Starting the SoP by mentioning a book and how it inspired my research (good or bad idea for an appealing sop?)

[Dogukan93]

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!

 

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Edited November 25, 2020 by Dogukan93

[Sigaba]

@Dogukan93 Welcome to the Grad Cafe. Your question may generate bespoke guidance were you to ask it in the current season's application thread in the History forum.

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/38-history/