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[ega110]

I am currently in the initial stages of applying for an English PHD program at Penn State University.

One of the requirements is to submit a 15 to 20 page critical writing sample. I called the department as to the guidelines for what is considered a proper topic, and I was told to write about anything I like.

My main concern is that while I have written papers as long as 40 pages on pedagogy and educational theory, I have never written a work of literary analysis longer than five pages.

I have no idea how to structure such a paper. For example, I do not know how many books to use or how broad or narrow of a topic I should attempt.

This writing sample is especially important to me because I can only begin a PHD program if I can earn an assistanceship. Therefore, I need this writing sample to be as impressive as humanly possible.

My areas of interest are gender studies, multicultural literature, and science fiction. So far, my best initial topic ideas are:

1. sexuality in science fiction.

2. reproduction and birth in science fiction.

3. Injury, deformity, the "freak" in science fiction.

I would greatly appreciate any advice on this assignment.
 

[egilson]

Off-hand, it looks like you'd better hope they like slightly creepy science fiction.

I'd suggest going to your undergraduate/MA mentor for suggestions, and maybe look at expanding an already-written piece.

[verysneaky]

You should realize that this is a tall order. Most people who apply successfully in English use a 20-pp. research paper that got an excellent grade in an upper-level or graduate-level seminar. I would strongly suggest that you think about funded master's programs (there are, in fact, funded master's degrees in English) or about taking another year, doing an upper-level course or two in English somewhere, and then applying next fall.

That said, if you do decide to apply this year, egilson is absolutely right about getting advice and expanding an old piece. Beyond that, your best bet is to find a published article of about 6000 words to use as a model. Study it very carefully; see how it's organized, how it incorporates secondary material, and how it makes use of close reading. Then try to imitate its structure and evidentiary practices as closely as you can. I'm way out of your field and have no idea what journals publish on science fiction, but a little light googling reveals that there's an organization called the Science Fiction Research Association. They have fora over there, too; you should try asking your question over there.

http://www.sfra.org/forum

You should be doing a bunch of secondary research to support your argument anyway; that's one thing that distinguishes a 20-pp. paper from a 5-pp. paper.

[verysneaky]

Also just found this link: http://wsu.edu/~brians/science_fiction/sfresearch.html.