Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program

Prospective URCA Associates

How Do I Apply?

All URCA Associate applicants are required to write a proposal that includes an abstract, literature review, hypothesis, time line, budget and reference/citation page (see proposal guidelines.) URCA Associate proposals also include a cover/application page, which contains relevant information about the applicant, his or her mentor, and signatures by the student's mentor, department chair, and dean. The URCA Associate application is a two-tier process consisting of an electronic submission and a hard-copy submission of the student's proposal and cover/application page, which contains original signatures.

Both electronic and paper copies of Associate proposals are due at noon on March 19, 2010 for application to the 2010-2011 URCA Associates Program.

The URCA Board meets in April to evaluate proposals for the next academic year. Selected students begin work on their projects during the summer/fall semesters and finish in the spring.

URCA Associate proposals should be no longer than five typed pages, excluding abstracts, budgets, reference pages and supplemental material, such as glossaries or illustrations. Applicants may find it helpful to view previous successful URCA proposals, which can be found under the link Sample Proposals. It may be useful to look at several different proposals, even if they are from unrelated fields. This will provide a more thorough picture of successful URCA proposals as well as an overview of the various ways students have presented different components, such as budgets and timelines. The proposal format and cover pages were altered slightly in 2007, so applicants are advised not to use these samples as templates.

We recommend that URCA Associate applicants have their proposals read by an experienced professional from SIUE's Writing Center. Students should contact Dr. Laura Pawlow at lpawlow@siue.edu to be assigned a writing coach. Applicants can consult with these professionals on multiple occasions and at various stages of the writing process, so it is recommended that students get aligned early with their coaches for best results.

Useful links/information for URCA Associate applicants:

URCA Associate Application/Cover Page