文书写作教程第二课： 主题明确，问题具体

 

有三个主题可供你考虑：1．你为什么要研究这个领域/上这所研究生院？ 2．哪些方面使得你特别、不同、或优越？ 3．为什么你够资格？

 

你可以只集中在一个主题或想法把三个都包括进去。不论你选择怎么做，要记得如果你的文章最终没表达你上研究生院的动机，没提出为什么你应该被接受的论点，那你就已经丢了分。

 

在本节你还将发现具体文章题目的一些特定问题策略。要是你面对的一个具体问题没被列在这儿，请务必查看我们的“大学录取作文辅助课程”或“商学院录取作文辅助课程”，那儿有20多个不同的普遍问题的特定问题策略。许多研究生院有一些简短回答的问题，这些问题在本网站的其他章节都作了深入的探讨。

 

一、为什么上研究生院？

 

写好这个主题的诀窍是说明你为什么要研究该领域。不要只是说一下就认为可以了。录取官员需要的是你生活中那些证明你的愿望并使得你的愿望得以成真的那些可信的详情。

 

有个诀窍可以避免给人以“这样的内容由来了”的反应，那就是密切注意第一行。当录取官员一开始就看到“自从 … … 以来，我一直想当个物理学家”这样的句子，他们肯定缩回去。我们知道可提供帮助的是文章的那行句子，但是这些可怜的官员已经有多少次读过这样的句子，他们自己也数不清，这样的句子很快就变成老一套了。相反，可以用一个能说明你早就呼唤法律的故事来开始你的文章。现看一看例1文章的第一段：

 

"That's not fair." Even as the smallest of children, I remember makingsuch a proclamation: in kindergarten it was "not fair" when I had to sharemy birthday with another little girl and didn't get to sit on the "birthdaychair." When General Mills changed my favorite childhood breakfastcereal, "Kix," I, of course, thought this was "not fair." Unlike many kids(like my brother) who would probably have shut up and enjoyed the "greatnew taste" or switched to Cheerios, this kid sat her bottom down in a chair(boosted by the phone book) and typed a letter to the company expressingher preference for the "classic" Kix over the "great new taste" Kix.在讲述故事的时候，文章作者说明了她政治上的激进主义是根深蒂固的，但她不必说出来。她不是只告诉我们就希望我们相信，她是展示给我们看的。

 

另一个开篇方式是“我爸爸是个 … …”。有些录取官员说，如果申请人给出的想要研究某一个领域的唯一理由是家庭的愿望，那么他们不仅会对申请人的动机，而且对他是否成熟表示怀疑。这当然不是说你必须掩盖你的父母支持你做该领域研究这一事实，但这的确意味着你应该避免你想靠它作为进入研究生院的唯一理由。如果你的父亲或母亲确实鼓励你进研究生院，那么需要详细地描述你为什么受到他们的鼓励，以及你在现实生活中做了那些事可以检验你的动机。

 

例1：英语专业

 

注意：为了教学目的，该文发表时未加修改。 "That's not fair." Even as the smallest of children, I remember making sucha proclamation: in kindergarten it was "not fair" when I had to share mybirthday with another little girl and didn't get to sit on the "birthdaychair." When General Mills changed my favorite childhood breakfastcereal, "Kix," I, of course, thought this was "not fair." Unlike many kids(like my brother) who would probably have shut up and enjoyed the "greatnew taste" or switched to Cheerios, this kid sat her bottom down in a chair(boosted by the phone book) and typed a letter to the company expressingher preference for the "classic" Kix over the "great new taste" Kix.Through the plenty of "not fair" incidents that followed, my mother triedto explain that unfair things happen sometimes, but I never accepted theidea of an unfair world and began to realize that there were a great manysituations and conditions that were "not fair" to women.At age ten, I was mortified that all the boys in my Catechism class weresigning up to be altar servers, but girls could not. When my grandmothertold me that, at one time, because she was a woman, she was only allowed totouch the altar when she was cleaning it-the fight against the CatholicChurch was on. Once again, I sat my bottom down in the chair (still withthe phone book) and typed a letter to the Monsignor requesting to betrained as an altar server. With no immediate response, I respectfully butpersistently harassed the Monsignor and the other priests every Sunday whenI saw them in church, until, nearly two years later, I became an altarserver. At age twelve I was almost too old to appreciate the new privilege,but there are girls becoming altar servers in that church to this day.Fighting against things "not fair" for women has been my goal throughout myeducation, just as it will be in my future, and I have had several uniqueopportunities toward this end. I have worked two summers in a Sacramento, California, law firm for themanaging partner, a brilliant litigator and a woman who really cares aboutjustice, on two of the biggest cases of her career. I performed legalresearch relevant to the issues of spoliation and antitrust, and I directlyassisted Ms. F with trial preparation, accompanying her to court during thetrials. Under her guidance I have learned the inner workings of litigation,and I have seen that unfairness pervades all types of law. Havingexperienced litigation, I know the heavy work load that characterizes trialpreparation and can safely say that I approach a legal career aware of itsrealities. I have also participated in the [school] Center for American Politics andPublic Policy (CAPPP) Quarter in Washington program, which allowed me totake classes at the [school] Center and intern at the National Women's LawCenter in D.C. The Law Center showed me the public interest side of law,the area of law that I hope to enter in order to address the women's issuesthat are so important to me. Public interest offers the opportunity to helpwomen who need it the most, those who could not otherwise afford legalassistance and who are often victims of the "not fair," of violations oftheir civil rights. My classes at [school] and through CAPPP, as well as my participation inthe volunteer program at the [school] Women's Resource Center, haveafforded me the chance to research issues of the "not fair" for women.Violence against women, an unfairness that maims and rapes and kills, hasevolved into a special interest of mine that I hope to pursue throughfuture work in a sex crimes division in criminal prosecution. For twoclasses at [school] I have researched domestic violence and battered womenwho kill their abusers. While in Washington, D.C., I studied acquaintancerape among adolescents: after making an extensive review of the existingliterature, I tried to conduct original research interviewing teenagers ata recreation center in Alexandria, Virginia. Though at the last moment the recreation center directors did not authorizemy project, I did discover a class called "Self-Defense is More thanKarate" that was developed by the Office on Women in Alexandria to instructhigh school students on relationships,HIV/AIDS, dating violence, and sexualassault. After I observed one week of the program, the Community EducationCoordinator asked me to research how such education influences teens,interviewing students before and after they take the class, for the Officeon Women. Currently, I seek a research grant from the [school] CollegeHonors Program that would allow me to go back to D.C. in the spring tocarry out this project. Fighting the "not fair" is certainly a driving force for me; however, Ihave chosen to pursue law not only because I consider it to be a weaponagainst injustice, but also because it fascinates me. My love for the lawechoes my love for literature. I participated in theater in high school andmajored in English in college because I enjoy analyzing the subtleties,innuendos, and themes that serve as the foundation of a literary work or adramatic performance. I strive to understand the stories behind thecharacters involved. I am awed by the power of language and the influenceart and literature can have on the values, thoughts, and actions of theaudience. So goes the influence on the law: they call it "courtroom drama"for a reason. Just as literature tells a story, so does each legal case, beit criminal or civil; the way in which the law applies to each case must beanalyzed and, in some instances, constructed.Law reflects as much as itinfluences the beliefs of the people it governs.Both law and literature are instruments of change. Furthermore, literatureand law can give voice to people who have been traditionally silenced. Justas I love so much to hear the voices of others through literature, I wantto use my voice in the realm of the law, calling out "not fair" for thosewho have not been heard. I want to have a positive influence on the livesof women and all people, be it in the civil or criminal realm, and in lawschool I hope to gain the tools to do just that. 二、为什么有资格？

 

另一个主题是论述你的经验和资格，这两者是你进研究生院和成为你的研究领域一员并能为之做出贡献所必须的。你的工作经验或在自己领域的研究经验总是你能提供的最好证据。如果你没有这方面的经验，那么考虑你有什么与之有关的其他经验。这里要遵循的规则是：有的话，就利用它。

 

研究领域的经验

 

和你的研究领域有关的直接经验是你的文章中要论述的最理想的经验。这里须记住的重要一点是你有什么经验，有多少经验，都应该提到，不管你自己觉得多么微不足道。以下提供的文章作为例子，它们的作者分别是一位HIV的顾问（例2）和一位具有ER经验的申请人（例3）写的。他们都在申请医学院。

 

研究经验

 

