rising_star

At one point in time, I would've said something very similar about housing and my dog. I accepted an opportunity and then subsequently discovered that in order to live with my dog (who weighs 20-25 lbs), I would have very few options for where to live. Why? Smaller town with fewer rentals and, of the rentals, less than 10% allowed pets and even some of those didn't allow dogs.* A colleague with two cats went through something similar in trying to find a place to live. I was on the verge of sending my dog to live with relatives temporarily** when I lucked into a pet-friendly place. If you'd told me when I accepted the opportunity that it would be almost impossible to find a place to live with my dog, I would've looked at you like you were crazy. But some towns/areas are like that, in ways that even your colleagues may not realize or remember when you're trying to decide whether or not to accept the opportunity. *I should add that I'm talking about rentals in that town and within a 20 minute drive. Had I been willing to commute 45-60 minutes each way (longer in the winter due to ice and snow), then I would've had more options. Of course, that also would've meant that my dog would be left alone for far too long during the day... Tradeoffs are always a factor. **Ultimately, I was planning to get my dog back in 6 months to a year, provided I could find either a new opportunity where I could have my dog or lucking into a pet-friendly rental.

I would say that, in the social sciences, it's pretty rare for PhD students to develop a whole new theory in their dissertation. That might, through a case study, show how multiple theories could be brought together to better understand a particular area (and their case study within that area). If you're having trouble narrowing things down in your subfield, have you thought about doing a project that integrates aspects from multiple narrow areas? My own dissertation did that, bringing together a few things that aren't typically looked at together or in juxtaposition with one another. To get a sense of the scope of what you're expected to do, take a look at recent dissertations in your department and in your discipline as a whole (the ProQuest database is a good place to start). Even skimming their abstracts and introductions should help you get a sense of what it is you're being asked to do once you're ABD.

My advice to master's students (or really anyone doing it for the first time) is to see if you can foster for a rescue group so that you aren't fully responsible for the vet bills and food costs.

Plenty of people get into grad school with GPAs of 3.4. I think you'r stressing about this way too much. I also wouldn't make a trip to UIUC specifically to ask the DGS about your application. If you're going to go, then it should be to meet with potential advisors, tour labs/facilities, etc. If all you want to do is ask about your application, pick up the phone or send an email.

For PhD applications, all of your applications should be about your research or academics. I would go with the biologist that you've done research with plus the two professors at your home institution. A letter from your boss about your skills as a tutor isn't going to be a factor in your admissions decision.

1) This is the exact point I made on one of your earlier threads where I suggested that you just revise a paper you submitted in college, rather than writing an entirely new writing sample. I asked if you had enough time to write a paper from scratch and you said that you had plenty of time. Now you're saying you don't have enough time to "spend months on this paper", though a few days ago you said that you did. (Here's what you said: "The deadline isn't until January 15th, so I have 'plenty' of time to write a new paper.") Since that has now changed, I'll return you to my previous suggestion, which was that you not write an entirely new paper. 2) If you know what you're supposed to do for a literature review, why are you intentionally and deliberately not doing it? Your failure to meet the expectations for a literature review will reflect poorly on you as an applicant. 3) Your previous assertion that you don't need any academic databases to write a writing sample for a graduate program is just flat wrong. If you don't have access to EBSCO, you should figure out a way to get access to some academic databases or at least articles to cite in whatever kind of writing sample it is you plan to submit. Again, your unwillingness to follow academic conventions could very well be your undoing here. I don't know how else to explain it at this point, especially since it's quite obvious that you don't get how to write an academic paper or do research. You can write a paper that uses the proper APA format without writing a paper that is actually good. You do realize that, right?

Two things: 1) I provided you with several links on what a literature review is and how to write one. If you reviewed them, you would have a much better sense of what to do in a literature review. 2) Generally speaking, reviewing three studies is insufficient for a literature review.

A summary of the literature would the same as a literature review, yes. Part of a literature review is summarizing the literature on a particular topic. Yes, it's possible to write a report that's psychological in nature. But, you're still not actually understanding what they want. A psychological report (in the sense of what they're asking for) would be a report you have written based on a psychological assessment that you have conducted. The topic you have proposed would work for a report but not for a psychological report. If you're confused about what a psychological report is, hit up the Google search engine. (And also, for reference, I just asked someone that has done graduate work in psychology and they confirmed that you are misunderstanding what they mean by "psychological report".) The National Association for School Psychologists actually has a PDF guide online which explains what's in a psychological report. While it's written for parents and teachers, the content of what would actually be in a psychological report wouldn't change. If you look at the description NASP provides, you'd see that topic you have chosen would not be appropriate for a psychological report unless you're basing it on assessments and/or behavioral observations, which it doesn't sound like you intend to do. You really should talk to some graduate students or faculty that you have worked with in the past to get some insight into your writing sample. You keep coming here for help and people are answering questions that you could answer yourself through a basic Google search. I really am trying to be helpful but I'm starting to think that you don't actually read the resources that you're being provided or look into these things on your own.

To answer your first question, all papers should have a defined argument, including a specific and strong thesis statement. Purdue's OWL has a great resource on writing a good thesis statement. A good literature review uses the literature to make some sort of argument about what is and is not known about the topic. This includes making some sort of argument about what the literature says (or, in other words, having a thesis statement). See this handout on how to write a literature review from UNC's writing center and this guide from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Here's a PDF on the difference between an academic research paper and a literature review. What you linked to is a report, not an academic research paper or a literature review. I would say it's not "a successful article" because it is not an article!

You'll have to find the more seasoned gradcafe members. I could list a handful that I know are working in academia but, those are just the ones I know about from the posts that they've made on here (think juilletmercredi, Penelope Higgins, and SocProf come to mind). Others are working in academia but less public about it on this site... Is there particular information you're looking for?

