NardyPardy

What I have learned, sadly, from this application process, is that you can almost always cut material out of your undergraduate work and make it more effective than it was before. I cut a 63-page thesis to 20 (didn't excerpt it, just hacked away), and though the argument is slightly different now because I've narrowed its focus considerably, the overall paper is much stronger. For a school that requires a second, shorter writing sample in addition to the longer one, I cut a 15-page paper down to 7. Bear in mind that this was actually a very good paper, which my professor has been using as the example of an "A+ model" paper in her classes since I graduated. To use it as a writing sample, I did have to cut out some well written and even very original thinking, which was quite hard. Nonetheless, I am confident that it is a MUCH stronger paper since I cut it.

This is super aggravating, and I feel your pain. Some months ago when I began the revision process on my writing samples, I was completely convinced that there was no way I'd be able to cut enough pages without weakening my arguments. However, I learned that it is always possible to be more concise and precise. You are likely to improve your papers, not weaken them. And if there's no "fluff" at all, cutting them will require you to refocus your argument more acutely, which will probably improve it.

Any undergrad papers will need serious revision, anyway. As my mentor said, "there is a real gap even between a very respectable honors thesis and graduate work."

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry to be joining in on this conversation so late (Dec. 15 deadlines, right?)-- here are some thoughts and suggestions, given to me by some ABD friends.
If you are excerpting your thesis, DO NOT send it in in its entirety with a list of pages to read. Committees might see this as you asking them to do too much logistical work to read your sample. Instead, add "(excerpted)" to the title of the writing sample and then actually go through and take out the pages you think can be omitted. You can also put in square brackets/italics something like: "[Omitted for this sample: Discussion of how the protagonist’s disability is often explicitly connected to her barren amorous life. I show the ways in which these visual connections work with the grain of typical representations of disability, and the ways in which the epilogue—in which she returns to her neighborhood with a baby in tow, cooing that they must go pick up daddy—and certain moments of the narrative work to undercut this loneliness and uncertainty regarding her own sexual desirability.]"

The sample should itself be within the dictated page limit, and readers should only have to read it (rather than also figuring out which pages to read).

When figuring out what to cut --and for those of you summarizing your main points-- keep in mind the fact that the writing sample serves as a showcase for certain writing skills: developing a cogent argument, sure, but also (and this may be something that summarizing may cut out) analysis of a text/close reading, handling theoretical material or secondary literature, etc. It's probably a good idea to determine what skills you feel you should be able to demonstrate and to make sure you've included something in your writing sample that covers each of these bases. This may be reason, though, to cut or summarize the second or third piece of evidence and its analysis (given you've got a strong, fully-fleshed-out first one).

Hope this is some help. Good luck!

Hi guys,
I just recently got my MA and it seems all my target faculty expect me to use my MA thesis as writing sample. I intend to use it too, since it most effectively demonstrates my research skills.
However, most schools have put a limit on the writing sample length, which ranges from 15 to 25 pages. My thesis, however is 50 pages long.
I think there are three options for me to choose:

1. send the whole thesis and indicate the pages I want the adcomm to read.
2. send excerpts from my thesis and fit it into the page limit.
3. rewrite my thesis summing up the main points so that it fits into the page limit.

What do you guys think about each option? What have you done or what would you do?
Thanks for your input!