LOWERING WRITING SAMPLE PAGE COUNT (MARGINS, FONT, SPACING, ETC.)

[The Maritime Scholar]

If anyone can give their input on this, I'd really appreciate it!

So here are the WS requirements for each one of my 12 schools that I'm applying to:

1. 15-20 pages
2. 25 pages (minimum)
3. One or two writing samples
4. 12-20 double-spaced pages
5. 15-25 pages
6. No more than 25 pages
7. 15-25 double-spaced pages (including notes)
8. Two examples of academic writing (8-20 pages)
9. Two samples (15-20 pages)
10. 15-20 pages
11. Around 20 pages
12. 10-20 pages

 As you can tell, the average is around 20 pages for most of the schools.

I'm using my master's thesis which is about 50 pages (not including preliminary pages and bibliography). I have been able to cut it down to about 30 pages. I noticed that when I changed the margins to 0.5 all the way around, it went down to about 27 pages. I was wondering if I changed the margins it would be okay. There's not a whole lot about the WS requirements on the applications pages of these schools, so I don't see why it wouldn't be okay. Also, I know papers in MLA style are double-spaced, but if there is no mention of that, would single-space be acceptable?

All in all, I may just email all the schools and specifically ask them these questions, but I wanted to ask everyone on here first. 

Thanks! ?

[PsyDuck90]

I think programs assume you will be using standard formatting when submitting your writing sample, and I would instead focus on maybe using only a portion of your thesis if you cannot whittle the whole thing down enough. 

[Warelin]

I'd advise against manipulating page margins. It's likely that most programs expect size 12, tnr, double-spaced. If you don't follow their expectations, it's likely that they'll just refuse to take a look at your application. Part of the reason they have requirements is to ensure that each applicant have the ability to have the same amount of space to express themselves. It would be unfair if some applicants had significantly more time or space to express why they should have a spot. This is a field that will require lots of rewrites. Grants will have different expectations from another as will peer-reviewed academic journals. It's important for you to be able to adapt your writing to be able to "fit" into each one.

That being said, @PsyDuck90is correct in suggesting that using a portion of your thesis is allowable. If you take that route, I'd do a bit of rewriting to include a summary of the arguments you present and ensure that a conclusion and summary are included. This will likely require a rewrite to make sure that everything is included. I'd also do a re-read to ensure that people can still get your argument if they didn't read every sentence.

[essiec]

On 10/11/2020 at 7:55 AM, Warelin said:

 using a portion of your thesis is allowable. If you take that route, I'd do a bit of rewriting to include a summary of the arguments you present and ensure that a conclusion and summary are included.

Yup. I have a 30 page paper I'm using. I'm attaching the whole doc, but for schools that only ask for 20 pages max, for example, I'll also upload a cover letter that tells them to read from x section to y section, skipping over z section. The cover letter will explain what is in those portions, so they will understand the content I cover without having to read it. 

[Sigaba]

3 hours ago, essiec said:

Yup. I have a 30 page paper I'm using. I'm attaching the whole doc, but for schools that only ask for 20 pages max, for example, I'll also upload a cover letter that tells them to read from x section to y section, skipping over z section. The cover letter will explain what is in those portions, so they will understand the content I cover without having to read it. 

I recommend that you avoid the risk of receiving a FTFSI by cutting the thirty page paper to twenty pages when the limit is twenty pages.

[essiec]

18 minutes ago, Sigaba said:

I recommend that you avoid the risk of receiving a FTFSI by cutting the thirty page paper to twenty pages when the limit is twenty pages.

The applications with the 20pg limit have said to indicate which sections if it's longer than 20, so I'm okay.