Writing Sample: condense or submit a section of a thesis?

[Guest mckee002]

I'll be using a substantial 55 page undergrad honors thesis for graduate applications this fall. My question is as follows, should I:

1. condense the nuanced arguments of a well organized thesis to fit the ~20pg limit,

or

2. select the strongest section and indicate that this argument is part of a larger project?

Thoughts? I've actually heard directly opposite opinions from two different faculty members.

[practical cat]

I would think that going with option 1 would result in weaker writing. If you have a paper that justifiably takes 55 pages to effectively argue, 20 pages is going to be very bare-bones. I would do (and in fact am doing) option 2 though with substantial revision to make that section as stand-alone as possible. I'm also including a brief abstract to indicate the positioning within the broader work and addressing my thesis in some detail in my SOP.