千万注意：不要只集中在你的研究题目，除非那是你的研究领域的标准做法，而且你必须把主要思想概括出来。过分依赖自己的研究，你的文章读起来就会显得枯燥乏味。注意不要滥用行话或专业术语。如果那是你描写自己的项目所必须，你当然别无选择。但是在文章里包含行话或专业术语只是因为你能够这样做，那是不会引起人家的兴趣的。例如，这位申请人（例3），探讨科技和医学术语的使用，但又离开这些术语，花了足够的时间揭示他自己个人的非技术性的一面。

 

不寻常的研究领域的经验 即使你没有正式的经验，你可能还会有值得一提的研究领域方面的经验。或许，你是个优秀的业余天文学家，或者在你决定攻读博士学位之前，几年来你就一直在研究量子物理学。这位申请人（例4）描述了一个令人着迷的成功故事。尽管作者没有经过正式的训练，没有经验，而且她只能提供一个15美元的Johnson & Johnson 药箱，她被迫违反规定在洪都拉斯的一个村庄当了一个夏天的医生。

 

例2：哈佛大学医学院文章

 

注意：为了教学目的，该文发表时未加修改。 High School Teacher with AIDS; SCID/Genetics Research Experience; HIVCounselor Before I found out that my high school Spanish teacher was HIV-positive,AIDS was not much more than a bunch of statistics to me. The disease, itscourse, and the people afflicted with it seemed alien to my life-as distantas the continent from which the virus was supposed to have sprung. Then Mr.T. stopped coming to school. When he reappeared a few months later to wishus well on the advanced placement exam, his face looked sallow. His voice,once a thunderous bass that rumbled in class and reverberated down thehallway, was weak and thin. Seeing my teacher looking so unfamiliar was myshocking introduction to AIDS. I felt as if I were in the presence of astranger, this mysterious disease, who was insulting Mr. T. right in frontof my eyes. I wanted to know who this stranger was. I entered college, believing that biology could explain to me why life'sprocesses went awry. I learned that the body is exquisitely complex, but Iwas reassured by the underlying theme of systems. Even if I didn't know allthe molecules and connections, there seemed no denying that a fundamentalorder existed. From physiology to cell biology to molecular genetics, my classes presentedsmaller and smaller systems to explain the origins of diseases. Finally, ingenes, with their innocuous four letter alphabet, I felt I was learning thefoundation of it all. If biology provided the keys to understanding life,then genetics must be the master key (if only we could see some of thedoors we were trying to open). During two summers in a research laboratoryat The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, I helped track down the genecausing X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).Even though AIDS and SCID are very different diseases (SCID is exclusivelyhereditary), each compromises the body's defense mechanisms against foreignpathogens. I felt this was a significant connection. In SCID, I was meetinga distant cousin of AIDS. Learning about common themes of immunodeficiencydisorders, such as the perils of opportunistic infections, helped me tobegin to understand what had happened to Mr. T. In the SCID laboratory, andin classroom seminars on infectious diseases, science was helping medemystify disease. In the same year that Mr. T. became ill, my grandfather died during bypasssurgery and my father underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment forcolon cancer. Since then, disease has had a human face for me. To betterunderstand how people deal with disease or the fear of disease, I've becomea volunteer counselor in an HIV clinic. Speaking to people who come in for free testing, I've found that discussingHIV, getting the scary words (and acronyms) out in the open, is a way formany people to release their anxiety. Through expression in their ownwords, they make the disease real, which helps them to see that it is alsopreventable. Then, they often take the next step, making specific goals tomaintain their health, whether they are HIV-negative or positive. Whatscience in class and lab did for me in confronting the difficult issues ofAIDS, talk does for my clients. As an HIV counselor in an anonymous clinic, I feel both the potential of myrole and its limits. I can't go home with my clients to remind them to keepcondoms under the bed, but I can help them make a plan-something that couldstay with them much longer than the information I offer. At the end of onesession, one client surprised me with his response to a question I hadasked: "What do you think you'll do with the HIV information?" There was asilence in the counseling room as the client pondered, but I recall sensingthe comfort of the silence. This was a session that seemed to be producingthe potential for a breakthrough (not every session does), and I waitedpatiently. He responded, "I think I'll ask my girlfriend to use her ownneedles." Then, the client thanked me for having asked the question. I was thrown. My client proposed a strategy for reducing his HIV risk, buthe didn't address what was likely his main issue-heroin use. Should Ivalidate his plan? In effect, that's what I did, because I didn't challengethe drug issue. When he left the clinic, I practically wanted to follow himout the door. I wondered if I would ever see him again and be able to askhim how his plan was going. I wondered if he would ultimately seek help forhis drug use. My supervisor reminded me that I had done my job as an HIVcounselor. I had helped the client make a plan; he had even thanked me forit. And I can thank him in return. He reminded me that although I have workedto understand disease in the classroom, the laboratory, and the clinic, Istill have much to learn about caring for all aspects of a patient'shealth. I am eager to continue the learning process in the New PathwayProgram at Harvard Medical School. 例3：哈佛大学医学院文章

