Footer in a SoP ?

[ali8]

Hi,

Sorry if this was asked before, I couldn't find it elsewhere.

So in my SoP I will mention a magazine article that inspired me a lot. I will mention its title. Should

I add a footer and write the full article name, magazine no., vol., year, page, etc as if you were writing

a paper?

Ali

[ali8]

Anybody ?

[iamincontrolhere-haig]

I have footnotes in my SOP, but they refer to scholarly works not general interest magazine articles. If you think it fits, I'd go for it! Just make sure you cite correctly using whichever format (APA, MLA, Turabian, etc.) is standard in your field.

Edited October 3, 2011 by iamincontrolhere-haig

[ali8]

what exactly do you mean by "scholary work" ?

I want to cite journals and technical magazines (IEEE etc)

[iamincontrolhere-haig]

what exactly do you mean by "scholary work" ?

I want to cite journals and technical magazines (IEEE etc)

That sounds great! Those definitely fall into my definition of "scholarly works." Since you didn't specify beyond magazine articles in your first post, though, I was worried you wanted to cite something decidedly unscholarly like Reader's Digest or Popular Mechanics.

[Jonhecht89]

I think having footnotes in SOPs seems douchey. They don't care for the exact date and issue--they're not going to check it nor utilize it.

[iamincontrolhere-haig]

I don't think it can hurt at all. References and citations are part of the business! I know when I see a quotation without an appropriate citation I immediately think sloppy work. Granted, since OP is only mentioning the title it may not be as necessary.

Still, though, I think citations in the SOP could even help by demonstrating a knowledge of the literature of your (sub)field.

[runonsentence]

I'd recommend something more like an attributive tag (that is, something like, "In his 2002 book ___, physics research John Smith argues..."). Reference lists, works cited, and footers are, I think, a bit out of place in the SoP genre. Most importantly, they take away valuable space where you could be talking about you.

[ali8]

All of the comments are really helpful. Thanks.

I decided that I will keep the footer with its two citations intact. I know that will take a valuable space, but hey, my SoP

is not that long anyway (I plan for less than 700 words). Plus it really shows that I do read accredited journals, which

I think is a good sign.