Round two: English PhD SoP, Anglo Saxon Lit focus

[_feckless]

Thanks greekdaph last time for the comments! This is probably draft 5, applying to PhD program with focus on Anglo Saxon lit.

Edited to remove SoP. Thanks!

Comments

[greekdaph]

Looks fantastic--congrats!

[_feckless]

thanks!

[_feckless]

:)

[shakaijintim]

I didn't see earlier drafts but how you've explained your time away in the last paragraph is really strong. Nice work!

[_feckless]

Thanks!

[circumfession]

Strong statement indeed. Well-done: it's almost ready to go.

Some brief, nitpicky remarks:

-the first paragraph *feels* like the introduction of an undergraduate paper (albeit a good paper): it covers a lot of "ground" without into depth. I think you might want to move away from that "model" for an SoP. Rather than squeeze in your "thesis," perhaps use that space to align your reader with your ideas by pursuing one idea (that is fairly representative of your work) more fully.

-the full-text footnote citation is unnecessary. In fact, you might want to rethink a direct quotation there at all. It seems to be doing less "work" than it needs to to merit a citation in the SoP.

-There are moments when you might want to expend with a half-sentence or two, particularly for the non-medievalist on your admissions committee. Some examples: why the Junius MS? What is comitatus?

[_feckless]

Thank you! I think the first paragraph feels that way because that's all I've ever written :)

I wonder about the other comments though - do adcomms give SoPs to the faculty that specialize in the fields of research that the SoPs seem to fall into? Or am I being naive here? I guess I figured that there would be a medievalist/Old english person on the adcomm.

[circumfession]

It totally depends on the program. At some programs, the first reader is random, so you might end up with a modernist reading your application--and deciding whether or not you advance to the next round.

[_feckless]

Argh, it's so difficult to know who to tailor the SoP to!

[sarahleigh13]

This looks great! The topic itself sounds intresting as well. As for suggestions:

I would second cicumfession’s comment about removing the quote. You only want to use a direct quotation if it absolutely necessary and in this case it doesn’t seem to be.

Also, if you haven’t already changed the first paragraph per previous suggestions, I would remove unnecessary words (“it was” and “that”) from the first sentence.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

[_feckless]

Thanks so much - I actually already edited the first sentence because you're right, it just sounds weird. I'm still on the fence about the quote, my professor that read it really liked it.