Tips for writing your PS

This table was written for those doing a degree but its equally relevant for any form of writing - including Personal Statements.

Reply 1

Reality Check

Most of this is useful, but I would take issue with the second 'shorten your sentences'. Whilst it's true that very long sentences full of clauses can be hard to follow, a variety of sentence length and structure is surely more conducive to effective writing. It would be very boring to read a series of 'the cat sat on the mat' sentences one after the other - not only would it be difficult to get any nuance in it, it would also feel like you were being machine gunned whilst reading it! Sometimes you need a longer sentence to adequately convey your meaning, and sometimes you just need a subject, verb and object!

Reply 2

Asolare

I have no idea why people think passive is the be all and end all of things, yes using excessively is too bad but there's no reason why it can't be used.

Oh lmao how coincidental, I just used the passive.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 3

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by returnmigrant

This table was written for those doing a degree but its equally relevant for any form of writing - including Personal Statements.

That's great :smile:

Reply 4

Reality Check

Original post by Inexorably

Indeed. Sometimes you need a passive sentence. I suppose it's taking issue with the 'I gave him the book/the book was given by him to me' type construction, but I agree that people get a bit phobic about them as a concept

Reply 5

returnmigrant

I read endless PS that don't actually contain the words 'I' or 'me'. They are stuffed full of 'I've read this book and its about this idea/concept/example' type stuff - but don't tell me what THEY think about that idea/concept/example. These are people with A* predictions but they apparently have lost the ability to think for themselves or have an opinion on anything.

Therefore think carefully about the advice above about Passive Voice. You are afraid to commit your own ideas to paper and would rather hide behind someone else's. You have been taught to just turn out quotes rather than engaging with the idea and telling the reader your opinion. Both give a bad impression to a University and suggest you are a) lazy and b) have no original ideas of your own.

If in doubt, scan your PS and see how many times you have used phrases like 'I think', 'I feel', 'I disagree with ...', 'I believe' etc etc. If your 'voice' isn't there, its a poor PS.

Reply 6

Clearing and Applications Advisor

My biggest bugbear is "doing x GAVE me better something skills".

A) did you have no ability before?
B) were you involved at all or did the skills just get transmitted to you by default when you turned up?
C) wtf would I believe you have that skill - you've given zero examples of when you have DEMONSTRATED it.
D) now you've GOT that skill are you done with improving your abilities in that area?

Skills aren't a one off or a binary. Give examples of things you've done that SHOW you have some skills. And tell us about what went well and what didn't - show that you want to improve and can learn from your experiences.