General Guidelines in Scientific Writing
- Academic Integrity
- Building an Argument
- Critical Reading
- Critical Writing
- Figures and Tables
- Paragraphs
- Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
- Peer-review
- Response to Reviewers’ Critiques
- Plagiarism
- Writing Tips and Tools
- Types or Styles of Writing
- How to evaluate online information resources
- Miscellaneous
Preparing Scholarly Work
Preparing for a Publication
Statement of Purpose (SOP)
A Statement of Purpose (SOP) may form a part of an application for a college admission, a fellowship program, a scholarship, or a job. Academic grades alone may not enable evaluators to assess the full potential of a candidate. A SOP helps them get to know a candidate better and evaluate the suitability of the candidate for a particular position or program. A SOP helps evaluators assess personality traits, work ethics, and potential for success. Further, the written presentation of the SOP demonstrates the candidate’s communication skills and ability to organize thoughts effectively.
A SOP typically includes information about the following:
- Candidate’s academic and career trajectory
- Reasons for interest in the specific position or program
- Long-term career vision and goals
The academic program/company may provide instructions on what to include in the SOP for specific positions. These instructions could be in the form of prompts or a list of questions. Before writing an SOP, carefully read these instructions and create an outline of your responses. Thereafter, expand your outline into descriptive paragraphs. It is important to also write within the word/page limits, if these instructions have been provided.
The following resources provide guidelines for writing an effective SOP:
Article
Books
- Asher, D. (2012) Graduate admissions essays. 4th edition, Ten Speed Press. ISBN: 978-1607743217
Videos
- University of Washington Professional & Continuing Education (2018). 10 tips for writing an effective statement of purpose.
- Morena, J. (2013). UC Berkeley Graduate Diversity Program. Writing the graduate statement of purpose.
- Iqbal, A. (2016). NPTEL course English for Engineers Lecture 36. Writing a statement of purpose.
Websites
- Central European University Center for Academic Writing. Writing a statement of purpose.
- Cornell University. Writing your statement of purpose.
- Purdue University Online Writing Lab. Statements of purpose.
- San Jose State University. Writing a winning statement of purpose.
- University of California Berkeley. Writing the Statement of Purpose.