How did you choose your writing sample?

[TsarandProphet]

Dear friends,

I am curious about your choice of a writing sample. What were your criteria? How did you fit it to the varying page length requirements? What was it about?

I am going to send a writing sample written in an MA seminar (while I am currently an undergraduate student) that uses foreign-language primary and secondary sources and I think it is well written, but the topic is not particularly exciting and it is about my minor field within history (Balkans) and not major (Transnational East European History).

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

In my correspondence with POIs, one professor suggested that I choose my writing sample "carefully", and the criteria they gave is that the writing sample should show both one's "existing knowledge of the field" and one's ability to "carry out original, creative analysis".  

In an interview with another POI, I was informed that my writing is "expressive" (I feel very much flattered), so I guess this is also a good thing. 

Hope it helps~

 

[KTJ]

While I was applying I automatically assumed I would use my capstone paper, if only because it was/is the cumulative of my undergraduate work and a piece of original research; and I did use it in the end.

The schools I applied to (for Master's) encouraged a sample that dealt with your proposed area of study, so my capstone was also convenient in that respect because it dealt with my area of interest. If I wrote it on a different area I'm not sure what I would have done, because I also have another (older) paper that dealt with my topic but that wasn't as expansive. I did have to cut it down for one application as it was over the maximum word count, so there was a small struggle in trying to decide where to cut it off. I managed in the end however, and added a small explanation that stated what the rest of the paper explored.

If you're worried about using this paper, ask your professors for their advice! My professors helped me in encouraging me that my work was good enough for a sample, and I'm sure yours would as well/give you other tips. I don't know a whole lot, but to me I would think writing about something very specific shows that your knowledge has depth to it. 

Edited May 14, 2018 by KTJ
Fixed a too-long sentence.

[ashiepoo72]

I chose a paper that showed my ability to do original research in primary sources, one which engaged with the relevant historiography, made a new intervention (but a manageable one, considering MA students haven't really done enough work to make HUGE claims) and had undergone extensive edits by myself and my MA mentor. It also happened to be in my general area of interest, though I would've selected a different paper if I thought it more effective/better written. I think those are respectable criteria for choosing a writing sample. But I always viewed the statement of purpose as the most important piece of writing, so I spent months working on that. I suggest taking an already completed piece of writing for the sample and just polishing it to save time for other application materials.

[jocorac]

For my MA degree, I had to do a book review as a writing sample so it wasn't that much pressure. But for my PhD program, I ended up using two chapters from my MA thesis due to limit being 25 pages. Although I wrote a couple of historiographies in school which were strong, I wrote mostly on the chapters for my thesis because it pushed me ahead. My advisor pushed me to use my thesis as well. My thesis really was a clear example of my research that I plan to somewhat continue in my program. If you use a paper from your class, make sure it was a good paper and check with the professor again to see if they can give you any advice on how to make it better. 

[Sigaba]

As an undergraduate, I used my thesis on how a foreign war impacted an ongoing debate over policy and strategy for one of the American armed services. Happyland University was not impressed but it was good enough for my "back up."

When I sought to "transfer" to another program, I submitted a biographical/historiographical essay on a prominent historian of the Cold War and my master's report on the impact of a group of reformers on efforts to modernize another armed service. Happyland University on the Pacific was not impressed but the essay were good enough for my first choice. I guess. (The report wasn't read until much later.)

I recommend that aspiring graduate students submit writing samples that incorporates @ashiepoo72's criteria.

I very strongly recommend focusing on the writing as the first and second priorities. You want to convince Professor Opens Up a Can of Whoopass that spending the next  reading your writing is going to be a good use of her time.  Show you're familiar with the existing historiographical debates by offering concise and focused summaries. Demonstrate your historian's imagination by describing at least one historical event/moment/person so well that readers slip back into time. Show the best parts of your personality by turning a phrase and/or showing a certain flair. The passive voice should be avoided by you. Fragments, too. Above all else, do what a historian of Jacksonian America regularly exhorted his students to do: define your terms, and "take the reader by the hand." (Or so I've heard.)

[AP]

I came from abroad so I already needed to translate my whatever-writing-sample into English. What I did was to summarize my undergraduate thesis into 25 pages. It was a good exercise because I incorporated comments from my committee, I could highlight the major arguments, and I could delete sections that were very repetitive.