The central part of the portfolio is the professional essay. It should be 15 or more pages long and represents the candidate’s best writing. The essay should NOT be adopt an autobiographical, casual, or informal tone. Please use a FORMAL, ACADEMIC TONE. It should:
1. Offer an overview of the Program of Study, identify the field of study the candidate has chosen to pursue
2. Explain why those choices were made
3. Explain how the candidate’s thinking about the discipline has changed with professional growth.
4. Identify the leading issues confronting particularly the major field today, the “big questions” that the field is debating, and the kinds of research and evidence gathering that dominate current research.
5. Provide a concise discussion of the candidate’s long-term ambitions as a scholar.
6. Identify what is lacking or inadequately understood in the field now?
7. What interpretations need more evidence or more questioning?
8. What kind of “trajectory” (or long-term research strategy) does the candidate envision for his or her work, at the dissertation stage and beyond?
9. What research questions seem most important and significant to pursue in the intended field of research?
10. The essay should make a case for the value of the fields of study being pursued.
11. Identify the significance of the work?
12. Identify what non-specialists and the public expect to learn from the field, and why is that useful?
Furthermore, the candidate should indicate where he or she stands on those questions and venture appraisals or criticisms of key contemporary works in the field. Overall, the candidate should demonstrate a firm understanding of the most influential works and interpretations in the field.