SOP for Linguistics (PhD)?

[Ordijahandam]

Hi all.

Holding a B.A of English Literature, an M.A. of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), and finally applying for a PhD. of Linguistics; I have problem connecting these three majors to each other; in order to persuade the addressee about their connectedness.

Besides, Can anybody give a general plan of How to write my SOP? ( Applying for Iranian Linguistics- a native speaker of Tati, an endangered and ancient language of Iran)

Thanks friends!

[esgalerin]

I'm not sure that you need to convince anybody of the connectedness of your previous degrees to the one you're applying for.

 

It seems to me that your SOP should mainly answer three questions: What do you want to do? How are you prepared to do it? and Why should you do it here (the school that you're writing to)? Of course you can go beyond answering these questions, but when you're limited in how much you can say, I'd stick to those main points.

 

Good luck with your applications!

[fuzzylogician]

Indeed, the above advice is very sound. You don't need to connect your entire past to your present research interests and future plans. It's enough that you connect whatever is connected and the other stuff can just stay on your CV and transcript. You want your SOP to clearly define your current research interests, explain how you are prepared to pursue them and explain why the school you are applying to is a good place to pursue these interests. You can also define short-term and mid/long-term goals for your degree. Think 70% present and future, 30% past. This is not a story of how you got here but of where you're going, with the past serving as an example of how you're ready for the journey. What the adcom will want to know is what (you want to study), how (you'll go about doing it--what research questions you're interested in posing, even in somewhat vague terms, and how you're prepared to pursue them) and why (you want to attend this particular school).

[sarab]

TEFL is often linked with Applied Linguistics, so you could definitely link those two. As far as English, you could say that it gave you an interest for language and qualified you to pursue an MA in TEFL. You could say you have an understanding of bilingualism, second language acquisition, and so on. All of those things are important in linguistics, I think. 

[nogitsune]

 

Applying to graduate school is one of the toughest decisions you will make, I know for I am ex-student too Now I’m a professional blogger and still help with advice those who struggle with admission writing.

Each applicant’s materials are unique because they are each to their own. No one can tell you how to best do you in an application, but I can give some pointers, let you know what worked for me in my own process, and relay some best practices I learned from other successful (and not so successful) applicants and from professor-mentors.

for the neurolinguistics, a one should be more concerned about the qualifications and persuasion that you have acquired all the necessary skills for such program whereas in the sociolinguistics statement of purpose the one should remember rather about providing the examples and cases about the study area that shows that you had certain practice.

The rules for formatting are almost unchangeable:

• Font: Times New Roman/Arial
• Font size: 12 pt
• Paper: double-spaced, standard-sized (8.5″ x 11″)
• Margins: 1 cm on all sides.

If you wonder whether you structure the content blocks in the right way you can always revise it according to the guidelines that outline the writing stages and the text blocks, I put the most valuable practices in my article 5 Linguistics Statement of Purpose Writer Tips good luck and faster admission!