Each student will write a research and personal statement, using the specifications of the NSF GRFP. The syllabus, samples of past statements from awarded students, and course discussion will provide further direction on how to approach this assignment.
The primary purpose of this exercise is to learn the genre of scholarly statements, which we do throughout our academic careers. The NSF GRFP is usually the first time a research statement comes into view for new scholars. For this, one needs to learn how to write a comprehensive but short narrative that conveys both vision and procedural confidence in a few short pages. No problem? No, problem! This is hard but learnable, and is a main staple in scholarly writing products.
You’ve already written personal statements for undergraduate and graduate college applications, but now, going forward, they demand an improvement in quality and a shift in focus with respect to content. In my (LP’s) view, they transform from autobiographical narratives to reflexive narratives written with more knowingness about the perspectives that many different kinds of readers might bring to the reading. The statements reflect backward AND forward to consider how personal trajectories relate to (all sorts of aspects about) scholarly professionalism. How can they work in support of the research statement? This is an aspect we will discuss and practice in class.
By learning this, you will understand how the function of personal statement eventually transforms into other kinds of statements that describe your point of view on professional tasks that you will become increasingly exposed to: that of teaching and service, specifically. Research, teaching and service statements are the means in which major milestones are interpreted in academic life. We begin on Day 1 of your PhD getting to the business of that.
In addition to turning in your research and personal statements to me, after multiple rounds of revision and sharing with others, you will also do a presentation of primarily the research statement portion of the exercise. This will happen before final submission, but as you are getting closer, so that you might include feedback into your revisions.
Presentation of Research Statements, and a little bit of your in-progress Personal Statements
10 minutes per person. We will focus primarily on the research statement (you will be writing your personal statement concurrently). Create a slide deck to support the following (and upload to the class Google Drive):
- Going back on your own to your first drafts as material for communicating with the class, how would you describe the style you assumed in your early ideas about your research statement? If there was a narrative structure, what was it? Outline it as best you can for quick consumption by the audience (even if you don’t like the structure. Keep it real.). (2 minutes)
- Explain the narrative structure of your current version of your research statement at the point of the presentation (you’ll have about 3 versions by now). Show an outline for the research statement so far. How does narrative structure assist scoping and persuasiveness? How did this structure improve from your earlier versions? (3 minutes).
- You are working on the personal statement concurrently. For this presentation, reflect on how the personal statement could effectively support your research statement? What could it cover that your research statement cannot? Present a working draft of the outline of a personal statement (2 minutes).
- What did you learn about what you want to learn by the end of this first year of your PhD, so you could write an even better Year 1 Research Statement? (2 minutes)
- How do you aim to go about doing this? Give us a plan for how you will tackle these goals. (1 minute)
Evaluation of whole assignment:
Presentation to Class about your Research Statement: 3 points (.5 points for items 1, 3, 4, 5; 1 point for item 2.) A point will be docked for going over time, so plan accordingly.
Submission of Research Statement (should go through at least 4 full versions, including genesis and revision): 3 points
Submission of Personal Statement (should go through at least 4 full versions, including genesis and revision): 3 points