October 2008

 

 

 

LaVonne Straub Memorial

Student Research Paper Contest

Call for student papers
The LaVonne Straub Student Research Paper Award
32nd Annual Rural Health Conference
May 6-8, 2009
Miami Beach, Florida
Submission deadline: Dec. 19, 2008

The LaVonne Straub Memorial Student Research Paper Award recognizes and promotes student research on rural health topics. The award was created by the National Rural Health Association’s Research and Education Constituency Group and the Journal of Rural Health. The recipient will receive a complimentary registration for the conference, the opportunity to include a poster at the Annual Conference, and an invitation to submit the paper to the Journal of Rural Health for publication consideration. This award honors the memory of LaVonne Straub, PhD, who coordinated the research review process for the NRHA conference for a number of years and was instrumental in establishing the NRHA Student Research Paper Award.

The NRHA is soliciting original student papers in the following areas:

  • Research papers reporting findings of original research that examine hypotheses or research questions of importance to rural health professionals, using qualitative or quantitative methods in rigorous scientific inquiry

  • Policy papers examining and reporting on rural health policy using sound scientific principles, that contribute to policy discussion; and

  • Descriptions of programs using scientifically sound approaches focusing on development and evaluation of educational, programmatic or clinical interventions, that contribute to the rural health related knowledge base.
    The winning student will be recognized along with other award winners during the conference awards ceremony.

Eligibility

To be considered for the award, an applicant must meet the following:

  • The applicant must be an undergraduate or graduate student, resident, or pre-doctoral fellow enrolled in a degree-granting program, or enrolled during the time that the research was conducted and the paper was written.

  • The work presented in the paper must be the student’s own work. (Faculty advising/mentoring is permitted.)

  • The work presented in the paper may not have been previously published.

  • The applicant must be prepared to present the paper at the NRHA Annual Conference as a poster session (travel expenses to the conference are not included in the award).

Application Instructions

All applications must be submitted online. Authors will be notified of receipt of submission by email. Submissions must be received by December 19, 2008, to be considered for the review process. Notification of acceptance for conference presentation will be mailed by February 2009. For more information, contact Meaghan McCamman at 202-639-0550 or McCamman@NRHArural.org.

The paper should be double-spaced, in a 12 point font, and must not be more than 20 pages in length and should use an appropriate and consistent publication format. Presentation of the selected paper will be limited to the times allotted to posters at the NRHA Annual Conference. All participants in the research, such as the student’s faculty advisor or other students, must be cited.

Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria are used to evaluate papers:

  • Originality of work

  • Relevance or interest to NRHA members

  • Timeliness

  • Quality and clarity in writing

  • Papers covering research findings will be evaluated on the significance to the topic to rural health discipline, methodologic rigor, data analysis, and findings.

  • Papers covering policy studies will be evaluated according to the soundness of the research method and the potential contribution to rural health policy discussions.

  • Evaluation of education and training programs will be based on the appropriateness of the methodology, the applicability, originality of the work, and its potential impact on rural health.

All papers will be competitively reviewed and ranked by the NRHA’s Research and Education Constituency Group to determine the first place award. Visit www.ruralhealthweb.org to submit a paper.
 

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