SOP and Publications/Conferences

[GL551]

Earlier in the year I asked what the relative weight was of publications and conferences. I received some very useful feedback from fuzzylogician regarding the apparent weight of those items and their applicability to my overall application. As it is rapidly closing in on "that time of year" for applications I was hoping I could get a bit more information as to how conferences and publications should be placed in a statement of purpose or personal statement.

A bit of personal background regarding this question: I recently graduated with two B.S. degrees and a minor from a medium sized state school. I am applying to political science and philosophy graduate programs in Europe and Canada (I am a US citizen). As it stands, I have presented multiple pieces of research at twelve conferences (several undergraduate conferences, several graduate conferences, and two professional conferences). I have also published two pieces; one in an undergraduate journal and one in an academic magazine. I also have one piece currently in the "Revise and Resubmit" stage for a professional peer-reviewed journal and two other pieces currently under review by an undergraduate journal in the US and another in the UK.

Three immediate questions spring to mind: (1) should I attempt to include these conferences and publications in my SOP? (Obviously it could become a quantity issue at a certain point) (2) If yes to (1) - should I attempt to showcase the more prestigious or professional-level conferences over the regional and undergraduate conferences, and (3) The pride-and-joy of my undergraduate career is undoubtedly my political theory paper being reviewed and as requisitioned for re-submission for a professional academic journal. Unfortunately, given the average time frame for publication by this journal, the fact that is has yet to be published, and that several application deadlines will likely pass before I receive any information as to its publication status - how can I include this in my SOP? I want to include something about this paper - it is something I am extremely proud of given my status as an undergraduate. But obviously having a publication to list on your CV and claiming in an SOP that you might be published assuming everything goes perfectly in the editing process, are two dramatically different things.

Any thoughts?

 

Edited September 6, 2016 by GL551

[fuzzylogician]

What matters at the end of the day is the work and how you talk about it, and less so the actual publications, especially given that these are mostly undergraduate/graduate journals/conferences (I assume that by "professional" you mean respectable journals/conferences in your field that recognized scholars submit to, preferably top-tier ones and not obscure ones). Frankly I would not over-emphasize having that many lower-tier papers, it speaks to a possibility that you might tend to spend your time making less than ideal choices about where to invest your time and efforts. Having dozens of lower-tier works won't do very much to advance your career at any stage beyond this point, compared to having fewer but well-placed pieces. The thing to emphasize instead is the actual project, the results, what you learned from it, and how it informed your current/future goals. If there are multiple projects, you do not need to talk about every single one in your statement. I would choose one or two (depending on word/page limits), and no more than three, and spend a paragraph on each: what were the questions/goals of the project? what methods did you use to approach the problem? what did you learn from doing this? why does it matter? do you hope to expand on this in the future, and if so how? you could very well conclude with "This project led to X conference presentations and to a publication in UG Journal. A fully spelled-out version of the proposal has been submitted for review with Fancy Journal" or some such. 

[TakeruK]

6 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

Frankly I would not over-emphasize having that many lower-tier papers, it speaks to a possibility that you might tend to spend your time making less than ideal choices about where to invest your time and efforts. Having dozens of lower-tier works won't do very much to advance your career at any stage beyond this point, compared to having fewer but well-placed pieces. 

 

6 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

spend a paragraph on each: what were the questions/goals of the project? what methods did you use to approach the problem? what did you learn from doing this? why does it matter? do you hope to expand on this in the future, and if so how? you could very well conclude with "This project led to X conference presentations and to a publication in UG Journal. A fully spelled-out version of the proposal has been submitted for review with Fancy Journal" or some such. 

I second everything fuzzy said, and especially these two parts! 

[GL551]

Much obliged all!