Yesterday Dr. Stephen Pender, English and Dr. Marcello Guarini, Philosophy from the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Windsor hosted a workshop on how to best fill out applications for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) and awards from the Social Sciences / Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). I twittered notes as I took them but here are some highlights (twitter posts in reverse chronological order so if you’re reading there scroll down and read bottom to top):
- scholarship app = most imp doc you will write over the next few years
- must have stellar grades and research question
- ranking is primarily based on grades: 10.5 GPA (A-) minimum. Occurs in dept, then uni, then province/country
- all OGS applications go to province regardless of ranking. SSHRC: only top applications of the university are sent on
- don’t use jargon! translate for non-specialized academics audience. make it clear, accessible
- questions to ask yourself: why me? why should I be the one to do this research? what prep have I had? why should I get funding?
- why here? make the case for the location – why appropriate (library, experts, special collection)?
- why now? why is the research timely? is it emerging? or sthg that is old hat/already been done?
- applications take time to complete – measured in weeks.
- fit yourself into the academic conversation taking place already
- letter writers should be profs who gave you good grades, can speak to your statement of purpose
- status of prof could count: new sessional instructors with short publication records might not be best choice
- okay to ask for letter from senior undergrad supervisor if you’ve just started at new grad school & no one knows you yet
- go for detailed reference letter from junior faculty over short letter from hotshot
- opening: sets context; then: what I want to do; next: larger context, goal, & specific plan
- if applying to more than one school focus on one (lie!)
- no one will ask if you fullfilled 2nd paragraph of research proposal. “Stream travels
in ways you cannot anticipate” ~Pender
- “There are no OGS/SSHRC police” ~Guarini (though there are reports if award is renewable)
- talk to one of the ppl who will be one of your letter writers for material to gloss, ideas you have so far
- if you’re not finding scholarly work on your topic check popular press
- If still nothing on specific topic be honest: no work on this yet; try to connect to similar/related fields, draw comparisons