fossil_n

LJK, Thanks for the advice, you are right, it does sound like I could just be throwing out vocab. How about this? It is what I used for my NSF app and I had thought that something different would work better for my grad apps, but after what you said, I think it would work pretty well: In front of me on a long table sits a half-ton block of rust red siltstone, encased in plaster and burlap and containing hundreds of small, hematite encrusted bones of a basal armored dinosaur. Each bone, after I carefully abrade away the hematite, tells an interesting story. I spent the last year poring over these bones, discovering the innumerable clues that tell me about what this animal looked like, how it lived, and how armored dinosaurs evolved. And then I could say something briefly about how the project and my classes have led me to choose my specializations before moving on to the more detailed part of the essay.

I could also use some advise about my first paragraph. I'm trying to develop some first sentences for my SoP's. One school asks for two separate essays on research experience and proposed research interests. Here are my first sentences for these two essays: Research Experience: Through my independent research on a new basal thyreophoran and classroom research on biogeography and systematics, I have developed research skills and focused my research interests. Proposed Research Interests: If given the opportunity to study at X university, I would like to pursue my interests in dinosaurian biogeography and systematics. Specifically, I would like to explore methods of cladistic biogeography. I am open to either pursuing theoretical work, or work focused on a specific group of dinosaurs. I also have some first sentences for a more general SoP for other schools: If given the opportunity to study at X university, I would like to pursue my interests in dinosaurian biogeography and systematics. My independent research , classroom experiences , and personal experiences have led me to focus my interests on these topics. These interest's fall within the scope of Dr. X's work and I believe a project along these interests would fit well into his lab. Upon achieving a Ph.D., I ideally hope to take a research position at a university. I know I am mostly telling more than showing in these paragraphs, but if I am going to elaborate on what I said later, is that ok?