So in a series of short commentaries, six academics shared their thoughts about peer review. Their comments are both interesting and insightful, in addition to suggesting some real flaws with the peer review system. Go here to read it, courtesy of Times Higher Education.

I'm not in biology but the blog post linked by Chai_Latte makes several excellent points, particularly the one about how your research can define your career. I actually switched topics (within the same broader subfield) between my master's and my PhD and have zero regrets about it. But, that subfield is how I define myself in grant applications, job cover letters, etc. If you aren't quite sure how you want to define (and be defined by) your research, then doing a master's is a great idea. A master's is also a great time/space within which to learn new research techniques, bone up on any skills you might be lacking, develop a poster or paper to present at a conference, and get involved in collaborations. There's definitely nothing wrong with doing a master's before doing a PhD and you may find that doing so changes what you want to do at the doctoral level for your research. It might also open up opportunities to attend programs that wouldn't be available to you otherwise.

I think you're misunderstanding the instructions. They want you to submit either a literature review, a psychological report, or a research paper, not necessarily a paper that does all of those things. Based on what you've said around here thus far, it doesn't seem like your plan is going to be a viable one that works. You need a narrow topic about which you can make a defined argument if you want to have a successful writing sample. I also think you're not thinking about this the right way. You're looking at this as though the writing sample is merely a formality that you must submit as part of your application. Have you considered that a poor writing sample could keep you out of this program, even though it's not the most competitive program out there?

PizzaCat93's advice is spot-on. That said, I re-read the paragraph in question with my grader hat on, westy, and I have concerns that go beyond the citation question. The paragraph that you've provided is very vague and reads like the first paragraph of many of the papers I grade which are written by 2nd-year college students. That isn't the tone or impression you want to give to a graduate admissions committee. On that note, I'd also add that your initial topic seems very vague. You want to have a clear argument that you have reached based on the literature and your research, which you don't seem to have currently. The topic of "why do students drop out of high school" is a huge one and also one that is very vague. For this to be a successful paper, you're going to need to pick one specific aspect of why students drop out (undiagnosed/untreated learning challenges, the need to earn money to support the family, drug/alcohol addiction, already years behind and no longer wish to get caught up, etc.) and focus on that for the entirety of your paper. If you do that, then I'm not sure you need references to "Leave it to Beaver" or any other TV show, unless the TV show is actually about someone who drops out of high school. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Not in your field but, I just want to say that there are programs that will cover most or all of the travel expenses for their top admits but not for others who have been admitted with funding. Sometimes people get flown out because they were nominated for a university-wide fellowship and the funding comes from that, rather than the department. I say all of this because I got flown out to departments that don't typically do that because of the university-wide fellowship factor. And I also say it because I don't think that this should be a deciding factor in where you apply.

It's super easy to do in Outlook. See here for more. It's also possible with other email services, though not with personal Gmail accounts.

westy, it isn't that it would be tough to write a paper. It's that it will be difficult to write a good writing sample unless you still have access to academic databases (like PsycInfo) and journal articles, as well as feedback from peers and professors. Your writing sample doesn't have to be the maximum length to be good. If you're really concerned about length, take a look at the "Instructions for Authors" of journals in your field and use their article length as a guideline. In my discipline, most full-length research articles are 5000-8000 words, not including references, just to give you an example. Good luck!

I think people tend to migrate to the Chronicle forums and other places by that point in their career. But, there are definitely some tenure-track folks here who come back to provide helpful feedback to those applying to grad school. You might get more responses if you post in your disciplinary forum...

It's summer so I'd say 2 weeks, minimum, for a response. Not everyone puts up a vacation auto-responder, even if they're going to be in and out.

What fuzzy and lewin said. I do remember people that visited but it's rarely in a bad light unless they said or did something asinine during their visit. I wouldn't worry about any serious side eye, though you're likely to get people making jokes and whatnot about how you made the wrong decision. Now, whether it's worth it or not is an entirely different matter. I've never presented at a grad student conference because I don't really see the point.

I don't have a lot of collaborations, in part because of personality differences and in part because I work in an area that very few people are doing research in. Personality is a key factor in successful collaborations, as are the willingness to listen respectfully and compromise when necessary. I've reached out to a few people about collaborations that have never written me back. But, I'm also in a field where solo authoring papers and projects is more common than not.

bhr, pretty much all universities perpetuate inequalities. Take the state university that keeps raising fees but whose scholarships only cover tuition. As those fees rise, students who could otherwise afford to go can no longer afford it, thereby privileging those with money and perpetuating inequalities. You single out the Ivies for this but they aren't the only ones doing this. Plus, there's the fact that certain Ivies have such generous financial aid for those with need that it can be less expensive to go to an Ivy for some students than it is to go to a state university (see again that point about fees I made earlier in this paragraph). To the original point of this post, I'll just say that I hadn't heard of any school letting the children of postdocs claim legacy status until I read this thread. It's a bizarre idea to me and I certainly wouldn't make any major life or career decision based on it. If we were talking about the tuition benefits for the children of tenure-track faculty, well, that's a whole 'nother ball game, especially if you have children nearing college age.

Waiting seems very risky. You might just end up with the proverbial "did well in class" letter and that won't really help your application. Is there anyone else you could ask? Even though your BFA was 5 years ago, you might do better getting a letter from someone there that can speak to your strengths.

I would avoid writing an entirely new paper given the short amount of time left to do so. As for length, no more than 25 pages double-spaced if possible.

What kind of flatbed scanner do you have, maelia8? And also, what do you use for the OCR part? I've used Acrobat Pro in the past but it was never perfect with the OCR part. I like your system though and might give it a try on one particular new research project I'm working on.