Student Resources

The 2025 Essay Prize for Scholarly Papers in American and English Literature

Past Winning Papers

Guidelines

The 2025 Essay Prize

Rückenansicht Wanderer auf Klippe
Book voucher from buchbar Erfurt

What is the Essay Prize? 

The Essay Prize is awarded once each academic year for a particularly well-argued, thoroughly researched, and eloquently written student paper. Students may submit their papers in the fall according to the guidelines below. (Lecturers are also encouraged to nominate students or invite them to submit their work.)

The winner will be notified by email, announced in December, and celebrated on our departmental website. The prize also includes a 30 € book voucher sponsored by buchbar Erfurt.

How to submit your paper?

Papers eligible for the award include essays written in the fields of American and/or British literatures and cultures during the academic year 2024/25 (October 2024 – September 2025). Submissions may take both traditional (textual analysis) and non-traditional forms (alternative methods or subjects). BA theses are also eligible. Each student may submit one essay under the terms described below:

  • Please only submit clean copies (without instructors’ comments but also without any further revision on your part).
  • Include a cover page, which states “2024 Essay Prize Competition,” the date of submission, the title of the course and name of instructor, your own name and pledge.
  • For the pledge on the cover page, please write out this variation of the honor code and sign it (if submitting via email, include a digital signature): “I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid during the completion of this work. I am submitting an identical copy of the original, with no other changes except this title page, and (if they were missing from the original) numbers on the upper right-hand top of the page, and MLA documentation of all sources in a Works Cited page.”  

To submit, please send a pdf-copy of your paper to Verena Ferda: verena.ferda@uni-erfurt.de
The deadline for submission is November 14, 2025.

We would like to thank our sponsors at buchbar Erfurt for their generous support!

Going Abroad

Partner Institutions: USA

United States of America

University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
Student exchange (undergraduate / graduate programs)  

Beloit College
Beloit, Wisconsin
Student exchange (undergraduate programs)

Moravian College
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Student exchange (undergraduate programs)

Birmingham Southern College
Birmingham, Alabama
Student exchange (undergraduate programs)

University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Student exchange (undergraduate programs)

Washington State University
Pullman, Washington
Joint undergraduate "Summer Program in Communications Erfurt (SPICE)"

University of Central Oklahoma
Edmond, Oklamoma
Student exchange

Partner Institutions: Canada

Canada

University of Ottawa

Student exchange, (undergraduate, graduate, PhD programs), faculty exchange, shared research projects 

Saint Paul University, Ottawa
Student exchange, (undergraduate, graduate, PhD programs), faculty exchange, shared research projects

Research and Writing

University Library Catalogs

University Library Catalogs

Der Eingang zur Universitätsbibliothek der Uni Erfurt

OPAC  Library Catalog

GVK Interlibrary Loan - Library Catalog

EZBElectronic Journals Database

Librarial Advisors

Sabine Ziebarth

Library Building, Room 060

Kathrin Drechsel (substitute)

Library Building, Room 258

Online Databases

Online Databases

Guidelines: BA Theses - Term Papers - Exams

Guidelines

Guidelines - BA Thesis American Literature
Evaluation – Grading Scale and Standards
Style Sheet for Term Papers
General Guidelines for Term Papers

General Academic Writing Advice

Writing Advice

Leitfaden für literaturwissenschaftliche Hausarbeiten in Anglistik/AmerikanistikThis guide provides an overview of the requirements for term papers in British and American literature, including guidelines on structuring a paper, developing a thesis, formal requirements, and citation styles. 

For more detailed information on formal guidelines and citation, please refer to the Style Sheetor the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

Sample papers: See winning papers of the Essay Prize above.

Medical Support

Psychosozialer Beratungsdienst des Studentenwerks