Writing Sample

[Politicon]

Hello!

I am just wondering what they expect to read in a writing sample. Do they want to see an essay-like discussion about one topic, for instance "How parliamentary systems work and how they could be improved?" Or something like a masters thesis like "Partisan voter behaviour explained by third generation prospect theory with state dependent reference points"? Or what?

I have to admit that I do not have any idea about what kind of writing could be expected. Perhaps somebody here could provide information about their writing samples. How long, what topic (or field) and so on? This would be very helpful!

How important are these writing samples?

Kind regards

Politicon

[AllFiredUp]

These are smart people looking for smart analysis.

[flyingwalrus]

Writing samples are very important. Quantitative work is probably the best unless you're planning to be a political theory major.

[BruBru]

I also have a quick question with regards to writing samples. I recently completed a manuscript for some research I have performed over the past year. The problem is that the paper itself turned out to be 36 pages, but the max pages accepted by most schools is 20. Given this limitation, would it be best to submit the quantitative (models, data, results, etc) portion of the paper or the more theoretical aspects? Perhaps a combination of both?

Thanks,

BruBru

[flyingwalrus]

I also have a quick question with regards to writing samples. I recently completed a manuscript for some research I have performed over the past year. The problem is that the paper itself turned out to be 36 pages, but the max pages accepted by most schools is 20. Given this limitation, would it be best to submit the quantitative (models, data, results, etc) portion of the paper or the more theoretical aspects? Perhaps a combination of both?

Thanks,

BruBru

Cut the lit review.