 

注意：为了教学目的，该文发表时未加修改。 Radiation Oncology Volunteer; Biochemical Lab Experience; NeurosurgeryResearch; ER Volunteer; English Language Tutor; Student Advisor; CommunityService "Carl, the woman we're about to meet will receive her first palliativetreatment today," said Dr. A., an Attending in Radiation Oncology. Hecontinued to explain her case as we walked briskly down the hallways of thehospital. I followed him into the radiation treatment room to meet thepatient and learn about the procedure which, sadly, would not eradicate herdisease. Since then, I have met with him weekly throughout this summer tolearn about radiation oncology and medicine in general. Through experiencessuch as these, I have learned much about the profession of medicine. I wantto become a physician for the intellectual challenges and rewards that comefrom helping others. I first became interested in medical research by working in a biochemicalengineering laboratory at MIT. For over two years I explored the medicallyrelated field, biotechnology. I have led experiments involving fermentationbioreactors and trained two inexperienced undergraduates. Recently, Ipresented a poster entitled "Effect of Antifoam during Filtration ofRecombinant Bacterial Broth" at a New England Society for IndustrialMicrobiology colloquium. Enjoying the biomedical rather than engineeringaspects of the work, I have shifted my career interests to medicine.Last summer, I expanded my interest in medicine by working for theNeurosurgery Department at Brigham and Women's Hospital. After a shorttraining period, I worked independently on three research projects:Clonality analysis of schwannomas, clonality analysis of a multiplemeningioma, and the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) screening of pituitaryadenomas. I developed a strong interest in my work when I observed mymentor, Dr. Peter Black, remove brain tumors in the operating room. Afterthe initial shock and amazement of seeing the exposed brain of a consciouspatient, I thought more about the connections between this clinical workand my research. While my projects' objective was to gain a betterunderstanding of tumors, the ultimate goal is to prevent and cure tumors tosave human lives-the very people whom I had seen on the operating table!With this thought in mind, I found the motivation to complete the short-term objectives of my projects. I will be the second author of a paper,entitled "Clonality Analysis of Schwannomas," which will be submitted toNeurosurgery. This summer, as a participant in NYU Medical Center's Summer UndergraduateResearch Program (S.U.R.P.), I am learning even more about research andclinical medicine. In my work, I am determining the effect of the absenceof the N-ras protooncogene on induced tumorigenesis. By conductingmolecular oncology research for another summer, I have greatly expanded myknowledge and interest in the field. In addition, through my experiences inthe Radiation Oncology Department with Dr. S., I clearly see the greaterpurpose of medical research beyond personal intellectual gratification. Inthe case of cancer and many other diseases, research is the only way toovercome the limitations of current clinical treatments. I believe that one of the greatest joys and privileges of physicians aretheir abilities to directly aid and affect a community. While becominginterested in the science of medicine through research, I have exploredhuman service to understand the art of medicine. When I volunteered in theEmergency Room of New England Medical Center during my sophomore year, manyphysicians impressed me with their sensitivity and compassion. When notassisting the hospital staff, I took every opportunity to comfort patientswho felt scared and vulnerable. During that same year, I also tutored amiddle-aged woman in English as a Second Language. It was challenging toteach her vocabulary and sentence structure since, initially, simplecommunication with her had been difficult. Helping her pass the high schoolequivalency exam made all of my efforts worthwhile. In addition, I havebeen an Associate Advisor for freshmen for the past two years. In thisrole, I have helped first year students adjust to college life. Not onlyhave I played the role of academic mentor, but I have also become anintimate friend and personal tutor to my advisees. For my efforts, I wonthe annual Outstanding Associate Advisor Award. Besides individual volunteering, I have taken the initiative to help thelocal community on a greater scale. As Community Service Chair for theChinese Student's Club for the past two years, I established a new programto promote the interaction between MIT students and underprivilegedteenagers. College students and children affiliated with a local communityorganization, Boston Asian: Youth Essential Service, have become acquaintedthrough regular activities. Through events such as a scavenger hunt and ahands-on introduction to the World Wide Web, MIT volunteers help teenagerslearn about the opportunities available at college. Along with severalother undergraduates, I have become further acquainted with the teensthrough individual tutoring. To establish this new service program, I havedone intensive planning and budget management. I have refined rough,creative ideas into organized activities involving over twenty people.During the planning stages, I have worked closely with professional youthcounselors, other MIT participants, and the teens. While my involvement inthis program has been very demanding at times, seeing these teens learn anddevelop their interests has definitely made it worthwhile.During college I have learned many things outside of lecture halls andlibraries. In research labs, I have refined my intellectual curiosity andscientific thought processes. In the local community, I have developed myinterpersonal skills and a greater understanding of others. Through it all,I have learned to treasure the simple pleasures of helping others. Bybecoming a physician, I will continue to develop and apply these personalattributes.

