All quiet on the western (& eastern & southern) front

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

I had a similar quandary after my first round of applications. Personally, I think cutting down your thesis is going to be a lot harder than expanding one of your shorter papers. I find in my writing (and YMMV) that when I start cutting, my argument gets substantially weaker. You're talking about more than halving your paper since, depending on where you apply, they're looking for 15-20 pages. I think you'd be far better off expanding on the Gawain paper.

No idea what the focus of your Gawain paper is, but you could potentially pull in some children's lit to the paper. Gerald Morris used Gawain in two teen novels a few years ago: The Squire's Tale and The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady. Around the same time, Cindy Vitto wrote an article for Children's Literature Association Quarterly about the role of Gawain and the Green Knight as adolescent literature. It talked about defining adolescent lit in the medieval period and where the Gawain poem fits in.

I don't remember if it was in this thread or another that you mentioned having limited resources. Was your undergrad from an American college? If so, you might be able to contact their library and sign up for online library access as an alum. And because I love you so much, I found this list on JSTOR for you of all the institutions in Israel that have JSTOR access. You can contact them and see if you can get access through one of these:

Academic College of Law, Anglican International School Jerusalem, Ashkelon Academic College, Bank of Israel, Bezalel Academy of Arts And Design, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, The Israel Center for Digital Information Services (Bar-Ilan University, Ben Gurion University, Beit Berel College, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Open University, Oranim Academic College, Peres Academic Center, Ruppin College, Sapir Academic College, Shenkar College, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Hai College, University of Haifa, Weizmann Institute of Science), Israeli Antitrust Authority, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, National Insurance Institute of Israel, Orot Israel College, Shalem Center, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, UN Relief and Works Agency West Bank Research Office, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

YOU RULE

I may be able to work through TAU (Tel Aviv University) next year, as I'm planning to take Latin there as preparation for languages (they have a decent one year course that should most definitely allow me to place straight in to third or fourth semester Latin in the US).

What I'm thinking of doing is indeed expanding the Gawain paper, and inserting scholarship about the welsh / celtic "otherworld" issues that abound in the text (the beheading game, for example). Also, the repeat of 3's, the parallels between the green knight's hunting and the lady's pursuit of Gawain (already in my paper), and a bunch of other "welsh" characteristics.

At the moment, I'm searching for a copy that ISN"T TRANSLATED. After all, as an aspiring medievalist, I should probably work with the original text HA!

I will also take your advice and contact my alma mater. perhaps they'll let me access stuff remotely. I might be able to find some journals subscribed to online with relevant info.

I'm feeling better about this already !!

Many thanks to all those who answered and helped me get over my momentary freak-out. You guys are amazing

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

Branwen, I was in a very similar position at the start of this application cycle. Like yours, my thesis was off-limits (though it's within my subfield—Victorian literature—I'm still in college, and am still writing it), but I did have a very strong 7 page paper in my area of interest that consisted almost entirely of close reading. I read a great deal of relevant scholarship and reformulated my close-reading argument in the context of current scholarly debates. It's certainly not the same paper that it was, but I didn't just insert blocks of academic summary. Instead, I took the time to reframe the discoveries I had made through my close reading within a line of argument that engaged directly with current scholarship. (I hope that makes sense.) It was certainly a lot of work, but I'm pleased with my results so far. If you're thinking of applying next year, this might be a perfect approach—you'll have lots of time to read secondary material and mull it over until you find a new space for your close reading to inhabit.

Also, while I plan to study Victorian prose, I am also a total medieval nut, and I love Gawain. Have fun!

I'm actually kind of psyched now. I think my summer will be half-devoted to this part of it. Anyone want to volunteer as a reader?

[Kam]

At the moment, I'm searching for a copy that ISN"T TRANSLATED. After all, as an aspiring medievalist, I should probably work with the original text HA!

This is the copy I have:

http://www.amazon.com/Gawain-Green-Knight-Broadview-Literary/dp/0921149921/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266867501&sr=8-9

It's the original text with a facing translation. Both versions were very clear, imho.

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

This is the copy I have:

http://www.amazon.co...66867501&sr=8-9

It's the original text with a facing translation. Both versions were very clear, imho.

wahoo!!! found it used for $7. (may the divine bless betterworldbooks.com).

[artist_lily]

Round 2, I just asked LoR writers from round 1. They were very gracious about it, even though some of them were perplexed at my decision to reapply. They updated their letters. Round 3, I asked for new LoR writers. I had taken graduate classes in the meantime, and asked professors in my field.

