Writing the Fulbright Scholarship EssaysUniversity Writing Center

Jaclyn Wells

UAB Writing Center

Welcome

Thank you for joining us! Today’s workshop will provide strategies and practice for writing the two essays required by the Fulbright scholarship application:

•The personal statement •The statement of grant purpose

These documents serve different purposes in your application, but at the pre-writing stage, it can be useful to think about them together. Today, we will discuss the essays both as a package and as separate documents.

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Today’s Agenda

Today, we will:

•Review essay instructions •Discuss differences between the two essays•Look at examples•Brainstorm ideas for your essays

By the end of today, you will have ideas for tackling these essays. Your next steps will be to draft your essays and bring them to a UWC tutor for feedback.

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Dissecting the Instructions

Let’s begin today with a fairly basic exercise:

•Carefully read the instructions for the statement of grant purpose and personal statement (see handout).•As you read, circle or underline any key words that stand out in the instructions. These key words may provide clues about the purpose of each essay.•Consider how the key words compare and differ. What is similar? What is different? •Think about how you would explain each document to a friend, in your own words.

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As you considered the instructions, you may have noticed the following major differences in the two essays.

Statement of Grant Purpose

• Focuses on the project • Outlines • Influenced by your

particular host country • Two pages, single-spaced• Looks toward the future

(particularly the project)

Personal Statement

• Focuses on the individual • Narrates• Influenced by your

particular background • One page, single-spaced• Looks at the past (your

background and previous experiences)

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Brainstorming: Personal Statement

Consider the following questions and list as many ideas as come to you. Don’t filter yourself—this is only pre-writing.

• What details of your life have shaped it most? People? Places? Events? Circumstances?

• What obstacles have you had to overcome? • What educational, professional, or cultural opportunities have you

experienced? • What have been your life’s “turning points”? • What are your perspectives or philosophies? • What are your major goals? • What events in the news have most shaped your thinking?

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Sample Personal Statement

Read through the first sample personal statement. As you read, mark the kinds of things you just brainstormed:

• Life details: people, places, events, circumstances• Obstacles: economic, family, physical, educational • Turning points• Opportunities: educational, professional, cultural • Personal characteristics• Philosophies, perspectives • Goals• Events in the news

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Brainstorming: Grant PurposeTo brainstorm for the statement of grant purpose, we can turn right to the directions themselves. The directions tell us you should outline your proposed project’s who, what, etc.

Again, without filtering yourself, list your project’s:

•Who•What •When•Where•Why •How

(As best you can and as far as you now know).

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Sample Grant Purpose Statement

Read through the first sample statement of grant purpose. This statement is written by the same student who wrote the first sample personal narrative. As you read, mark the kinds of things you just brainstormed, the project’s:

• Who• What • When• Where• Why • How

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Finding Your Larger Theme

You’ve listed ideas for your personal statement and your grant purpose statement. Give yourself a few minutes now to think about how it all fits together. Remember that you are writing two separate documents, but you’re presenting an overall picture of yourself and your project (and that these two documents will be read together).

Look over both lists. For five minutes, freewrite about one major question: What seems most important?

I’ll time you.

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General Style Tips

For specific help with editing, see a UWC tutor. Because everyone struggles with different issues of style and correctness, one-on-one help is always best.

You probably don’t need to hear that you need to proofread carefully before submitting your application: Your essays should be error-free. Some less obvious style tips include:

• Avoid clichés like the plague.• Avoid overly emotional language. • Use specific names for places and specific numbers for time. • Use strong actors (nouns) and actions (verbs).• Consider using the paramedic method to eliminate wordiness,

particularly for the statement of grant purpose.

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Tips and Other Resources • The Purdue OWL offers many resources on writing

personal statements. Their “Top 10 Rules and Pitfalls” might be particularly useful.

• Don’t forget to review (and re-review) the instructions on the Fulbright website. The section on Academic Application Components contains the description that we looked at today of both essays.

• A number of websites offer sample essays. Sometimes, looking at samples can be the best way to get your head around what effective essays do and do not include. In addition to the samples from Penn State provided today, you can find sample essays online from Temple University and Ohio Wesleyan University, among others.

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How the UWC Can Help

The University Writing Center provides free 30-minute consultations. All UAB students can have up to two consultations (or one 60-minute consultation) per week.

For scholarship writing, talking out ideas and getting feedback are absolutely crucial. We can help you:

•Understand essay guidelines •Brainstorm ideas •Develop an outline •Begin drafting•Revise and edit

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Thank you!

Thank you for attending today’s workshop. Please see the University Writing Center’s website to set up an appointment. To get the latest information about our services, follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

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