Writing Samples 2015

[emily.rose]

I know this is a little over a month old, but any perspective on using an excerpt from a longer paper? I wrote a senior thesis which I would LOVE to use as my sample, but it's 50 pages...I want to choose my favorite chapter, possibly two, but I'm worried that sending in a chapter from the middle might be confusing. Any opinions? Thanks!

[Dr. Old Bill]

I think that's perfectly fine. Many admissions sites specifically say "excerpts from longer works" are allowed, just as some allow two separate papers to make up the page count. As mentioned elsewhere, I've put together two previous papers and added some additional content to tie it all together as a 15+ page paper. The main thing you're going for is clarity, readability, and (obviously) academic writing ability. If your content is interesting and it flows well, you should be good. What you might want to do is either make use of footnotes to explain things that might have been explicated in the unexcerpted parts of your paper, or otherwise have a square brackets on each end of your paper giving a brief synopsis of what came before or after.

 

 

 

I know this is a little over a month old, but any perspective on using an excerpt from a longer paper? I wrote a senior thesis which I would LOVE to use as my sample, but it's 50 pages...I want to choose my favorite chapter, possibly two, but I'm worried that sending in a chapter from the middle might be confusing. Any opinions? Thanks!

[TeaOverCoffee]

I'm more than likely going to use my senior thesis, which won't even be complete until mid/late-November, on urbanization/enclosed spaces Woman in White and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 

I do have a finished paper that I completed two years ago on ecofeminism in Bram Stoker's Dracula, but it's only eleven pages. It's probably better to give the adcomm something more recent anyway.

[__________________________]

I'm thinking of using an excerpt from a senior thesis as well, which was also pretty long (~43 pages), on Beckett's The Unnameable and surrealist theory.  It's probably my most impressive piece of writing, at least for it's use of critical theory, and I'll be using it for Lit/Comp Lit programs like Duke and maybe Berkeley. I might just excerpt the first chapter, which just focuses on Beckett, with heaps of Blanchot and Deleuze.  I don't know about you, but I wrote my senior thesis in chunks and ended up having three pretty distinct chapters plus an introduction, so it won't be too bad to take out a chapter to size and trim it so it seems more self-contained.  Obviously a project like that entails enough work for that process to be kind of painful...

 

I'm also applying to medieval studies programs, but to be honest I'm at a loss as to what to use for a WS, since most of my really good medieval studies writing worked largely with things in translation (oops), and then most of my studies became more focused on language mastery and paleography (as well as finishing my English thesis - I did English and medieval studies in undergrad).  I have a paper on the poetics of an Old Occitan troubadour sestina which then goes into the mathematics of the form culminating in a discussion of the OuLiPo and an architectonic analysis of a rather structurally complicated variation of the form by a contemporary German poet.  I wrote it for an "ethnomathematics" course and the professor has shown interest in publishing it for some sort of project on mathematics and poetry (I'm waiting for details).  It's 27 pages, but I figure I could cut out a lot of stuff pretty easily since a lot of the cultural context I used was simply put in because it wasn't written for a medievalist audience.  I still worry it's a little too unorthodox to use for a place like Notre Dame's Center for Medieval Studies, but it's one of my stronger papers in terms of displaying comfort in a couple different languages (not to mention the structural analyses of the poems). 

 

I have to admit that when a place like Berkeley (for comp lit, at least) says the WS should be no longer than 10 pages, it's kind of a slap in the face.

 

 

I know this is a little over a month old, but any perspective on using an excerpt from a longer paper? I wrote a senior thesis which I would LOVE to use as my sample, but it's 50 pages...I want to choose my favorite chapter, possibly two, but I'm worried that sending in a chapter from the middle might be confusing. Any opinions? Thanks!

[Put a cat on it]

I am using a paper I wrote for one of my literature classes (I'm currently in an MFA program, applying to PhD programs) regarding the construction of a gentleman in England during the late 18th through early 19th centuries, specifically focusing on Henry Tilney in Austen's Northanger Abbey. Mostly because Henry Tilney is the best and I will convince everyone else he is, too.