 

例4：杜克医学院

 

注意：为了教学目的，该文发表时未加修改。Survivor of Anorexia; Emergency Medical Technician Training; ClinicExperience; Medical Volunteer in Honduras; HIV Test Counselor I decided that I wanted to be a doctor sometime after my four monthincarceration in Columbia Presbyterian Children's Hospital in the winter of1986-87, as I struggled with anorexia nervosa. Through the maturationprocess that marked my recovery, I slowly came to realize that mypediatrician had saved my life-despite my valiant efforts to the contrary.Out of our individual stubborn wills was born a kind of mutual respect, andhe is one of the people who make up my small collection of heroes.I admire doctors who understand both what is said and what is held back,who move comfortably around the world of the body, and who treat allpatients with respect. I am lucky because a few of them have become myimpromptu teachers, taking a little extra time to instruct me in anatomy,disease or courtesy. During my Emergency Medical Technician training, oneof the emergency room doctors took me to radiology to point out the shadowof a fracture in a CT-scan and trusted me to hold a little girl's lip whilehe inserted sutures. The physicians in the Hospital 12 de Octubre inMadrid, Spain taught me to hear lung sounds and to feel an enlarged liverand spleen. They explained the social and medical difficulties associatedwith the management of pediatric AIDS until I understood the Spanish wellenough to begin asking questions; then they answered them. I work now in the Mayfield Community Clinic, which provides primary care tomembers of the Spanish-speaking community near Stanford University. My jobas a patient advocate involves taking histories, performing simpleprocedures and providing family planning and HIV counseling. I try to usethe knowledge I have gained from class and practice to formulate the rightset of questions to ask each patient, but I am constantly reminded of howmuch I have to learn. I look at a baby and notice its cute, pudgy toes. Dr.V. plays with it while conversing with its mother, and in less than aminute has noted its responsiveness, strength, and attachment to itsparent, and checked its reflexes, color and hydration. Gingerly, I searchfor the tympanic membrane in the ears of a cooperative child and touch aninfant's warm, soft belly, willing my hands to have a measure of Dr. V.'scompetence. I first felt the need to be competent regarding the human body when Ivolunteered with the Amigos de Las Americas program in the town of T. inLempira, Honduras. The hospital available to the people of T. (at a day'sride in the bed of a truck) was "where one went to die," so my partner andI, with our basic first aid certifications and our $15 Johnson & Johnsonkits, quickly became makeshift "doctors". The responsibility initiallycreated a heady feeling; a distressed mother called on us to bandage thetoe her eight-year-old son had accidentally sliced to the bone with hismachete. I told him the story of Beauty and the Beast in broken Spanishwhile my partner and I soaked the dirt from his toe, and during thefollowing week we watched him heal. Then our foster-mother, who normally tended to the sick, told my partnerand me to "check on the foot" of D. The gentle-eyed, sixty-five year oldman lay on his bed, his leg encased in bloody bandages from mid-calf totoe. After performing surgery, the hospital had given him a bottle ofinjectable antibiotics and some clean needles and sent him home withoutbandages or further instructions. My partner and I had not been trained tohandle so serious a situation. We did not know what had happened; we didnot know what the antibiotics were (or if they were actually antibiotics);we did not know if handling D.'s blood put us at risk for disease. Wewanted to leave, but leaving the house meant leaving D. and betraying ourfoster-mother's trust. So we injected the antibiotics and cleaned andbandaged the wound every day for our remaining two weeks in Hondurasalthough we felt ill-equipped for the responsibility, crippled by ourignorance and lack of supplies. In T., I did not feel qualified to receive the trust the townspeople gaveso willingly. As an HIV-antibody test counselor in California, I struggleeveryday to win my clients' confidence. Somehow a twenty-one-year-old,Caucasian female must be sincere, knowledgeable and open enough to earn therespect of a fifty-five-year-old man who could be her father, a high schoolsophomore, an ex-drug addict, and a pregnant Latina woman. My clients areblack, white, straight, gay, Ph.D. candidates and illiterate; some chooseto come to me while others have court-orders. Yet to communicateeffectively, each client must have enough confidence in me to engage indialogue about his drug or sex life and to believe what I tell him, whetheror not he chooses to act on our discussion. Speaking with patients, doctors and community members has opened my eyes tosome of the difficulties involved with healthcare provision, and I hope Ihave given some inspiration or comfort in exchange for the knowledge I havereceived. I want these lessons in openness and compassion to shape myunderstanding of medicine and allow me to become the type of doctor Iadmire.

