English/Cultural Studies SOP feedback, please?
Hi folks,
I've been lurking for a while, with an occasional comment here and there, and I have to say that this has been a fabulous resource.
With that said, I have a first draft of a SOP that I would love some feedback on. It is for an English lit/theory PhD program that I am applying to.
Some of my specific concerns:
It is a little longer than I'd like. None of the schools that I am applying to have a max, though some say 2-3 pages is ideal. Mine is exactly 3 pages double spaced. I am not sure what to cut though; it is still to fresh for me to be completely objective.
I keep going back and forth on the organization of my paragraphs. The organization is intentional, but I fear that about half way through, the ideas might seem scattered.
Again, I appreciate any and all feed back.
For a Twentieth Century British Literature pro-seminar that I took as a Masters student at __ State University __, I read Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and I hated it. By extension, I was also pretty sure that I never wanted to read James Joyce again. This confession might not sound terribly shocking, except that I wrote my entire Masters thesis on the ‘Penelope’ episode of Ulysses. But before that, I found Stephen Daedelus difficult to sympathize with, and his oft-quoted declaration, “I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race” was at the time, one of the most arrogant phrases I had ever read. How, I wondered, could one person forge the uncreated conscience of an entire race? Who was to say that it was not created before, and who was Joyce to say that the conscience he was creating could adequately represent his race?
Despite my disdain for this statement, I grew to love Joyce, along with other modernist writers. I found Joyce’s manipulation of both language and gender roles particularly interesting, and focused my research on feminist and gender studies, primarily in regards to Ulysses. My Masters thesis, entitled “Portals of Discovery: Negotiating the Contradictions of Molly Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses” investigated the contradictions within critical approaches to the ‘Penelope’ episode. In June 2009, I presented some of this material at the North American James Joyce Conference in Buffalo, New York, in a presentation entitled, “To See Ourselves as Others See Us: Molly Bloom and the Male Gaze.” During my graduate studies at ____State school_, I was also engaged in Cultural and Media Studies, and as a Teaching Associate instructing Beginning College Writing courses, I found that the intersection between Composition and Rhetoric and Cultural and Media stories provided a fascinating space to explore how English studies and the instruction of composition are evolving in new and exciting ways. Out of this inquiry arose “Democratizing Knowledge: Wikipedia and the Digital Public Sphere,” a paper that I presented in April 2009 at UC xx’s annual xx conference.
And yet, while my studies in literature and composition focused on the ways in which authority is distributed in literature and in classrooms, and the ways in which narratives respond to this authority, as a graduate student I still found Stephen Deadelus’s resolve to forge the uncreated conscious of his race obnoxious. That is, until I recently heard the quote referenced in a conference presentation, and my mind began to wander to the students in my composition classes. I currently teach sections of Beginning College Writing and Developmental Writing at xxx state school xx, and sections of Basic Skills in Writing at xx community college. In what ways, I began to wonder, are my students intentionally or unintentionally forging the uncreated conscience of a race through their writing? Should the composition classroom be a politically charged arena in which students forge an identity through their writing, or is this uncreated conscience merely a forgery of identity, reinforced by dominant ideologies?
This curiosity quickly grew into an obsession, and has fueled a desire to further my research in literature and composition/rhetoric studies. Furthermore, I wish to focus my inquiries in these fields through the lens of postcolonial theory. I believe that University of Awesomeness’s PhD in Literature program, with a Critical Theory emphasis, would be the most ideal program for my research interests. Since I first became interested in James Joyce’s works, I have regularly consulted Dr. xxx’s research on feminists and gender studies in Joyce. Her vast knowledge and unique perspectives on Joyce and other British and Irish modernists would be an invaluable resource as I delve deeper into studies of modernist literature. I am also extremely excited by Dr. xxx’s research on linguistic imperialism in her book xxx. Thus far my research on Celtic culture and languages has been minimal, but I look forward to learning more about the subject from Dr. xxx, and also investigating the ways in which the linguistic imperialism that she writes about resurfaces in American universities, especially in the composition classroom. Furthermore, I am certain that my investigations into postcolonial theory in the college classroom could be greatly enhanced through collaboration with Dr. xxx. His books xxx and xxx continue to inform and influence my own pedagogical practices. In particular, his work on digital literacies is of a great interest to me as I am currently experimenting with creating virtual textbooks for my own composition courses. Additionally, I believe that we share an interest in bridging composition studies with other theoretical approaches to further enhance pedagogical practices.
As a composition instructor, I already have a job that I love and that continues to inspire me. At the same time, I want to continue with the research that I began as a Masters student; while I am satisfied with the work that I produced then, I believe that I am not finished and that I have much more to offer. I believe that the best scholars use their teaching to inform their research, and integrate that research into their teaching, and the Critical Theory emphasis in English studies that xxx’s program offers would be the best venue for me to continue my work.
