Writing Sample

[ColorlessGreen]

I'm having some trouble deciding what to use for my writing sample, and I thought maybe someone on this forum could help. Right now I'm wavering between two choices - a paper I wrote last year about the status of derivational and inflectional morphemes in Sgaw Karen, and a paper that I have not yet finished writing about historical [y] and merging into a diphthong [iu] in Midwestern American English.

The pros for paper 1: a)it's actually done, b)I got an A on it, c)it's written in the generative linguistics tradition (I use this term in the broadest possible sense), and I am applying to primarily theoretical schools.

Cons: a)it's very shallow - most of it is discussing the difference between freestanding phonological words, clitics, and affixes in a way that really does not contribute anything new to the literature, b)it's short - only 5 pages, c)I made the mistake of choosing an obscure language without having a native speaker available, and consequently a lot of my data is drawn from writings from the 1800s and a few more recent linguistic analyses. Also, my conclusion is pathetically obvious, and I somehow doubt that the status of these morphemes was ever in question. Also, it's not as focused as it should be.

The pros for paper 2: a)it promises to be more in-depth, and very slightly longer, than paper 1, b)I have plenty of data, c)I have some lovely screencaps from Praat to use.

Cons: a)it's a historical linguistics paper, which is generally Not Done anymore, and which I don't want to study in grad school, b)I haven't finished it, and may not be able to finish it by my first deadline, c)my beautiful Praat screencaps are not actually very important to the topic.

Any opinions? Thanks!

[fuzzylogician]

Sadly both papers don't sound like particularly good options. But, given how you describe the papers, I'd vote for paper 2. Paper 1 is short, draws on limited resources, and makes no interesting theoretical claims. Therefore, even though it's in the theoretical framework you want to work in, it doesn't do a good job showcasing your ability to do so.

The goal of the writing sample is show you can do research - formulate a coherent research question, go out and find the relevant data, and use them to answer the question you posed. It should demonstrate your best writing and argumentation skills. It sounds like paper 2 does a better job of that.

The pros for paper 2: a)it promises to be more in-depth, and very slightly longer, than paper 1, b)I have plenty of data, c)I have some lovely screencaps from Praat to use.

It's not enough to just have a lot of data, though that's always nice *sigh*. You need to show you can use the data to develop and support an (original) argument. That's what the adcomm will look for.

Cons: a)it's a historical linguistics paper, which is generally Not Done anymore, and which I don't want to study in grad school, b)I haven't finished it, and may not be able to finish it by my first deadline, c)my beautiful Praat screencaps are not actually very important to the topic.

Re: a - don't worry about it too much. People are accepted from different fields and with papers in different topics than what they want to study in grad school. I'm sure you say in your SOP that you want to study phonology, not historical linguistics. Re c - again, it's nice that you know how to use praat but it's obviously not going to get you into a school. I don't think it's a pro or a con. Re b - um, that something to seriously worry about! Is the other paper ready to use for the earlier deadlines or would you have to seriously rework it?

[ColorlessGreen]

I may have exaggerated my dire predicament slightly. I think I can in fact finish the second paper by most of my deadlines, and possibly even the first one, if I buckle down and actually do it. So far I've been agonizing over my SOP mostly, and then I realized today that even the best SOP will not help me if I submit a terrible writing sample to go with it, so I panicked.

Anyway, thank you for your feedback! I'm glad to hear that you suggest the second paper; that is the one that I was thinking of using. I may be able to finish a suitably polished version in time. I was planning on waiting for my professor's feedback on what I've sent him so far, but he hasn't said anything about it, and I sent it two weeks ago. I think I'll just assume that the silence on his part means he thinks it's okay, and keep working. Usually he's very blunt when he thinks I'm on the wrong track, so I'm sure I would have heard by now if he disagreed with my conclusions.

[fuzzylogician]

I may have exaggerated my dire predicament slightly. I think I can in fact finish the second paper by most of my deadlines, and possibly even the first one, if I buckle down and actually do it.

...

I was planning on waiting for my professor's feedback on what I've sent him so far, but he hasn't said anything about it, and I sent it two weeks ago. I think I'll just assume that the silence on his part means he thinks it's okay, and keep working. Usually he's very blunt when he thinks I'm on the wrong track, so I'm sure I would have heard by now if he disagreed with my conclusions.

That's good news!

Did you tell your professor you are thinking about using this paper as a WS? If not, telling him could get you faster and more detailed feedback.

[ColorlessGreen]

That's good news!

Did you tell your professor you are thinking about using this paper as a WS? If not, telling him could get you faster and more detailed feedback.

I have, but he may have forgotten. I'll try gently reminding him. Thank you for your advice!

[ColorlessGreen]

I finished paper 2 a few days ago and mailed it off in time for my first deadline. I think it turned out okay - it ended up being longer and more in-depth than I had thought it would be, which is a good thing. Thanks for your advice!

[psycholinguist]

w00t. Congrats!

[solairne]

Why don't other candidates post what their writing samples are over?

Mine is a 19 page independent research paper over V2 transfer from native German speakers into English.

[pointaken]

Why don't other candidates post what their writing samples are over?

Mine is a 19 page independent research paper over V2 transfer from native German speakers into English.

Mine is a 19-page analysis of "That's what she said," a popular American English joke phrase. It includes a little bit about double entendres and puns and specifically their relation to Attardo and Raskin's general theory of verbal humor (and Raskin's earlier semantic script theory); the paper also discusses the joke's role in conversation (using examples from personal experience and those submitted by friends and acquaintances). I also talk about what little is known about the joke's history and ancestors, and I end with a case study of The Office, the show that has given "That's what she said" current relevance and popularity. It was a term paper--the class was Language and Humor.