 

三、为什么你会独特，与人不同，比别人优秀？

 

从“与人不同”这个意义上说，例如，如果你是个年纪较大的申请人，是个少数民族，外国学生，运动员或音乐家，残疾人，或具有不寻常的学术或职业背景，利用从对你有利的这个角度，说明你的特别的背景将会给该学院和你申请的领域带来的好处。例如，对外国学生来说，一个有趣的题目可能是谈论这个国家的教育制度如何不同，为什么他们宁愿选择它而不想在自己的国家和/或用自己的语言学习。

 

但是，必须注意，在许多情况下，玩不同的牌倒会得到适得其反的结果。

 

如果你是个“多样性”的学生，当然就利用这一点。但不要为了多样而多样而反复地提，也不要认为由于“不同”本身就够你被录取。那样会使得我们觉得自己在被玩弄，同时也可能说明你不知道如何利用一次好的机会。只有那些能证明有重大残疾的人才应该写进文章里。我是说不是目前流行的诊断过分的残疾 du jour，在我的时代，这叫ADD。

 

其中的诀窍是把你的多样性与你的动机或品质，或你能给班级带来什么紧紧地结合起来。如果你不能做到，那你可能只是简单地提一提你与众不同的特点、背景或才能，而不是把它作为重点。这可是一个很有效的方法，因为它说明你对自己的条件和能力有信心，而且相信这些条件和能力会起作用。这就好象你只提到你是个盲人，或是从战争蹂躏的国家逃出的难民，或是一位提琴鉴赏家，但这些是为了在你那幅已经十分迷人的多彩的肖像上增加效果。

 

然而，有些申请人的问题正好相反。他们觉得强调自己与别人的差异很不自然。例如，职业换景员或年纪较大的申请人，有时觉得把自己的经历写进文章不一定保险，认为他们这样只能使别人注意到自己的大部分经历都在别的领域。如果你也象这样的话，不要忘记你过去的经验给你一个独特的观察问题的方法，因此你可以用你的文章把这个变成有利的一面，而不是不利的条件。还有一种选择，你可以取其相同点而不是不同面，通过对你目前工作领域所需要的技能和你将来在研究生院所需要的技能进行比较，使你的不同的职业经验变得有关了。这位作者（例5）就学习英国文学和当美国公民自由联盟志愿者的经验进行了比较。

 

例5：美国公民自由联盟（ACLU）志愿者

 

