Social science-ness of writing sample

[Zahar Berkut]

A recent DPhil reviewed my intended writing sample, and essentially suggested changing the bulk of the paper to be structured more like a political science paper. The paper was written in an area studies program, and while it qualitatively tests hypotheses drawn from certain scholars' arguments, the theory is meant to explain an empirical problem on its own merits, and not as part of an engagement with the broader literature in that subfield (to which I really was not exposed as either an undergrad or master's student).

 

While I've read quite a bit of the advice on writing samples on GradCafe, and I don't think it's feasible to tear apart and put together the paper again before we submit our first applications in 8 days, I wonder...

 

a) How carefully do reviewers look at the "social science-ness" of the paper's structure as distinct from general writing ability, critical thinking, and ability to manage a large research project? And...

 

Is it worth it to use the very limited time left (I work full-time) purely to change the content or organization to better reflect the norms of my intended subfield? Obviously, I'll still continue revising for clarity and strength of argument, but this could be the difference between editing a section and re-doing the bulk of the paper/sample.

 

Part of my motivation to post here comes from wondering if this reviewer filtered expectations through what goes into a UK application, where this is THE paper that will lead to the dissertation, and the master's component has already been completed. So I'm trying to sharpen my understanding of how this thing will actually be read.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

It certainly depends on the paper, but it's more important to demonstrate your ability to think critically, write well and conduct a research project. It would be helpful to have a paper in your field, but that's not always possible. If you feel up to it, feel free to PM me and you could send either your paper or excerpts and I could give you my honest opinion, for all that it's worth.