Thanks for such a great post, strokeofmidnight! One quick question: you mentioned that some of your LoR writers were perplexed at your decision to reapply. How so? Had they thought that one shot was enough? Or that it wasn't worth a second attempt? As for clarification, the reason I'm asking is because as we enter the last week of February and the pile of rejections grows bigger, I'm becoming fairly certain I'll be in the same situation that you were previously, and any advice as to how to go about a "round two," particularly in regards to LoRs (my biggest frustration and fear), would be really very helpful

[callmelilyb]

If there's one thing applying to graduate school has taught me, it's underestimate the importance of numbers and overestimate the importance of your written work and your fit with a program. Unless you think your GRE score is below a "cutoff point" (I'd say 600-650 for most places) or unless you have some reason to believe that you will do significantly better (like more than 50 points because you were ill the day you took it) then I'd pour all of my energy into writing sample and SOP.

As for writing sample, I expanded what was originally a 6 page paper written for a senior seminar undergraduate course. I put in a ton of extra work to get it to the 12 page mark (on the shorter end) but made sure that those 12 pages were rock solid and damn near perfect. I had about six people read it including three professors of lit, one grammar professor, my husband and my grandmother In total I probably did three rounds of significant revisions and two or three additional rounds of tweaking and perfecting.

My writing sample was not even remotely related to my intended field of interest and I have had decent success this application round. I didn't get into WUSTL or anything, but I did get into good solid programs that I am very interested in.

[PaperChaser]

I'm dying a slow death. This is my second round applying, and I thought I'd be better than last year. Not the case.

I teach five different sections of English at three different campuses. I think that being in the classroom is when time flies the fastest and I don't think about checking my email... well unless I have them doing an assignment, then I hop on the computer to check. Wow. I AM pathetic!

Pathetic?! With that kind of work ethic/energy, I'd say "rock star!" Whether you get in or not, someone's very lucky to get you!!

[Medievalmaniac]

For my writing samples, I gave them the first chapter of my thesis (25 pages) with the relevant works cited, and then my most recent conference paper, which was written post-degree. I figured my thesis represents the best work I did during my MA program, and the conference paper is indicative of the scholarship I am capable of doing on my own as an independent researcher - so those were my best choices, demonstrating both what I can accomplish with an editor and what I can accomplish on my own, and also a wide variety of lengths (25 pages of a 100 page document, and a 10 page paper complete in itself). you might consider just giving them a chapter of your thesis. They're looking for proof you can write scholarly prose that is of high quality both stylistically and in terms of argumentation, as well as in terms of research. A chapter of a longer work you have done should suffice. Nowhere does it say "self-contained piece of writing" - I assumed most people who had done a Master's thesis would submit a chapter or two, because if I were looking at someone with an MA in hand, I would expect to see a part of his or her thesis as a writing sample - after all, it's supposed to be your best work, and shouldn't you be submitting your best work?

[strokeofmidnight]

Thanks for such a great post, strokeofmidnight! One quick question: you mentioned that some of your LoR writers were perplexed at your decision to reapply. How so? Had they thought that one shot was enough? Or that it wasn't worth a second attempt? As for clarification, the reason I'm asking is because as we enter the last week of February and the pile of rejections grows bigger, I'm becoming fairly certain I'll be in the same situation that you were previously, and any advice as to how to go about a "round two," particularly in regards to LoRs (my biggest frustration and fear), would be really very helpful

I always hesitate to say too much, because my situation is really unusual (I applied three times, but for complicated personal reasons, have turned down strong, funded, PhD offers--Ivy's and top ten's). There's a lot about my situation that won't apply to anyone, which I usually leave out of the discussion. My professors were surprised because I was essentially transferring out of a PhD program during my second round. It was early on (too early--and they're probably right) to make an informed decision about leaving, particularly since the program I was already attending is considered one of the best in my field. I really don't think that my professors (or any reasonable prof) would refuse to rewrite or resubmit their LoR's for another round for a candidate who wasn't successful the first time around. Frankly, many professors expect it. They know that even their best students might require more than one attempt.

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

you might consider just giving them a chapter of your thesis. They're looking for proof you can write scholarly prose that is of high quality both stylistically and in terms of argumentation, as well as in terms of research. A chapter of a longer work you have done should suffice. Nowhere does it say "self-contained piece of writing" - I assumed most people who had done a Master's thesis would submit a chapter or two, because if I were looking at someone with an MA in hand, I would expect to see a part of his or her thesis as a writing sample - after all, it's supposed to be your best work, and shouldn't you be submitting your best work?

Well, the introduction and first chapter of my thesis are quite good - I'm just terribly worried that the second chapter (the one that's only a draft, with the final version missing) would have been the better one to send off (as it contains the conclusion, re-stating the thesis, and the strongest indications of Welsh magic).

Ho hum. I just found an 8 pager narrative development paper on History of the Kings of Britain, Brut, and The Alliterative Morte Arthure. Easy to expand and insert some theory in certain sections and create a stronger thesis.

I'll figure this out in the end.

somehow.

AAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!