Moving from physics to another field: citing academic literature in PS?

[InquilineKea]

Okay, I know that the personal statement really does not contain much space at all. But what if you have a *very* strong command of the research literature in, say, cognitive science or psychopharmacology, and wish to apply to cognitive science/psychopharmacology grad schools with a background in a highly theoretical field? (math/CS/physics). The math/physics/CS experience should be sufficient to prove aptitude, and the strong command of the research literature could (for me, anyways ) prove a willingness to stick *to* the field and to contribute novel ideas to it. So I'm thinking that a very strong command of the literature of the field could result in a strong personal statement (one that is not easy to make up at all), and that this could really help with a grad school application (especially if one does not have research experience in that field - research experience in fields like cognitive science are often VERY difficult to find in most schools, and is also often closed off to non-majors).

Of course, describing your research experience and research skills is often important, but that can often be communicated through the letters of recommendation instead. The main concern here is that the adcoms may believe that the applicant is not a "good fit" for the department due to his nontraditional background, and I'm believing that the personal statement is the only way to get around that, and the only way to "prove" it can be to discuss the research literature, in a way that cannot be faked (so it has to be somewhat extensive).

Edited January 11, 2011 by InquilineKea

[LJK]

Are you suggesting writing a lit review of the field for the SOP? That is too much and wouldn't necessarily show a command of anything in particular. But, if what you are doing is talking about your interests and citing literature relevant to your interests, possibly even putting forth some ideas, I think that is exactly what you should be doing. I cite relevant articles in my SOP for cognitive programs. It is hard to talk about my research experience without making citations. For one school, they wanted a proposal of a first year project instead of talking about past research experience, so I proposed an idea based off some recent literature (and cited it). Research you do in grad school should be grounded in the field's literature, so showing you can come up with ideas grounded in the literature in the SOP shows that you have an essential skill for grad school. I'm not exactly sure if this is what you are asking/proposing...

[InquilineKea]

Oh okay. Well, I always appreciate examples. I actually never knew that people did cite literature in their personal statements, so I'll consider that as an idea (even when applying to my main field astro)