Questions about MIT research summary

[historicallinguist]

So, I am trying to finish up my research summary for MIT application. The website of MIT says the maximum length of the summary is 3 pages. But it does not say whether it is a summary of double-spaced 3 pages or single-spaced 3 pages. So, if I double-space my texts, can I go beyond 3 pages? Second, can I add a reference page after the 3rd page of the summary? I am thinking to add a reference page because in the research summary I will need to mention some previous works on the topic, e.g. , Chomsky (1986) claimed blablabla.

 

[fuzzylogician]

When in doubt, stick to the strictest interpretation of the rules -- here, double space, and 3 pages = 3 pages including everything, not 3 pages + a separate page for references. 

If this doesn't suit you, you could email them to ask more specifically what they mean. Maybe it's fine if it's single space or if you add a separate page for references*, but an official answer permitting you to do that has to come from them and is meaningless if it comes from us. 

 

* specifically regarding references, this seems unnecessary. Usually the summary would basically be an abstract of your submitted writing sample. I'm sure your writing sample already has a reference list, which would indicate all the works you might mention in the summary (plus others). They'll just look at the references of your writing sample, if there is any citation in the summary that they want to look up.

[historicallinguist]

 

1 hour ago, fuzzylogician said:

 

When in doubt, stick to the strictest interpretation of the rules -- here, double space, and 3 pages = 3 pages including everything, not 3 pages + a separate page for references. 

If this doesn't suit you, you could email them to ask more specifically what they mean. Maybe it's fine if it's single space or if you add a separate page for references*, but an official answer permitting you to do that has to come from them and is meaningless if it comes from us. 

 

* specifically regarding references, this seems unnecessary. Usually the summary would basically be an abstract of your submitted writing sample. I'm sure your writing sample already has a reference list, which would indicate all the works you might mention in the summary (plus others). They'll just look at the references of your writing sample, if there is any citation in the summary that they want to look up.

 

 

 

On the website, they also say: "As an alternative, you may also propose a project that you have not undertaken, if you have thought about it with enough depth and care to answer the questions listed above."

I got a writing sample that is around 14 pages including reference. I am not sure whether it is an appropriate thing to write a 3 page abstract for a 14 page paper. So, I am trying to go for this alternative way, aka, proposing a project that I have not undertaken (which will be undertaken for the rest of my year for my MA thesis).  This is why I have questions about whether the reference page counts toward the 3 page limit, as the reference page tends to be very long. (it usually takes up to 3 pages for a 11 page paper.)

As it is closing to Christmas, I am not sure whether the admission office of the department has closed. But I am going to take a try and write to them right now, and see whether I will get back from them sometime before the deadline.

[fuzzylogician]

I find it hard to believe that all 3 pages of references are equally important. For a 3-page summary you could add a half page of "selected references" that are just the important ones: the theory you're basing your ideas on, the ones that published the data, maybe 1-2 others, that should be enough. If you end up with 3 pages of references for 3 pages of text, something is probably wrong. I also don't think it's necessary to write something new as opposed to the summary that they asked for. The purpose of the summary is for you to show that you can actually take your longer paper and distill from it just the important parts: what are the questions that you are asking? What are your findings? Why does it matter? What are the next steps? A 3-page summary means that you'll write roughly 2-3 paragraphs on each question, which isn't a lot at all. This is an important skill, and I would say one you could display even better if you summarize your submitted work, as opposed to a proposed plan you haven't yet carried out. But, both are viable options. 

Re: deadlines and the holidays, the fact that it's the holidays did not exactly come out of no where. Yes, you now have a problem, but it's due to your poor planning, and I'm not sure what else could be done about it. As they say, poor planning on your part should not constitute an emergency on mine. They may not answer until after the new year, and you'll just do something that seems reasonable. If you add one page for references, that is probably okay (though I can't guarantee that). If you add 3 pages, that would look odd.

[historicallinguist]

 

2 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

I find it hard to believe that all 3 pages of references are equally important. For a 3-page summary you could add a half page of "selected references" that are just the important ones: the theory you're basing your ideas on, the ones that published the data, maybe 1-2 others, that should be enough. If you end up with 3 pages of references for 3 pages of text, something is probably wrong. I also don't think it's necessary to write something new as opposed to the summary that they asked for. The purpose of the summary is for you to show that you can actually take your longer paper and distill from it just the important parts: what are the questions that you are asking? What are your findings? Why does it matter? What are the next steps? A 3-page summary means that you'll write roughly 2-3 paragraphs on each question, which isn't a lot at all. This is an important skill, and I would say one you could display even better if you summarize your submitted work, as opposed to a proposed plan you haven't yet carried out. But, both are viable options. 

Re: deadlines and the holidays, the fact that it's the holidays did not exactly come out of no where. Yes, you now have a problem, but it's due to your poor planning, and I'm not sure what else could be done about it. As they say, poor planning on your part should not constitute an emergency on mine. They may not answer until after the new year, and you'll just do something that seems reasonable. If you add one page for references, that is probably okay (though I can't guarantee that). If you add 3 pages, that would look odd.

I see. Yes, I think it is true that it is easier for me to write a research summary of the writing sample that I will submit to them rather than writing a new "research proposal".

By writing a summary for the writing sample, I am ready to answer the first three questions, aka. "what am I asking?". "what are my findings", "why does it matter?". The only question I need to think through for now is the last one, aka, "what are the next steps?". In contrast, if I write a new "research proposal" for the research summary, I will have to formulate answers for all these four questions. So, it is not an optimal choice to do a new proposal, as doing so violates the OT maxim, "do only when necessary". So, I am going to change the direction, and write a summary for the writing sample instead. In this case, how would you think of the idea that, instead of putting a references/selected references at the end of the summary, I put a footnote at the beginning of the summary that says "please refer to the writing sample for the references"?

I emailed the department about the length issue. I also checked the institute holidays of MIT. It seems that theoretically today (December 23) is the last business day of the office of the department before the new year. So, there is a good chance that I will hear back from them today. Let's see whether I will hear back from them today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[historicallinguist]

23 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

Re: deadlines and the holidays, the fact that it's the holidays did not exactly come out of no where. Yes, you now have a problem, but it's due to your poor planning, and I'm not sure what else could be done about it. As they say, poor planning on your part should not constitute an emergency on mine. They may not answer until after the new year, and you'll just do something that seems reasonable. If you add one page for references, that is probably okay (though I can't guarantee that). If you add 3 pages, that would look odd.

 

It looks like I got no luck of hearing back from them before the deadline!