[unræd]

I still worry it's a little too unorthodox to use for a place like Notre Dame's Center for Medieval Studies, but it's one of my stronger papers in terms of displaying comfort in a couple different languages (not to mention the structural analyses of the poems). 

 

For what it's worth, a prof. of mine got into Notre Dame with a paper on a 19th century topic. Not that that's the same as a paper that's more methodologically innovative, and not that I'm wholeheartedly recommending that--I certainly chose the portion of a longer paper that I'm submitting as my ND sample because of its philological work, and it's a fairly traditional piece of scholarship. But there is precedent for something that might seem to be outside of Notre Dame's "box" still passing muster!

[__________________________]

For what it's worth, a prof. of mine got into Notre Dame with a paper on a 19th century topic. Not that that's the same as a paper that's more methodologically innovative, and not that I'm wholeheartedly recommending that--I certainly chose the portion of a longer paper that I'm submitting as my ND sample because of its philological work, and it's a fairly traditional piece of scholarship. But there is precedent for something that might seem to be outside of Notre Dame's "box" still passing muster!

That's nice to hear.  I know the CMS site does say that the WS doesn't necessarily have to be a medieval topic, and to be fair, the paper does discuss medieval poetics at least as much as it does mathematics and more contemporary lit.  My formal training in Old Occitan is nonexistent, but I could definitely add some more linguistic analysis based on my research and knowledge of Latin/French.  Blech.  One more thing to do... Noone ever said it's easy to work a couple jobs, take a couple classes, AND apply to Ph.D. programs I guess.  where else are you applying to, unraed?  (like the name by the way, even if I feel it uncomfortably reflects much of how I've approached this application season...) 

 

 

I am using a paper I wrote for one of my literature classes (I'm currently in an MFA program, applying to PhD programs) regarding the construction of a gentleman in England during the late 18th through early 19th centuries, specifically focusing on Henry Tilney in Austen's Northanger Abbey. Mostly because Henry Tilney is the best and I will convince everyone else he is, too.

I wrote a paper on Northanger Abbey for a class on Austen last fall!  Tilney rules.  My paper was on the dialectic of Henry and Catherine's courtship and how it reflected/complicated 18th century philosophical debates.  What a fun novel.  I assume you're applying to English programs?

[ellison]

I've prepared my writing sample and have it out for review at the moment, but I wanted to see if others were concerned about not including their works cited. I hadn't planned on it as I'm already two pages over the requested limit, but I guess I'm questioning that decision now...

[TeaOverCoffee]

I called UPenn earlier this year and asked about the works cited page, and they want you to include it. So I'm assuming all schools are like that. 

 

I've prepared my writing sample and have it out for review at the moment, but I wanted to see if others were concerned about not including their works cited. I hadn't planned on it as I'm already two pages over the requested limit, but I guess I'm questioning that decision now...

[Dr. Old Bill]

Oh. Yes. You definitely want to include your works cited. That's usually not considered part of the page count, however.

 

Seriously though, if you're only a couple of pages over, you might want to consider something as simple as changing the font you use (as per another recent GC thread). Or change the size slightly. Or change the spacing slightly. This isn't to "trick" an adcomm so much as to just adhere to their requests. More often than not, page counts are suggested -- they don't want everyone sending in 30-page documents to read. It's always worth remembering that they'll see hundreds of these things...and even if they're partitioned out to various factions, even twenty 25-page documents makes for a lot of reading...

[ProfLorax]

An academic paper is incomplete without the works cited page. If I were on an adcomm and reading a writing sample sans works cited page, I would assume that the student didn't understand how to cite his or her sources, basic MLA format, or the importance of showing where they found their information.

