Your Research in Relation to Current Research (SoP)

[and,vaster]

Hello, GradCafe. This is my first post, but I’ve been reading the forum for a long time.

In your statement of purpose, did you discuss how your research fit into the current climate of your proposed field? If so, how?

What did you do if your research combined two or more distinct areas that had their own sets of trends? What did you do if your work is often text specific (or text first)? What did you do if your research was either not popularly explored or ever explored in depth?

 

I hope that was clear. If you have any advice that’s even vaguely related, I’d be happy to hear it! 

[Caien]

18 hours ago, and,vaster said:

In your statement of purpose, did you discuss how your research fit into the current climate of your proposed field? If so, how?

This is just my two cents, but I'm not sure how you would avoid indicating how your research fits into the current climate of your proposed field. My understanding is that part of the point of the SoP is to persuade the faculty that your research needs doing and that therefore they should give you the time/space/money to do it. In my mind this necessarily requires you to address how your work is similar/different to existing research, both historically and in the here and now, and thus what you will add to the field. Though I'm from Europe where we plan detailed PhD research proposals in advance, so perhaps I'm overestimating the extent to which you need to demonstrate understanding of the current critical landscape.

18 hours ago, and,vaster said:

What did you do if your research combined two or more distinct areas that had their own sets of trends? What did you do if your work is often text specific (or text first)? What did you do if your research was either not popularly explored or ever explored in depth?

I'm struggling with this as well, as I'm interesting in the confluence of different theoretical strands and interdisciplinary work. Luckily my subfield is comparatively neglected, so its possible to actually read all of the significant critics, but as to how I'm going to get my critical awareness across along with how I intent to apply three different theoretcial schools and incorporate other disciplines within a 1000 word restriction, I have no idea!

[jrockford27]

As I get toward my comps, I now realize that my knowledge of the discourse of the field at the time I applied was miniscule (part of why you go to grad school, at least in the U.S. model, is to learn what the state of the discourse is).  I think that if you articulate your interests clearly, if there are folks well suited to advise you on the adcom that they'll know whether it has the potential to make a meaningful contribution.  My feeling is that you're much better suited telling them what your interests are, rather than using up precious space discussing the state of the field.

[and,vaster]

4 hours ago, Caien said:

I'm struggling with this as well, as I'm interesting in the confluence of different theoretical strands and interdisciplinary work. Luckily my subfield is comparatively neglected, so its possible to actually read all of the significant critics, but as to how I'm going to get my critical awareness across along with how I intent to apply three different theoretcial schools and incorporate other disciplines within a 1000 word restriction, I have no idea!

That’s basically my problem. Because my proposed research is so specific, it’s not that helpful to talk about the trends in my time period as a whole. However, in trying to narrow my focus, the conversation becomes ridiculously complex. As @jrockford27 mentioned, there’s not a lot of space!

In my original question, I was trying to figure out whether others sought to place their research in a larger critical context (timeline? conversation?), or whether they were more focused on relating their work to specific theories, individuals, etc. In other words, how did you end up framing your work in the SoP? Or did you at all?

[dreamchaser]

Uh oh....am I the only one doing the SoP without a specific project in mind that I'm discussing (US grad here)?

I've just talked more about the field in general.....???

[and,vaster]

@dreamchaser 

What do you mean by “the field in general?” I want to make sure that we’re talking about the same thing. I haven’t described a specific project, like “frame narratives in three seafaring tales,” but have indicated a time period and theoretical approach. Plus, I’ve described the general arguments that I tend to make/like to make within that context. It is somewhat specific—I’ve basically said, “Here’s the direction I would go in if admitted sans references to specific texts.”

I’m not sure if that’s similar to what you did, or even if that’s the right approach, so hopefully others will weigh in. 

[dreamchaser]

18 minutes ago, and,vaster said:

@dreamchaser 

What do you mean by “the field in general?” I want to make sure that we’re talking about the same thing. I haven’t described a specific project, like “frame narratives in three seafaring tales,” but have indicated a time period and theoretical approach. Plus, I’ve described the general arguments that I tend to make/like to make within that context. It is somewhat specific—I’ve basically said, “Here’s the direction I would go in if admitted sans references to specific texts.”

 

I’m not sure if that’s similar to what you did, or even if that’s the right approach, so hopefully others will weigh in. 

 

 

Your thread came up on the forums homepage on the right-hand side, so I clicked it..........didn't realize this was about the Humanities! Sorry!

[Caien]

Re: the state of the field issue, there's this from the Berkeley guidance page on SoPs, but this is general advice fro all disciplines, so I suppose its up for debate:

Here you indicate what you would like to study in graduate school in enough detail to convince the faculty that you understand the scope of research in their discipline, and are engaged with current research themes. (link)

I am proposing a specific project, though personally I find its helps me articulate what I want to do, as in: I am interested in such and such theoretical approached as applied to this subfield, and an example of this would be... *insert clever proposal here* (that's terrible, but its late here in Europe)

A professor from my university who graduated from Stanford's PhD program not long ago told me its a good idea to propose a project, even if you're unlikely to stick to that project for the length of your time in the PhD program. She said it gives the adcomm a sense that you understand what it is to do research in English and can come up with relevant ideas. I struck out last year with an SoP that was mostly just an overview of my interests with only a few lines of an example project, that didn't address the existing critical field.

It may be relevant to note that when I think of the state of current research, I mean in relation to the specific texts I want to work with (for now). Because I'm applying to masters degrees in Europe as well, which require a proposal for a project that can be completed in a year, I have a specific project fairly well mapped out in my head. I'm considering referring to this as a sort of hypothetical chapter of a hypothetical phd dissertation. It also means I have read extensively almost all the significant critical writing on this set of texts, as masters proposals are expected to be original research that refer to existing critical literature.

I think its important to note that there's no one way to do this, no formula you can follow that guarantees admission. I'm sure that admitted cohorts produce a variety of different SoP forms/styles.

[jrockford27]

My personal statement to the school I'm going to now went a little something like this.

I.  Some background about my life and professional background and what's driving me toward scholarly work.

II.  The thrust of the type of project I'd like to work on.

a.  What do I mean by thrust?  I mean, articulate a project that gives them a good idea of the type of work you want to do bearing in mind two things 1) No one is ever going to hold you to the research project you proposed in your SoP (and I mean ever); and 2) In my cohort there is just one person working on the project they proposed in their SoP, and he was the oldest person admitted, already was doing research in that area, etc.  Thus, this is less a proposal of an actual project than a chance for you to articulate what type of scholar you are, the types of texts you're interested in, the types of theorists who have driven your inquiry so far. 3) While no one on an adcom has ever told me this, one has to imagine that they realize that people don't generally end up doing the project they articulate in their SoP.

b.  If you already had a good handle on what the discourse in your field was, or were already an expert in some area, you wouldn't need to go to a PhD program.

III. Which professors I wanted to work with when I got there and why.  It may help to familiarize yourself a bit with their work.  This doesn't mean consuming their entire oeuvre, but read some relevant chapters or articles.  Where possible, I tried to drop in specific ideas from works of theirs that I'd read.

IV.  This may depend on the program, but something resembling a teaching philosophy.  In my program you are more or less required to teach at least six semesters.  Teaching heavy programs will want to know that this is something you feel strongly about.

This is what worked for me to get into my #1 program.  My application year I was accepted at 3, waitlisted at 2, and rejected by 6.  But I was accepted to the one I wanted most, which I suppose is what matters.

 

Edited September 29, 2016 by jrockford27