Statement of Purpose [super rough draft in which I overthink things as is my wont]

[fuzzybluemonkeys]

This statement should convince the admissions committee that the applicant has formulated ideas about the importance of book studies in the context of his or her career aspirations. It should also summarize the applicant's experience, skills, and goals.

[Note: Actual "career aspirations" can be summed up as: working in Conservation/Preservation in a place where co-workers do not induce fits of rage.]

[Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..]
My first introduction to Preservation/Conservation occurred in the form of a part-time job as a student at the University of Rochester. It turned out to be the perfect job for me because it combined my love of books with my skills in arts and crafts. I was fascinated to learn that the books I held so dear could be repaired and protected from further damage. While employed in the Rochester Preservation Lab, I learned to make enclosures such as phase boxes
[...okay, is there a way to do this without just listing things? I mean, I've got a list on my resume that's also going to be submitted, but in terms of "experience, skills..." I feel like I ought to mention this stuff-- skipping for now...]
Based on my eight semesters of experience as a student technician, I was able to get a job as a Conservation Technician in Princeton University's Collections Conservation Unit. While employed there for the past five years, I have had the opportunity to learn many new techniques as well as improving upon those that I was already familiar with [Yeah, yeah, don't end a sentence with a preposition blah blah blah prescriptive grammar blah].
[...another place for a list of techniques I know how to do?]
I have now reached a point in my career [I feel so weird calling it a career] where on-the-job training is no longer sufficient. In order to advance in terms of both career and understanding, it is necessary to pursue further education in bookbinding techniques. Properly conserving books requires knowledge of not only how those books were made, but also why they were made in such a way.
In addition to familiarizing myself with books as completed entities, I also hope to learn about their component parts via the courses offered concerning papermaking and printing.
Having handled thousands of damaged books in my short career, I know enough to perform the tasks assigned to me, but not nearly as much as I would like to. My hope is that I will be admitted into the University of Iowa Center for the Book Certificate Program, so that I can learn new techniques and expand upon, if not correct and alter, what I already know.



[For those of you who've made it this far (have a cookie!), some questions:
How super stunningly obvious is it that I haven't done any academic writing in the past 5 years?
Is it too vague? It's only supposed to be one page, but with double spacing a page goes by pretty quick.. or should I not do double spacing? And when I figure out how to put the list of shit I know how to do in there it will be longer.. or is that too specific? Gah. Vague instrucations are vague.]

Comments

[somnolentblue]

I loathe writing statements of purpose.

I generally do them single spaced unless specified otherwise.

I would be specific about the program, what bits of it you're interested in, and why *that particular* program is a good fit for you and your a good fit for it. Specifics about the classes that are offered and how they would allow you to deepen your understanding of the book as a material and intellectual object, etc. Not necessarily to the point of saying "Course Number 413: The Use of Thread in Bookbinding Between 1450 and 1600," but things like "X's strong program in the history of bookbinding, will enrich my understanding of the book as a constructed material object through expanding my knowledge of the thread in bookbinding, elite consumers of books having custom ornate covers created," blah de blah. It's a mutual relationship - you and the program need to be offering stuff to each other - in addition to the general 'this is what i wanna do'-cakes.

I mentioned that I loathe personal statements, right?

[fuzzybluemonkeys]

Thanks for the tips! I've never written one of these before and I was putting it off because I didn't know where to begin, so I assigned myself the task of writing something even if I had to scrap it and start over afterwards.

[tobimonkee.livejournal.com]

if it gets to long try 1.5 spaceing cuz it does not look as crowded as single spaceing

you should prob list some of the stuff and then say something like see atached resume for compleate list

and i dont know if theres a way to make it more possive or cheerful but it seems like it could do with a bit more enthusiasim (maybe thats not the right word and maybe theres no way to make fixing books not sound borring to me)

[fuzzybluemonkey.livejournal.com]

I was thinking enthusiasm would be too informal, and was trying to stiffen it up a bit rather than going the "Books Are Awesome!" route.

[flaxeloquent.livejournal.com]

Hey, what's your time frame on this? I'd love to take a real, non-midnight-and-therefore-actually-helpful look; I just may not be able to do so until Tuesdayish.

[fuzzybluemonkey.livejournal.com]

It's technically not due til October 1st, so Tuesday is plenty of time :) I might even have an updated version at that point.

Thoughts!

[flaxeloquent.livejournal.com]

I think that overall, you've clearly laid out reasons that you want to enter this program and that it makes sense for you to do so. Your intro does the requisite "here's how I came to love this field" effectively. I'd like to see more of a transition, though, between the "I was fascinated to learn..." and the "While employed..." Maybe briefly but explicitly tell us that your realizations led you to seek employment in the field.

When you're listing experiences, you can take the list beyond the resume by saying why each experience was valuable. If that becomes a space issue, you can probably cut down on the logistical stuff - how you got the positions, how long you were in them - and just say "my experience at _____ gave me the opportunity to ___," and variations thereof. You can work techniques you know how to do into that, and if a list of said techniques isn't on your resume (either as a separate list or integrated into your experiences), you might want to add it.

You can totally call it a career.

What you currently have as the second-to-last and third-to-last paragraph is a little choppy, esp. the second-to-last.

I don't see any glaring SHE HASN'T DONE ACADEMIC WRITING IN 5 YEARS signs. Seriously, being able to form a sentence puts you ahead of a lot of people.

Hope this is helpful!

Re: Thoughts!

[fuzzybluemonkey.livejournal.com]

Very helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to look it over.

Re: Thoughts!

[flaxeloquent.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. Good luck!