[Dr. Old Bill]

An academic paper is incomplete without the works cited page. If I were on an adcomm and reading a writing sample sans works cited page, I would assume that the student didn't understand how to cite his or her sources, basic MLA format, or the importance of showing where they found their information.

 

Exactly. Furthermore, I really don't know how one could retain in-text citations without having a works cited page to anchor them. It's just such an integral part of a paper that I can't imagine lopping it off for any reason.

 

So Ellison -- definitely make a point of including your works cited page. If you're truly concerned about length and you don't think you can cut (and can't adjust fonts etc. to aid you in getting it to a more manageable length), be sure to contact the programs you are interested in about it. Some are more strict than others with regard to page counts.

[unræd]

Just to add to the chorus, yeah, I think it's of the utmost importance--even though my sample is in Chicago style (where there are full citations of works in the footnotes, making the works cited pages, strictly speaking, less important than it is in MLA), I'd still not send it off without the full list at back. I am, however, going to be far more willing to play with the formatting of those pages in service of making limits (single-spacing it, for example) than with the body of my sample.

[ellison]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. It's been awhile since I last applied to graduate school and I guess things have changed since I didn't include a works cited with my writing sample the last time I applied. I suppose competition is stiffer than it was a decade ago and every bit counts. I fiddled with my font and now I'm at 32 with the works cited so I think it's good bar editing from my reviewers.

[Dr. Old Bill]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. It's been awhile since I last applied to graduate school and I guess things have changed since I didn't include a works cited with my writing sample the last time I applied. I suppose competition is stiffer than it was a decade ago and every bit counts. I fiddled with my font and now I'm at 32 with the works cited so I think it's good bar editing from my reviewers.

 

Hmm...well, it depends on where you're applying, I suppose, but if it were me, I'd try to get it down to 25 if possible. I didn't mention it explicitly above, but one DGS I contacted about page count basically said that they truly don't want to read anything longer than their requirements. Again -- remember how many writing samples these folks will be getting. If they see one that is 32 pages among a bunch of 20-page samples, their expectations are probably going to be higher, thinking "well if I have to go through all of this, it better be good..." I don't claim to know this definitively, of course, but it's worth putting yourself in their shoes. Most folks can give a great snapshot of their scholarship in 15-20 pages. It's probably more to your benefit to take out seven pages and just insert a brief blurb in their place, recapping what was extracted.

 

This is just advice, and you can take it how you will...but I feel quite strongly that 25 pages should be the maximum for a WS unless otherwise stated.

[Put a cat on it]

That's nice to hear.  I know the CMS site does say that the WS doesn't necessarily have to be a medieval topic, and to be fair, the paper does discuss medieval poetics at least as much as it does mathematics and more contemporary lit.  My formal training in Old Occitan is nonexistent, but I could definitely add some more linguistic analysis based on my research and knowledge of Latin/French.  Blech.  One more thing to do... Noone ever said it's easy to work a couple jobs, take a couple classes, AND apply to Ph.D. programs I guess.  where else are you applying to, unraed?  (like the name by the way, even if I feel it uncomfortably reflects much of how I've approached this application season...) 

 

 

I wrote a paper on Northanger Abbey for a class on Austen last fall!  Tilney rules.  My paper was on the dialectic of Henry and Catherine's courtship and how it reflected/complicated 18th century philosophical debates.  What a fun novel.  I assume you're applying to English programs?

Yep, English lit programs!

[mikers86]

I've been told by some faculty at various institutions that they just plain stop reading after the page limit. Every word needs to count - edit carefully and be respectful of their guidelines.

[Put a cat on it]

I know from applying to MFA programs that going over the page limit is generally a big no-no, although going under (unless we're talking, like, sending in 5 pages when 20 is the minimum) is fine. Going over the limit often signals to the committee that you can't read directions and that you think that they have loads of time to read your extra pages--even if those pages seem very important to you. So really, bottom line: don't go over the page limit, just to be safe.

