"Additional Information" upload. What the???

[SoulOfWhit]

I'm up completing my preliminary electronic applications and see an "Additional Information" upload with multiple slots. What do I upload here? I'm applying in English PhD programs; so next to a blood sample, I'm not sure what else they want from me. There's already a spot for CV, Writing Sample, SoP, transcripts, LoR. I feel like I should be uploading something. Will I be penalized for having nothing extra to say? 

What say you?

[avflinsch]

If you have them - copies of publications would be appropriate to upload.

Another option would be an additional writing sample, perhaps something that was longer than what was requested. Especially it you only added an excerpt of a longer document for the writing sample.

[fuzzylogician]

If you've uploaded everything that is required by the department, then you're good to go. You won't be penalized for not uploading documents in the "additional information" section. Some people use it as described above. Others use it to upload a supplemental essay to explain any quirks in their application (such as a semester of low grades or time off school). If you don't have anything like that to add, that's just fine.  

[TakeruK]

Just to add to the above---many schools use a common application system across all of their departments. The common application system will often have "additional information" slots like this for flexibility. So, if a particular program wants to ask for a specific extra thing, they don't have to reprogram the entire application. Especially if the program wants to try it out for a year or two and then stop asking for it (e.g. I saw some programs ask for a 1 minute video of themselves describing their research interests). In my field, we never submit writing samples, but in a lot of my common applications, there is a page specifically for "writing sample" (in addition to "additional information"). Some schools clearly instructs us to leave the "Writing Sample" page blank while others expected us to infer that since there was no request for a writing sample, we should leave the page blank when we come across it.

Therefore, unless you are asked to put something there (or you have a reason to add extra info as fuzzy suggested), you should just leave it blank.