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Which Writing Sample?


johndiligent

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So I'm applying for early Christianity programmes (and by early Christianity programmes, I mean 1st and 2nd century CE). And I can't decide which writing sample:

Option A:

A 14-page review of a prominent historical Jesus/early Christianity scholar, in light of criticism of his work and the what's ultimately useful about it as a point of departure for new research. A+ paper with lots of comments that give me a bit of guidance in improving it.

Benefits: directly related to my field

Drawbacks: Since it's so short, it isn't very deep, and it does meander a bit.

Option B:

A 45-page thesis on a topic in contemporary Christianity and secularism, but fairly unrelated to my field. But it's the product of a longer period of research than options A or C.

Benefits: It's a good, focused analysis of a point of tension. And it may illustrate that I'm not just a Classicist...

Drawbacks: Not related to my field of study and doesn't accomplish all it originally set out to do. Also, long.

Option C:

A 16-page A+ paper on the role revisiting the history of early Christianity plays in Nietzsche's and Kierkegaard's thought.

Benefits: It's a much more sophisticated piece of work than the first two.

Drawbacks: It's only tangentially related to my field and might come off as theological.

All of the papers are from 4th year seminars in Religious Studies so they're all at the right level, but I'm not sure which one to go with.

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My initial thoughts are to go with A if you feel you can improve its meandering. However, depth of thought is obviously important to convey, so C would be my next choice. B probably doesn't cut it; while you might want to demonstrate your commitment to a topic (longer paper, longer research), committees probably don't want to spend their time reading it. Plus, it's not directly related to your proposed field. My advice would be to instead talk about it in your SOP and use it to discuss your commitment and research abilities as opposed to the content itself.

Hope that helps! (Also, this is advice from someone who does not need to submit a writing sample, so take it with a grain of salt.)

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a professor told me that unless the person who reads your writing sample finds your work extremely enlightening, writing sample longer than about 15 pages won't get read all the way through. for this reason i've chosen a 12-page paper as my writing sample. my advisor had a look at it and said it was fine. although a short paper may lack the depth that you expect to find in a 40+ paper, admission committees usually favor something concise and to-the-point.

if you have doubt, contact the departments you're applying. for me the max length ranges from 10 to 35 pages. you can submit a longer paper, just be prepared that it may not get read all the way through. if i were you i'd go for either A or C.

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Upon reading both of them over and over and over again, I think I'm going to go with Option A. Option C is a superior paper and showcases my interpretive abilities a bit better, but Option A discusses a lot of ideas that I want to pursue in the MA programme.

Thanks for your input, folks!

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I'm faced with a similar problem. I have a few 15 page papers that received very high marks, and are within my field (medieval history), even relevant to my specific period of interest, but are not directly related to my proposed area of research (geographically unrelated; they deal with completely different kingdoms). On the flipside I have a 45 page paper that is very good but far too long. It is directly related to my desired topic of research, but because it's so long and was not produced under severe pressure like my essays, it's not quite as perfected and would certainly bore an admissions committee. I think that what I should do is rewrite this paper to make it significantly shorter, but I don't think you should do the same thing with yours.

From your description, it sounds like you already kind of know which one you should use. You don't sound very confident about your second option (the 45 pager). If you think it's not particularly relevant and isn't entirely successful in its argument, then it probably won't be worth having someone sit through reading it. It sounds like it's major strength is its length, which will probably only hurt you. Maybe you should just talk about having written it in your statement of purpose (or mention it in that CV of yours). That way you'll be recognized for having produced a longer work, but will be able to submit a stronger writing sample. As for the decision between options A and C, I can't really help you because I'm not very familiar with your field. You can, of course, choose to submit both, submitting one to certain universities and and the other to other universities, if those university departments have professors with more or less relevant specializations. I think I will probably end up submitting different writing samples to different universities, that is if I don't manage to make my longer piece significantly better.

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Hi again, I've just read your new post. I don't mean to second guess your decision, but since you're applying to a Masters program, does it really matter how relevant the subject matter is? I mean, unless option C is slightly unrelated to the entire discipline...

I am applying to a couple MA programs and intend to submit my less relevant but higher quality/more concise essays as samples.

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Hi again, I've just read your new post. I don't mean to second guess your decision, but since you're applying to a Masters program, does it really matter how relevant the subject matter is? I mean, unless option C is slightly unrelated to the entire discipline...

I am applying to a couple MA programs and intend to submit my less relevant but higher quality/more concise essays as samples.

This. It might depend on how superior/unrelated option C is, but generally you want to submit the paper that best showcases your writing ability and your ability to conduct research. A paper that presents a stronger argument but is less relevant is usually a better option than a weaker related paper. So I'd suggest using the ideas from the related paper in your SOP, but submitting the strongest paper you have even if it's not directly tied to your future research plans.

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Without having read the papers, I'd say option A. It's related to your stated interests, and from what I've gathered so far, a concise, 10-15 page paper is ideal.

By the way, is it ever a good idea (or even acceptable) to send two shorter pieces (6-8 pages) instead of a single 15 page term-paper?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Without having read the papers, I'd say option A. It's related to your stated interests, and from what I've gathered so far, a concise, 10-15 page paper is ideal.

By the way, is it ever a good idea (or even acceptable) to send two shorter pieces (6-8 pages) instead of a single 15 page term-paper?

Although I also majored in philosophy, I went into a different field for graduate school, so take my advice with a grain of salt. While one might get away with turning in two 10-pagers instead of a 15-20 page paper, I don't think that a 6-8 page paper has the room to develop your ideas sufficiency to convey the level of sophistication that's ideal for a writing sample. Would it be possible to expend one of these papers?

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I did my MA at McMaster and my undergrad at U of T. If you pm who your interested in working with, I can give you a general idea about who might like what.

I'm in a different sub-field of religion, but I know the profs, especially at Mac, really well (interest wise).

For other schools A or B would probably be a safe bet.

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