Writing A Research Statement Part II
In Part I, I talked about the importance of starting the process of writing a research statement (or research plan, if you are not currently applying for a job) by focusing on your own desires without reference to the job requirements or other pressures you might be under.
If you did the exercise in Part I, you should have some notes to work from. You might even have two sets of notes: one on the stuff you’d like to be doing if resources (time, money, grad students, etc) were not constrained, and one on all the reasons why that is a pipe dream that isn’t even worth the paper you’ve written the notes on much less the time you took to do the exercise.
These notes are not your research statement or even a rough draft of it, but they will give you the basis of a really solid research statement.
What does a research statement need
The key thing is for you to be able to talk about the kinds of big questions that drive you forward. This helps people that aren’t working in exactly the same area see how you fit into a bigger field. Describing your past research and mapping out your research plans in relation to those broader themes gives your research statement some structure. You need to be able to articulate this clearly in one paragraph.
Then outline how your past research has contributed to moving that program forward. For recent PhDs, that’s going to be where the dissertation project gets summarized. For others, it might start with the dissertation but move quickly on to the other things you’ve been working on.
How much you write depends on how long they expect your statement to be, but this is an introduction to your current and future work. The purpose of talking about the past is to flesh out some of the themes. You are not writing a journal article.
You will then write about what you are working on now.
It is likely that what you are working on now is directly related to your past research. You might even think about it as the same project. Shifting your perspective to thinking of a program of work can help here.
The dissertation was one project within a larger program. The journal articles or monograph that you are now writing, based on your dissertation research, are a different project within the same program.
Journal articles that are lightly edited chapters of the dissertation could be considered wrapping up the dissertation project, but you don’t have to collect new data to start another project. New analysis, theoretical development, etc. all count as moving on.
Then you can focus on what you foresee coming next.
You should have a reasonable level of detail here. Vague plans don’t impress anyone.
Your ideal plan comes in handy here because if you get this job your constraints are going to change. So you don’t want to propose the thing you would do if you stayed where you are with the limited resources you have. You need to think a bit bigger. You can modify downwards later if necessary.
Look at your ideal situation as a long term goal and think about how you might build up to that. Maybe write a paragraph about what kinds of grad students you would like to attract and nurture. What kinds of relationships you would like to build with others locally, nationally, and internationally. Where do you hope this whole program is going to go in 10 years? You don’t need a lot of detail here but some indication of longer term thinking and ambitions.
You now have a first draft
The main thing it is missing is any connection to the job description or the particular department you are applying to. Those things are important but we’ll deal with them in Part III.
Put the document down.
The idea here is to let it go for a bit so you can come back fresh.
Feed children. Read to them. Have a bubble bath.
Have dinner. And a glass of wine.
Watch TV or go out for a movie.
What if the gremlins turn up again?
This is a distinct possibility. They love this kind of scenario. Gives them lots to do. Protecting you from rejection is a big job for them. It would be nice if that didn’t involve getting the confidence destroying talk in before any potential employer can.
They might start telling you that you shouldn’t even apply. That if you were any good, you wouldn’t be working at wherever you are now in the first place. Or that you would have a tenure-track job by now. That you are too late.
If necessary, keep a separate document open on your desktop while you are drafting your statement.* Write down all of their concerns in that document as they come up so you can get back to your task.
Good questions to ask them to keep them quiet include: Is is possible (theoretically) that I am good enough? Can I just try? Can you let me write this stuff out anyway and then make a decision about whether I even send it to them?
You want to quiet those voices but not ignore them. So writing down their concerns should help. You can even write down your responses. You might even agree with them that you are crazy to apply for this but you are going to write this research statement anyway, dammit.
Whatever. One doc for the journally stuff. One doc for the actual draft research statement.
*I got this idea from Janet at Mindful Time Management.
I can help with the gremlins.
Coaching is a multi-faceted thing.
My goal is to help you do the research you want to do, preferably without having to live in a cardboard box.
If you want some help with the gremlins, we can talk.
If you think it might be helpful to have a few sessions, to talk about gremlins, to get some clarity on the research and publishing plans, etc. there is a 15% discount if you buy 4. To find out more about how it works:






