Writing Sample

[elphaba]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Looking for some advice regarding what type of writing sample to submit along with my applications... I'm applying to some balanced, but mostly research-oriented, Clinical PhD programs.

I completed a thesis/independent project as an undergrad, and have the final report of that work, but unfortunately the paper is 44 pages long (including references and appendices; actually written content is 23 pages). Most of my programs specify that they want a sample of less than 15 pages.

I'm having trouble deciding what I should submit as an alternative... here's what I've narrowed it down to:

-A 10 page grant proposal for my independent project (lit review and study proposal, no results) from early 2008. It's strong, and contains citations for work by a few of my POIs, but it's not necessarily my absolute best writing and it has a co-author.

-A 14 page lit review on the efficacy of CBT for body dysmorphic disorder for my 400-level Counseling Theories class from late 2007 (received a perfect score and great comments on it, believe it's a strong sample... but a bit concerned about submitting something so therapy-focused).

-A 10 page lit review/critical analysis for a sociology course in late 2008, dealing with cross-cultural eating pathology, westernization, and so on (somewhat related to my research interests). This is definitely one of the strongest papers I've ever written, and it certainly has significant psych-related elements to it, buuut it's from a soc class...

Any insight on which of these would be my best bet, for those schools that aren't up for the beast-of-an-independent-project paper?

Much appreciated! 🙂

 

[PrisonPsych]

I would go with either the second or the third.

 

[jenn1015]

I'd say you could also submit a portion of your thesis. You could include the intro and discussion, as they're usually the strongest pieces of a paper. I don't have any other writing samples besides my thesis, and for the schools that have page limits, that's what I did.

 

[eirelass]

Just giving my two cents here. I asked the psych office of one school if they had a limit on the length of writing samples and the admissions officer (I'm sure that's not her actual title but you know what I mean!) told me no, to send in anything I felt was an accurate reflection of my work and even if it was quite long, they'd at least have the option of flicking through it. So I sent a soft-bound copy of my M.Sc thesis with a note explaining that the summary started on p.X etc

For schools that did have a limit, I sent a literature review/intro I wrote while working as an RA on an evaluation of mental health services (20 pages)

Whether or not those were the right choices remain to be seen! 😳

 

[buzzworm]

I'd say you could also submit a portion of your thesis. You could include the intro and discussion, as they're usually the strongest pieces of a paper. I don't have any other writing samples besides my thesis, and for the schools that have page limits, that's what I did.

This is what I'd suggest too. I wrote an 80-page thesis, so I'm planning to just submit the section that explains my experiment; it's basically like an APA-style journal article within the larger paper.