Dogukan93

Dear Sigaba,TsarandProphet, and TMP, Thank you all for your insightful suggestions. Actually while I was summarizing for my post here, I used never but, of course, I never said never in my SoP Upon your suggestions, I have softened the parts that are related to the literature. For instance, I said: "Unlike the general diplomatic history and political science literature on the Turco-German relations in the Interwar Era, which has generally been inclined to underestimate the German economic influence in Turkey in the 1920s and 30s due to Turkey’s eventual siding with the Allies in the political sphere in late 1939, my research has shown me that Turkey was indeed a part of this huge economic area from the mid-1930 on, which had severe repercussions for the country." I used the word"generally" to imply there might be previous studies that underscore more the importance of german economic and cultural influence. Similarly, I remarked on another instance: "In short, the originality of my thesis lies in the fact that it tries to construct an alternative narrative of the bilateral relations between these two countries by making use of the concept of soft power. It challenges the classical literature by underscoring the hitherto underestimated significance of German cultural and economic impact and its consequences in Turkey at the time." It is also a big relief to know that at least I have the nucleus of a potent SoP, hopefully I will be developing it even more for the next years' applications. My hope of getting admitted is pretty low this year as just few phd programs are accepting students for the next year as well as the places are even more competitive than ever.

Dear Sigaba, Thank you sooo much for your detailed comment. Albeit knowing that the term has long been used in the American historiography, it has never been utilized in my field of study,i.e. Turco-German Relations in the 1920s and 1930s. I actually benefited from the term a lot when writing my ma thesis as it enlightened my way about what to look at. So, I thought this concept can still be drawn on in this field of investigation, but , of course, there are other main theories that my work drew on. Similarly, the book is essential for my study not only because of soft power's implementation into the context that I would like to work on, but also that it shows the Balkans played a crucial role in suppliyng Germany with required raw materials, which enabled Nazis to equip the German army well enough on the eve of WW2. Hence, by starting from the author's claim, I try to show that Turkey was also part of this German "large economic zone" (which the book does not investigate as its scope is limited to Yugoslavia and Romania). And aside from saying what it discusses and how it made me suspect Turkey's probable involvement in all these, I do not discuss the book in my entire SoP. Of course if you have time and are interested, I can pm you the entire text. But you have already helped me a lot, so thank you

Greetings! I hope all the community members are fine and well in these difficult times. I am thinking about applying to Berkeley and Michigan's history phd programs. To write a catching and striking sop, I thought referring to a book that has highly influenced my area of interest and previous master's thesis would be a good idea. So, in the very first sentence I wrote: "While I was researching for my master’s thesis last summer, I ran into a book, “Export Empire”[1] that made me ask new questions about the historical issues in which I am interested. The author explains how..." I continue by explaining what the contribution of this particular book is, the way it inspires me and how the area that it opened inspires me to contribute to this recently-emerged area. My aim is to directly catch the readers' attention and keep their interest in reading my material alive until the end. And I just wanted to find out what you guys think of such an opening in the sop. If you interested, I can also send you the entire text via dm. Thanks in advance!

Greetings! I hope all the community members are fine and well in these difficult times. I am thinking about applying to Berkeley and Michigan's history phd programs. To write a catching and striking sop, I thought referring to a book that has highly influenced my area of interest and previous master's thesis would be a good idea. So, in the very first sentence I wrote: "While I was researching for my master’s thesis last summer, I read a book that made me ask new questions about the historical issues in which I am interested. The book was “Export Empire”[1], in which the author explains..." and then explained what the contribution of this particular book is, the way it inspired me and how the area that it had opened inspired me to contribute to this recently-emerged area. My aim is to directly catch the readers' attention and keep their interest in reading my material alive until the end. And I just wanted to find out what you guys think of such an opening in the sop. If you interested, I can also send you the entire text via dm. Thanks in advance!