Sop

[friendly friend]

Hi every it has been a week that I want to write an SOP and I still cant get good results

should it be like a autobiagraphy?

[avflinsch]

Part autobiography - especially how it relates to your interests and reasons reasons for applying, part academic history 

Make sure to reference potential faculty that you are interested in working with, be sure to state how their work overlaps or runs parallel to your interests

Make sure to state career goals, and how $school is best suited for you to meet those goals

Best advice I was given - write it, let is sit for a few days then revisit (repeat several times) before you actually submit it.

[friendly friend]

my biggest problem is how to state why you love something, it is a inner feeling..

[TakeruK]

You don't have to state how you love something in your SOP. What @avflinsch said is good advice on what content to put into a SOP. Another piece of advice is to "show, don't tell". So, don't just say "I love studying X" because everyone can say that. Instead, you want to show the reader that you are passionate about your field of study by describing your past experience and education and hobbies etc. in a way that demonstrates this passion. 

So, it is a little bit like an autobiography in the sense that you want to tell a story. In this story, your goal is to convince the reader that you want to attend their school and that their school and your interests are an excellent fit. So, you pick the narrative and the subjects in your story to demonstrate these ideas. 

However, it is NOT like an autobiography in the tone. Maybe it depends on the field, but the SOP should not be a story of your personal life. Most autobiographies will begin in childhood and tell personal stories that focus on your feelings along the way. They are often written in a very familiar tone so that the reader will connect with the author on a personal and emotional level. An SOP shouldn't take this approach. You want to focus on your academic life, not your personal life. So, you should generally start your story in University/College (unless you did some relevant work in high school). You should also write about your achievements, your experience, your failures if relevant, and what your goals are. Unlike most autobiographies, you will want to stay away from your feelings because the goal isn't to get the reader to connect with you on an emotional level, you want your reader to envision you as a peer and colleague in the workplace. This is not to say that you aren't allowed to interact emotionally or experience feelings in a graduate program of course! But in the limited space for an SOP, I'd focus on what you've done and your reasons for the decisions you have made in the past.

[sivakumaranandan]

SOP has to be precise description in few paragraphs, 

1. about your background
2. motivation for research (limit it to research experiences in the past and its learning, not to mention childhood ambitions/other auxiliary reasons)
3. areas of interest and Professors your are keen to work with in that university
4. experience in the industry(if any).
5. possibly add details about you plan after the graduate course at that university.

Steps for SOP:

1. draft your sop
2. request peers to review the SOP

Dos:

• refer only to SOP structure from online. take someones help for that.

Donts:

• please never try to indulge in plagiarism, it defeats the purpose. You need to find a way to express yourself, SOP is one best opportunity.
• never read an example SOP, it spoils the originality. ask someone to read few sop and outline the template like the above i have suggested. 

Please draft the SOP, i can review (if you would like me to).

LOR (you need not worry , its recommenders challenge. please choose them wisely )
Universities look at the LOR as establishment of your credibility, basically LORs from your previous college is very important and impressive only if you are new grad or a few years out of college. With some the industry you can get one from peers.

Attributes: establish instances where your guide recognized your motivation and contributions, methodology and approach in problem solving, clear evidence as a strong individual and research candidate. 

Work experience related course:

• 2 LOR from you industry peers
• 1 LOR from professor whom you worked very closely with. 

No prioir work experience related to the course:

• 3 LOR from professors whom you worked very closely with.