Thanks in advance, everyone!
I've been lurking for a while, with an occasional comment here and there, and I have to say that this has been a fabulous resource.
With that said, I have a first draft of a SOP that I would love some feedback on. It is for an English lit/theory PhD program that I am applying to.
Some of my specific concerns:
It is a little longer than I'd like. None of the schools that I am applying to have a max, though some say 2-3 pages is ideal. Mine is exactly 3 pages double spaced. I am not sure what to cut though; it is still to fresh for me to be completely objective.
I keep going back and forth on the organization of my paragraphs. The organization is intentional, but I fear that about half way through, the ideas might seem scattered.
Again, I appreciate any and all feed back.
For a Twentieth Century British Literature pro-seminar that I took as a Masters student at __ State University __, I read Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and I hated it. By extension, I was also pretty sure that I never wanted to read James Joyce again. This confession might not sound terribly shocking, except that I wrote my entire Masters thesis on the ‘Penelope’ episode of Ulysses. But before that, I found Stephen Daedelus difficult to sympathize with, and his oft-quoted declaration, “I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race” was at the time, one of the most arrogant phrases I had ever read. How, I wondered, could one person forge the uncreated conscience of an entire race? Who was to say that it was not created before, and who was Joyce to say that the conscience he was creating could adequately represent his race?
Despite my disdain for this statement, I grew to love Joyce, along with other modernist writers. I found Joyce’s manipulation of both language and gender roles particularly interesting, and focused my research on feminist and gender studies, primarily in regards to Ulysses. My Masters thesis, entitled “Portals of Discovery: Negotiating the Contradictions of Molly Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses” investigated the contradictions within critical approaches to the ‘Penelope’ episode. In June 2009, I presented some of this material at the North American James Joyce Conference in Buffalo, New York, in a presentation entitled, “To See Ourselves as Others See Us: Molly Bloom and the Male Gaze.” During my graduate studies at ____State school_, I was also engaged in Cultural and Media Studies, and as a Teaching Associate instructing Beginning College Writing courses, I found that the intersection between Composition and Rhetoric and Cultural and Media stories provided a fascinating space to explore how English studies and the instruction of composition are evolving in new and exciting ways. Out of this inquiry arose “Democratizing Knowledge: Wikipedia and the Digital Public Sphere,” a paper that I presented in April 2009 at UC xx’s annual xx conference.
And yet, while my studies in literature and composition focused on the ways in which authority is distributed in literature and in classrooms, and the ways in which narratives respond to this authority, as a graduate student I still found Stephen Deadelus’s resolve to forge the uncreated conscious of his race obnoxious. That is, until I recently heard the quote referenced in a conference presentation, and my mind began to wander to the students in my composition classes. I currently teach sections of Beginning College Writing and Developmental Writing at xxx state school xx, and sections of Basic Skills in Writing at xx community college. In what ways, I began to wonder, are my students intentionally or unintentionally forging the uncreated conscience of a race through their writing? Should the composition classroom be a politically charged arena in which students forge an identity through their writing, or is this uncreated conscience merely a forgery of identity, reinforced by dominant ideologies?
This curiosity quickly grew into an obsession, and has fueled a desire to further my research in literature and composition/rhetoric studies. Furthermore, I wish to focus my inquiries in these fields through the lens of postcolonial theory. I believe that University of Awesomeness’s PhD in Literature program, with a Critical Theory emphasis, would be the most ideal program for my research interests. Since I first became interested in James Joyce’s works, I have regularly consulted Dr. xxx’s research on feminists and gender studies in Joyce. Her vast knowledge and unique perspectives on Joyce and other British and Irish modernists would be an invaluable resource as I delve deeper into studies of modernist literature. I am also extremely excited by Dr. xxx’s research on linguistic imperialism in her book xxx. Thus far my research on Celtic culture and languages has been minimal, but I look forward to learning more about the subject from Dr. xxx, and also investigating the ways in which the linguistic imperialism that she writes about resurfaces in American universities, especially in the composition classroom. Furthermore, I am certain that my investigations into postcolonial theory in the college classroom could be greatly enhanced through collaboration with Dr. xxx. His books xxx and xxx continue to inform and influence my own pedagogical practices. In particular, his work on digital literacies is of a great interest to me as I am currently experimenting with creating virtual textbooks for my own composition courses. Additionally, I believe that we share an interest in bridging composition studies with other theoretical approaches to further enhance pedagogical practices.
As a composition instructor, I already have a job that I love and that continues to inspire me. At the same time, I want to continue with the research that I began as a Masters student; while I am satisfied with the work that I produced then, I believe that I am not finished and that I have much more to offer. I believe that the best scholars use their teaching to inform their research, and integrate that research into their teaching, and the Critical Theory emphasis in English studies that xxx’s program offers would be the best venue for me to continue my work.
Thanks in advance, everyone!