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The Statement of Purpose in Applications to PhD Programs in Rhetoric and Composition: An Activity Theory Analysis

Wright Cron, Amanda J.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1281446509

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, English.
The applications process to PhD programs is complex, as signified by the number and variety of application requirements, including written texts. Of these texts, the statement of purpose in particular is regarded by recent scholarship as an occluded genre, one for which rhetorical purposes and resulting formal and content-related maneuvers are not apparent to applicants. This genre is a high-stakes genre in admissions to many PhD programs, acting as writing sample, evidence of disciplinary knowledge, and tentative proposal of future research. This thesis employs activity theory to investigate and analyze representative graduate programs’ admissions processes as activity systems and the role the statement of purpose plays in these systems. This role includes the ways the statement of purpose generates new texts and actions. The author makes both a nonspecific activity system model of admissions to PhD programs in rhetoric and composition and their use of the statement of purpose, and a contrastive model of one program and its use of the statement. The study’s findings demonstrate one potential cause of the occluded nature of the statement of purpose as a genre; that is, the expectations for and use of the genre in admissions practices vary from program to program, even within one discipline. Ultimately, this thesis examines the critical role student writing plays in the transition to a PhD program, concluding that the specific nature of this role is context-driven.
Margaret Strain, PhD (Advisor)
Susan Trollinger, PhD (Committee Member)
Betty Youngkin, PhD (Committee Member)
80 p.
Communication; Composition; Continuing Education; Rhetoric
statement of purpose; personal statement; activity theory; graduate students; writing; rhetoric and composition; occluded genre

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wright Cron, A. J. (2010). The Statement of Purpose in Applications to PhD Programs in Rhetoric and Composition: An Activity Theory Analysis [Master's thesis, University of Dayton]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1281446509

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wright Cron, Amanda. The Statement of Purpose in Applications to PhD Programs in Rhetoric and Composition: An Activity Theory Analysis. 2010. University of Dayton, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1281446509.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wright Cron, Amanda. "The Statement of Purpose in Applications to PhD Programs in Rhetoric and Composition: An Activity Theory Analysis." Master's thesis, University of Dayton, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1281446509

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

dayton1281446509
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© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Dayton and OhioLINK.