[1Q84]

Any other early modernists out there? I might submit a paper on Milton and gender/sexuality. Either that or go 180 and submit a paper on same-sex marriage.

Edited September 29, 2014 by 1Q84

[jhefflol]

Any other early modernists out there? I'm might submit a paper on Milton and gender/sexuality. Either that or go 180 and submit a paper on same-sex marriage.

 

Early Modernist here! Hello! Queer studies is a popular topic right now in our field so that might be good!

 

I'm seriously conflicted about what to submit for my writing sample. I was hoping to write a gender-based seminar thesis in the Shakespeare seminar I'm taking this semester, but that was with the idea that I would have started it by now. I might instead submit the paper that I'm presenting this weekend at a medieval conference, even though I'm not a medievalist. It is a gender-based paper, though. And the topic is popular apparently, because I've seen quite a few CFPs for papers on my topic recently. I'm just not sure if I want to take the risk associated with submitting a paper that is not in my time period specialization, even though its in my theory specialization. 

[Krystal]

Any other early modernists out there? I might submit a paper on Milton and gender/sexuality. Either that or go 180 and submit a paper on same-sex marriage.

 

Early modernist here too! I'm going with a paper on Middleton and the morality play for my sample -- which is slowly but surely being revised. Yikes! But a paper on Milton and gender/sexuality sounds excellent! Any details?

[cloudofunknowing]

The field is adjacent, though, Jhefflol - &, especially if the methodology / theoretical lens you use is also of a piece with what you do with early modern things, I don't think it'd be far off the mark.. Given that we, medievalists & early modernists a both, are going to be expected to be able to teach from Beowulf through Shakespeare (if not to Milton) in surveys, showing the ability to think critically about that wouldn't be bad, necessarily. It might depend on program, though.

[jhefflol]

The field is adjacent, though, Jhefflol - &, especially if the methodology / theoretical lens you use is also of a piece with what you do with early modern things, I don't think it'd be far off the mark.. Given that we, medievalists & early modernists a both, are going to be expected to be able to teach from Beowulf through Shakespeare (if not to Milton) in surveys, showing the ability to think critically about that wouldn't be bad, necessarily. It might depend on program, though.

 

Good thinking. My paper uses Beowulf and other famous OE texts and features my own translations while using gender theory. I'm going to see how my ideas are received at the conference this weekend and go from there. 

[1Q84]

Early Modernist here! Hello! Queer studies is a popular topic right now in our field so that might be good!

 

I'm seriously conflicted about what to submit for my writing sample. I was hoping to write a gender-based seminar thesis in the Shakespeare seminar I'm taking this semester, but that was with the idea that I would have started it by now. I might instead submit the paper that I'm presenting this weekend at a medieval conference, even though I'm not a medievalist. It is a gender-based paper, though. And the topic is popular apparently, because I've seen quite a few CFPs for papers on my topic recently. I'm just not sure if I want to take the risk associated with submitting a paper that is not in my time period specialization, even though its in my theory specialization. 

I'm glad to hear you say this! I had been getting the impression from some that gender was very overdone in this field, but that may be specific to Milton.

 

As for your Shakespeare thing, I would go with my gut. You're probably right that it might be a little late to be starting a writing sample to submit for December!

 

Early modernist here too! I'm going with a paper on Middleton and the morality play for my sample -- which is slowly but surely being revised. Yikes! But a paper on Milton and gender/sexuality sounds excellent! Any details?

 

Awesome! 

 

It's an examination of gender fluidity in Paradise Lost. I hope it has legs! I'm following in the path forged by some really awesome scholars publishing in Milton Studies, namely Leah Marcus (Vanderbilt).

[Dr. Old Bill]

That sounds really interesting, 1Q84... In fact, I'd like to read that at some point (when I'm not so insanely busy, that is). I quite love Paradise Lost, having studied it in depth recently...and Professor Marcus is one of my POIs at Vanderbilt! It would be great to read a gender-based take on it, if you're willing to share.