Writing sample page limit...

[latenight]

I'd like to hear people's opinions on this...

Do writing sample page limits include bibliography?

I'm submitting a shortened version of my senior thesis as my writing sample. If I submit the whole bibliography, it'll add 5 more pages onto the document. But I don't think it would be possible to cut down the bibliography to, say, one page, and I don't like the idea of not submitting any bibliography at all.

Thoughts?

[dowjonesindustrial]

You know I've been wondering the same thing. When a school says "NO MORE than 20 pages," what do you cut?

If I have to cut pages to make it under a strict limit, I think the bibliography is going; even the footnotes are out if they say "no more than 20."

Your extra 5 pages are tricky though... you might send the whole thing, knowing that no one reads a complete sample anyway...

[latenight]

Yeah, I've already cut some long footnotes and reduced block quotes ... it's kind of a satisfying process. I did add a little note on the end (in the space that was left on the 15th page) to explain it was a modified version of my senior thesis.

I think for the bibliography I'll cut it down to one page of my most important sources and those quoted in the sample, then call it "selected bibliography" or something like that.

It is painful, but there is always one more thing you can chop out.

[purplepepper]

I was told from the admissions office at princeton that yes, the bibliography does count as part of the writing sample. but i'm not sure if that's just princeton, or if all institutions are as strict as they are...

[BruBru]

Be sure to write the department and ask whether or not you can send in the entire document. I had the same problem with regards to length, and upon asking received permission to send the entire thing. Given my experience, it seems that most schools have limits with regards to length to simply discourage those who are sending long literature reviews. If your writing sample is indeed a research article complete with methods, data, results, etc. they will allow you to break that limit.

[UKbound]

I just sent the entire paper(s) and included a note on the top page , "Please refer to pages... in the evaluation of this writing sample." That way the paper was left in tact and references were included, but the evaluators were directed to the key part of the argument. If they wanted to read on they could.

I think this approach will probably work for most disciplines in which a writing sample is required. My major is Philosophy, so four of the five schools I applied actually asked for two samples (with shorter page limits than I expected) and I was only able to honor the guidelines by doing it this way.

So far, I've been accepted at two of the five programs, so I don't think the approach bothered the evaluators.