注意：为了教学目的，该文发表时未加修改。 When I began volunteering at the American Civil Liberties Union ofMichigan, I was a doctoral candidate in English literature, a buddingscholar of the early novel. By the time I stopped volunteering ten monthslater, I had learned that I wanted to become a litigator, a lawyer whobrought his political beliefs and persuasive writing to bear on some of themost important social issues of the day. My experiences at the A.C.L.U.opened my eyes not only to the complexity and urgency of impassioned legalwork but also to my own professional aspirations. Under the supervision of the A.C.L.U.'s generous and busy legal director, Iwas quickly exposed to many aspects of practical lawyering. My first job-assessing and responding to the organization's voluminous mail-required meto analyze the fact patterns that various correspondents presented. Themany incoming accounts of police brutality, judicial indifference, andprison rape were often moving and frequently suspect. They forced me totemper my emotional responses and determine whether the complaints seemedboth factually plausible and within the A.C.L.U.'s limited purview. Afterthis challenging introduction, I was then asked to assist in the discoveryphase of a prisoner's rights case. This work was detailed and intricate: myjob was to reconstruct the specific events of a day in 1991 while searchingfor conflicts between the prison's official regulations and the actualconduct of its guards. As I called Michigan prisons for information, siftedthrough ten years of our client's prison records, and helped endlesslyrevise our pleadings, I learned a good deal about the small chores andthankless legal persistence that go into building cases. At the same time, I found considerable overlap between my new legal tasksand my ongoing academic work. In an A.C.L.U. case I assisted in, forexample, a judge overturned a state ban on partial birth abortion becausethe procedure had no precise meaning in the graduate lexicon, and thelegislation might thus chill a wide variety of graduate practices. Whatfascinated me was that when confronted with the task of interpreting aknotty and important text, the twentieth-century legal system made many ofthe same interpretive moves as the eighteenth-century novel readers I hadstudied in my English graduate work. As the case unfolded, the pleadingsdebated the legislators' authorial intentions; the relevant Supreme Courtand Sixth Circuit precedents; the contradictory testimony of variousgraduate experts; and, finally, the language of the statute itself. Like myeighteenth-century readers, modern textual interpreters were attempting tomake sense of a silent, ambiguous document by finding ways to situate itwithin different historical, intertextual, and linguistic contexts. Whileparticular interpretive conventions have changed over the centuries-modernlawyers cite prior cases and not Biblical parables to bolster theirarguments-I came to realize that the broader task of comprehending texts(whether artistic expression or legislation) has not. Moreover, as I roamedthrough the stacks of Michigan's graduate and law libraries, I increasinglybegan to believe that it is precisely through interpretation, throughembracing particular readings of Robinson Crusoe over others or throughfighting over the legal standing of terms such as "partial birth bortion"that a society obliquely expresses its priorities and values as well as itsblind spots. I began making these connections partly because my work on the prisoner'srights case had forced me to question my own values and unspokenassumptions. Was I being co-opted by working on behalf of an unrepentantracist and murderer who complained at having some writings and a swastikaconfiscated by prison officials? Or was I defending the rights of futureprisoners who might be writing less like our client and more like JohnBunyan, Henry David Thoreau, or Martin Luther King, Jr.? Had I succumbed tothe knee-jerk First Amendment absolutism that the A.C.L.U. is sometimesaccused of? I thought I knew what public policy I supported but I becamesorely aware of my legal ignorance: much as I needed to do so, I felt ill-equipped to objectively assess and synthesize the various judicialprecedents that pertained to the case. Although I was frustrated by myuncertainties and limited knowledge, I found myself increasingly excited bythe questions I was trying to ask. By the time I finally threw myself intothe bittersweet task of assisting a murderer, I had learned both how littleI knew of the law and how much I valued the nuanced, committed defense ofcivil liberties. My volunteer work left me wanting to do more in the legal sphere. While thelaw may be too ungainly and inefficient a vehicle to directly change theworld, it offers a unique opportunity to help influence people'sinterpretation of their world. With the knowledge and skills imparted by alegal education, I hope to get back to crafting public arguments overabortion, prisoners' rights, Internet expression, and other defining issuesof our day. 四、等候者信件

 

如果你最近被列入“等候者”名单，要有信心：你还有机会。然而，有很多被列入等候者名单的申请人以为离开等候名单的唯一办法只有等待。如果学院没有再提出特别具体的意见，那么你应该继续与学院保持联系，反复重申你的兴趣，并把任何可增加你的机会的新内容补充进去。

 

