Writing Sample...

[amlobo]

Ok, I know it seems early to be thinking about a writing sample, but I just kind of want some validation of my selection... because otherwise I will need to do some major work to get a writing sample together. Ha! I have never taken a sociology class, so a "sociology" writing sample is out of the question.

This left me with a few options, and I settled on what I think is my "best" work - my published law journal article (basically a legal/policy analysis of a newly-enacted smoking ban). It would, of course, just be an excerpt because the whole thing is 60 pages long. The article doesn't have anything to do with my research interests (education, stratification, mobility), but I figure I should submit my best academic writing, regardless.

I do have two papers that relate to my research interests (one from a Public Policy undergrad seminar, the other from my Education Law class)... but I have a hard time considering either of them "real" research papers. One is an analysis of the systemic effects of a "hypothetical" school choice provision, and the other is a discussion of the applicability of No Child Left Behind to rural schools based on anecdotal evidence from my own rural educational experience. I wouldn't consider either in the same league as my published work. I also have a History research paper that is better than these two papers, but it is totally irrelevant.

I was worried about not having a "sociology" sample, but I contacted the one school that specifically requests a "sociological" writing sample, and they said my journal article would meet the requirement. But, I'm just trying to get some opinions... because if I don't use an excerpt from my article, I will have to do some major work to get a sample together and need to get started ASAP.

Any thoughts?

[splitends]

From what I understand, the writing sample is mostly a chance to show that 1) you can write well, and 2) you can think well (and like a sociologist). If the sample is well-written, shows creativity/originality of thought, and an ability to put together an argument, then it's doing everything it needs to do and I'm sure it's OK if it's not an actual Sociology paper. SOC PhD programs take people from so many different academic and professional backgrounds that I'm sure there are plenty of people in your boat every year.

Also, as far as the whole excerpt thing is concerned...I probably shouldn't advise anyone else to do this, but I did occasionally blatantly disregard the length requirements and still got accepted to programs. My thesis was ~50 pages, so where there were page restrictions I cut one small section and then just changed it from double to 1.5 or single spaced. Nobody seemed to care.

Good luck!

[amlobo]

Thanks for the info! I am still waffling and probably will continue to do so. Ha. I worry that my law journal article is in such a different format than sociological writing that it might detract from the writing. For instance, my law journal required us to footnote EVERY sentence... so footnotes take up at least half of each page. From what I've read of sociological writings, footnotes/endnotes are not as prevalent as in legal scholarship. I thought my other "writing samples" would not be acceptable because each only had 10 or so sources and very few in-text citations. I just assumed all disciplines were as citation-obsessed as the law, but I guess not!

So, maybe turning my education law paper into a "sociology" paper might not be such an onerous task, after all! Guess I'll work on it and see how I like it, so at least then I have the choice.