Considerations for Statement of Purpose

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 Formatting is Important:

When writing a statement of purpose for admission to a graduate program, content is an important element; however, the writing structure is also key to getting your ideas across.  Students should remember that doctoral programs will read your essay and assess the structure of the paper.  In psychology, American Psychological Association (APA) format is a must.  Yet, not every university will tell you to use APA format in the admission criteria.  Unless the school recommends another format, you should follow the APA 6th edition guidelines.  If you do not have an formatting manual, then I recommend buying the APA Publication Manual 6th edition.  A caveat is that international students should follow the acceptable formatting style for psychology in their country.

Reference Point Software, Do I Need It?

Furthermore, students can make the process easier by purchasing software that automatically formats your paper, abstract, title page, author's note, page numbers, references, headings, document spacing, running head, etc.   Of course, your statement of purpose will probably on include a running head, page numbers, title page, body, headings, and reference page (reference is optional), but this software is useful for writing assignments once you start the program.

I enjoy using Reference Point Software for all my research papers.  They offer APA formatting software for Mac or Windows.  The Mac versions include: Mac Word 2008, 2011, and Office 365.  The Windows versions include: Word 97, 2000/2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013/Office 365.  This software will save you time on trying to look in the APA manual and copying the format.  See the website for more details: http://www.referencepointsoftware.com/order/

Factors that Make or Break a Paper:

Also, keep in mind that mistakes will distract the admissions committee that are reading your statement of purpose.  Ensure that you do not have the following in your statement of purpose: misspellings, grammar issues, misuse or lack of punctuation, passive tone, run on sentences, incomplete ideas, excessive use of quotes, improper citation use, wordiness, ambiguous terms, plagiarized content, irrelevant topics, personal information, inconsistency in using tense (past, present, or future),  language of paper not what committee members speak or read (U.S. paper must be in English, unless advised otherwise), odd margin spacing, paragraph spacing issues, confusion on short quote and long quote formatting (encourage you to use short quotes), in-text citations absent, citations not listed on reference page, and so forth.

 It is obvious when a student turns in a paper that they either have or lack writing competency for the graduate level.  Keep in mind that this writing assignment is not about turning everything in on time; rather, the committee wants to hear the quality and depth of your ideas and the level of your writing skills.  However, you should turn your paper in early.  I am not saying to turn it in at the last minute! What I mean is that PhD programs do not accept students because of using "big" words, per se.  Programs want to know that a student can discuss their research interests and how they fit into the program.  However, they want to see a student that has creativity, eloquent writing style, and brings something new to the discussion of lets say Pediatric Psychology.

Proofreading Your Paper:

I advise students to have at least two or three people, at least, read your paper before you submit it.  A good proofreader to choose is a professor, clinical supervisor, advanced researcher, etc.  Ensure that you give proofreaders your paper once you have sufficiently charted your main ideas and formatting.  Do not give professionals a paper that has a few paragraphs and is poorly formatted.  Your rough drafts of the statement of purpose will communicate to your professors that you are either a hard worker or slacker.  You do not want the proofreader to get the impression that they are suppose to give you ideas for writing the paper, while you merely copy what they say.  On this essay, it is important that you communicate your own ideas.  

Discussing Experiences:

Never turn in a paper that you think is mediocre.  I recommend taking a period of a month or two, if not longer, depending on your writing style to make changes on your paper.  I clearly recall writing my statement of purpose.  Initially, the paper read well.  My statement of purpose had excellent ideas; however, I had to ensure that I stayed within the page requirements and had no typos.  After going over the paper many times, I strengthened it by shortening sentences, removing ambiguous statements, inserting an appropriate quotation (one-with reference citation), resolving grammar errors, and assessing the flow of topics.  My paper did feature clinical and research terms, but I did not overly rely on using "big" words.

Focus on communicating who you are to the admission committee.  This does not mean saying that you enjoy sports or cooking. Instead, tell the committee your research interests, research and clinical experience, service experience, the benefits of practicing under that specialty (i.e., Clinical Pediatric Psychology), why you are a good fit for the program, why you desire to pursue Clinical Pediatric Psychology, for example.  Also, if you are invited to an interview, ensure that you know the content of your statement of purpose in case you are asked about any of the topics that you mentioned.  I recommend reviewing your paper the night before you have an interview.  It would also be helpful to have copies of your CV and statement of purpose at the interview. You never know if someone will request those documents for review.

**NOTE:

There are many other topics to discuss in writing a statement of purpose. This post cannot review every scenario.  Thus, I offer some pointers to keep in mind.  For the purpose of blogging, not everything is styled by APA guidelines; however, I do try to include references and in-text citations when possible.  So, do not use these blog pages as a writing template for APA formatting.  Please adhere to the APA manual for writing your papers.