# SOP Template | Statement of purpose guide | Galvanize Test Prep

**Channel:** Galvanize Global Education
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNSFJ5Q62pg
**Transcript page:** https://www.withtranscript.ai/video/zNSFJ5Q62pg

## Chapters

- 0:08 — Statement of Purpose Structure
- 2:31 — Writing a Strong Introduction
- 4:06 — Using Generalizations and Specifics
- 7:25 — Opening with Facts and Statistics
- 10:07 — Quotes and Anecdotes in Introductions

## Transcript

**[0:08]:** so I hope that you will all do a SWAT analysis of yourself before you start putting pen to paper on this 800w document that you will have to submit to the university called the statement of purpose so a statement of purpose when you start writing it it has usually a very logical structure it's about 800 words and it has at least three parts an introduction body and a conclusion the reason why we discuss this structure is because in Western countries uh most western uh essays or uh documents have this logical structure and admissions committees that are reading through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of documents a day uh sifting through through so many students they expect that the student will write in this format otherwise it's very difficult for them to find the information that they are looking for so it's best to follow a format that people expect you to write in while the

**[1:16]:** content may be unique and exciting and uh different you want to stay as close as possible with an introduction body conclusion Pros type writing rather than poetry I I know a lot lot of you may be very poetic and very creative in that way but Pros is what admissions committees want to see they want you they don't want to do any guessing work they don't want to assume they don't want to infer or interpret they want upfront in 800 words almost like an executive summary of who you are what are your strengths why graduate school right now how will you be able to contribute to the program and finally why are you applying to this University very straightforward right so think of it as a as a executive summary of yourself to the admissions committee so they can make a quick decision right that said uh we don't usually have tables or graphs in statement

**[2:19]:** of purpose it's usually 800 words um text document

**[2:31]:** uh going through the various individual parts of an introduction now I'm going to start this discussion uh on the parts of a of of an essay with the introduction however I must caution you that don't get stuck with writing the introduction in the very beginning right you can always write and craft your introduction after you know what you're going to put down in the rest of your essay and come back to it but these are simply ideas that you can follow in uh uh preparing the introduction of your essay so some of the tools that you can use to have an attention getter now as I said admissions committees are sifting through hundreds if not thousands of essay documents through the admission cycle right so you want to hook the reader early on in fact you want to hook the reader within the first two sentences of your essay if you're not hooking the reader

**[3:29]:** by then they are going to lose interest in that document very very quickly and set it aside so we don't want that to happen we want you to get the best read possible so here are some things that you can do to get the attention of your reader early on rhetorical generalizations surprising facts quotations and anecdotes these are some tools we'll discuss in a little bit more detail that you can follow in in order to get the attention of the

**[4:06]:** reader so let's talk about rhetorical generalizations often it's a general statement about your subject now remember earlier I told you be aware of Trends in your industry right and Trends in your industry is a general prediction about the direction your industry is going to take in the future future and this may be established by some of the leaders in your industry or some of the uh groups of leaders in your industry will meet and decide this is where we see this industry going you can use statements like that you can use generaliz your understanding of General directions about your industry and use that knowledge to emphasize your passion for the field but also your understanding of how this field is growing right so that should interest the reader immediately because at least they know that you have done your background work and you're not coming here clueless right so here's an example of what a

**[5:21]:** rhetorical generalization may be so because recycling technology isn't cost effective yet we'd be better relying on traditional garbage disposal while using funds currently allocated for recycling to De develop new efficient recycling technology now this may be the statement of purpose for a student who is applying to Graduate Studies or graduate research areas focused on recycling

**[5:52]:** technology Environmental Studies or environmental engineering those may be the candidates who write perhaps a starting statement like this now your introduction will typically have about 100 words so while this is a very Broad and general statement about recycling technology how does this statement relate to you now that could be the next lead in to this statement for example you could discuss maybe a project that I had done on developing sensors to identify uh specific types of uh segregation mechanisms or some such you know you you can use this generalization as a segue into something very specific that you have done that has impassioned you to now pursue Graduate Studies and hence apply to this program right so you can start with the generalization relate how this generalization ties into something specific that you have done which is motivating or inspiring you to apply to graduate studies and that is a good introduction to who you

**[7:08]:** are now and your body can then discuss about how you got there and how a graduate program is going to help you in the future right so that is how a rhetorical generalization could work uh for an introductory

**[7:25]:** paragraph of your essay another tool you could use is talk about surprising facts uh you know these could be statistics or trivia or obscure information related to your subject uh that you find uh interesting pertinent or extremely urgent creates a sense of sometimes sometimes statistics create a sense of urgency um 80% of the people who have um who are suffering with diabetes do not have the right tools to uh measure their uh sugar consumption and therefore we need to develop uh XYZ products um to be able to measure individual's sugar consumption that's an example right so that could be a biomedical engineering statement or in this case we have an essay that argues for um recycling sewage water so you again to get these facts to get these statistics you'll have to do your research look into some of the uh Publications that you have access to trade journals that you have access to that

**[8:48]:** publishes the these facts that are relevant to areas of Interest your areas of interest and use that information in uh to introduce your subject areas of interest that should then tell us why the urgency in applying for a graduate program at this time right so facts are very important uh and a very logical way of connecting the world to what it is that you are doing and what it is that you plan to do in the future and there is no dir of published facts available online so um you should be able to find this a very interesting tool most of the times if you read newspaper articles a lot of them will start off lead the story with facts with Statistics a lot of marketing journals will lead with facts and statistics right so um do not uh hesitate to use and site reliable sources on statistics right so as much as possible identify

**[9:58]:** a reliable Source from which you can use stat

**[10:07]:** song quotations is is often used you can quote uh any leaders in your industry you can quote other people who inspire you you can even quote some mentor of yours who has really inspired you to choose your field of study right while a a a quote may be a common observation you need to lead in in the introduction if you're leading the introduction in with the quote you need to tell us why that quote is important to you how does that quote relate to your development and advancement and aspirations and goals as it relates to your graduate program at the end of the day everything that you say and do has to relate to you and your reason for applying to graduate school right so feel free to use a quote but don't leave it hanging there impersonally personalize the and interpret the quote to your context and your desire to pursue Graduate Studies at

**[11:15]:** this time anecdotes are short stories about yourself these could be some turning points in your life that triggered your passion for the subject or triggered your desire to go to grad school whatever they may be uh try to make it into a very descriptive and interesting story that transports the audience and at the same time uh ropes them in into the next paragraph subsequent paragraphs of your essay right so use anecdotes anecdotes is are a great way for you to uh share perhaps some things that have sparked a light bulb while you have done your own SWAT analysis yeah so in doing your SW SWAT analysis you may recount a lot of personal experiences that you've had that have led you to this point in your life capture those and see the most interesting ones that are relevant to your graduate school application and use them in your introduction to help the committee better understand

**[12:31]:** who you are thank you so much for listening to us do comment your opinions down below also if you find it useful and relevant do subscribe to our Channel as well for more details feel free to get in touch with us