at 3:56 pm |
An emphasis on undergraduate research is a national trend, and having access to such primary texts clearly facilitates the opportunity to engage in fresh work. I hope the trial results in the SUNY system recognizing the value of these databases and subscribing.
I have found myself using them for courses that do not necessarily entail the 18th (or 19th) century. This semester in a Law and Literature course I have incorporated ECCO texts on Mary Bland and other criminal trials and accounts. The ECCO offers different texts and perspectives from that afforded by the equally useful Old Bailey resource.
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