学校要录取的是那些要来上学的人，对在等候名单上的候选者特别是如此。有许多待选者已经决定上另外一所学校，但还有其他人，他们拼命地想上他们在等待的那所学校。录取官员只能根据你在被列入等候名单后所表明的兴趣程度来区分这两组人。

 

你应写一封简短的等候被录取的信，信中你要：

 

1．表示你对上该学校的兴趣。你应感谢他们对你的关心，但不要提及你对没被接受感到失望。你还可以让他们知道这是你首选的学校。在这个阶段，他们会相信你的话，因为如果不是你的首选学校，你不会费心去写这篇作文。

 

2．提及能感动录取委员会的有关你的最新的成绩/活动。或许，你的GPA分值提高了，或者你成功地领导了一个商业小组。或许你当了“大哥哥”志愿者或开办了个企业。提及这些只能有助于你的例子。如果你的这封等候被录取的信与你第一篇个人声明相一致的话，帮助会更大。录取官员将重新评估你的整个申请，然后接受你而把你从等候名单去掉。

 

3．认识到学校没录取你不只为了一个原因。你之所以被放在等候名单上，是因为他们在你的申请书上看到一些小弱点。或许你的考试分数不高，或课外活动不多。不要提你的弱点，要提那些能增加你申请书的分量和消除那可看得见的弱点。

 

4．让他们知道你对上他们学校是认真的，而且能够提供其他补充信息，咨询人，等。

 

无论你写什么，你的信不要长于一页半。那些录取官员要读数以千计的作文，他们不想在等候者的信中看到重复的信息。每三、四个星期发一封信，而每次再放进一封力度大的推荐信则不会有坏处。

 

五、转学学生的文章

 

对转学文章的建议 （E. Whitney Soule, 康涅狄克格学院转学录取部主任）

 

从一个学校转到另一个学校是既竞争又复杂的。甚至在学生想到诸如可转的学分、住房及经济补助等问题之前，他/她就必须被录取。

 

和申请入学的新生一样，转学的学生也为一个学院或大学的有限名额而竞争。显然，你需要递交可靠的学术性证书。但是，多数大学将要求写一篇文章，说明你要转学的原因。如果写得好，该文章可能成为转学学生的最有力和最能说服人的申请书的一部分。

 

录取官员每年要审读成百，有时是成千份的申请书，并且必须在审读的一刻根据所提供的资料迅速作出决定。他们在考虑转学申请时会特别敏感。毕竟，那个学生已经通过一次申请和录取过程（有时甚至二次！），而一个录取官员需要弄清下一个着陆点是永久的。

 

既然录取官员不太可能有时间给申请人打电话，询问更多的信息，问题的答案经常是通过对申请书中现有的资料的推断得来的。因此，申请人必须预料到录取委员会可能问的问题，然后在文章中给予回答。

 

毫无例外，转学学生有特殊的实际的理由要离开一所大学而转到另一所大学。而每一个录取委员会也需要有个解释。适当而且重要的做法是：申请转学者能够清楚说明他选择第一所学校的理由，为什么那所学校不再适合他，为什么另一所学校会更好。

 

例如，如果某个学生写了一篇解释他要从大学A转到学院B的简短文章，“因为学院B较小，而且在东海岸”，录取委员会可能理解为该学生喜欢较小的班级，想家，本科生人多，等等。然而，如果该学生详细的文章，说明他原来想上的位于西部的那所大的大学如何不再适合，因为学院B的新的科学设备激起了他研究海洋生物的热情。录取委员会会相信他寻求转学的动机。

 

毫无疑问，如果申请人的证书有明显的不一致，他也必须在文章中将这些讲清楚。对某一个学生来说，问题可能与GPA的莫名其妙的减低有关，而对另一个学生来说，问题可能与他的专业或他的专注有关。

 

遗憾的是，关于转学的最后期限、申请书的要求、录取的规则、以及转学分的评估等，各个学院和大学都不太一致。但是，所有的学生都应该解释自己的详情和选择，而且通常是通过写一、二篇文章。转学文章是给学生说实话、接触问题实质以及有把握为之辩护的一个机会。

 

E. Whitney Soule 录取部副主任 转学录取处主任 康涅狄格学院

 

六、一般作文题目

 

《大学作文辅助教程》和《商学院作文辅助教程》内有许多具体问题的建议。如果你面临的一个这里没覆盖到的有关具体的个人声明的题目，请你参考其他教程。