杜克大學（以下簡稱杜大）是美國北卡羅來納州達勒姆的一所私立男女同校高等學府，1924年詹姆斯·杜克為紀念其父親華盛頓·杜克而創辦。到了現代，杜大成為當今主要的學習中心之一。杜大的醫學中心已贏得了世界聲譽，許多院系也持續位居美國最佳院系之列。杜大常以其研究成果和學術革新引起社會各界的關注，其教師也常被邀請擔任國內外許多學術和專業組織的負責人。

原文地址：http://www.duke.edu/web/english/graduate/applicationfaqs2.htm

What sorts of things are you looking for in the Statement of Purpose that is part of the Graduate School application? How important is this part of the application?
Within the English department we call the Statement of Purpose the Personal Statement, and it is just that: the place where you can speak in a direct, personal voice about your reasons for wanting to engage in doctoral study in English. The Personal Statement and Writing Sample are by far the most important parts of your application, and the parts you have most control over. While students at some institutions receive intensive coaching in the writing of their Personal Statement, others receive no help at all, so the following tips are offered in an attempt to level the playing field. Even if you are not being coached, do show your Personal Statement to the people who are writing letters for you, and to others whose opinion you value: this is a difficult genre to get just right, and other eyes will be a great help. Having read your statement will also help your recommenders to write better letters.

在英語系，PS就是SoP，它與writing sample構成了申請中最重要的部分。以下是PS的竅門.別人的建議將非常有用。

Pay attention to style and tone. Remember, the Personal Statement is the place to speak in a direct, personal voice. One of the skills that very good writers possess is that of fluently modulating between styles, and this is something we're looking for in your application. Thus, while we might expect complex language and lengthy sentences in your Writing Sample, in your Personal Statement you should strive to describe your interests using shorter sentences and more ordinary language. Avoid lapsing into long, complex sentences loaded with abstractions in your effort to fit everything in. As for tone, it can be easy to veer into what sounds like arrogance or false humility when describing your accomplishments (something we often avoid in polite conversation for just this reason). Try to be as straightforward and authentic as you can as a way to escape this: avoiding the temptation to provide a biography or list (see below) can also be helpful here. Showing your Personal Statement to other readers will help with both these issues.

注意形式與語氣，應該用直接的第一人稱。應該盡量用簡短直接的語言概括興趣。

Keep your audience in mind. Remember that you're speaking to people who are spending their lives in the field where you hope to study. You don't need to justify your interests for this audience in the way you might for friends or family. Instead, try to be as specific and detailed as possible about the things that you love studying and want to pursue further. Convey your enthusiasm as vividly as you can, but don't waste space justifying it.永遠記住讀者，盡量具體和詳細，生動的描述你的熱情，但是不要浪費筆墨。

Work for depth and focus, not a biography or a list. It is rarely effective to list all the courses where you've excelled, to attempt to provide a full intellectual biography, or to provide lengthy lists of theorists or literary writers who interest you. Instead, be selective (see below) and work for depth and focus. We'd really like to see you pursue and develop an idea, or a small cluster of related ideas, with all the depth and complexity possible within such a short statement. The rest of your application can do the work of telling us about your accomplishments and recounting your intellectual career thus far. If you feel that the application form doesn't fully represent what you have been doing, then consider submitting a short CV in addition to your other materials, rather than wasting your Personal Statement on this purpose. 要深刻和重點突出，不要寫成傳記。不要無所不言，把各個獎項列舉，應該有所選擇。

Choose anecdotes or examples carefully. There are several ways to craft a good Personal Statement: you should choose the one that feels best to you, or develop your own variation. Some people begin with a brief anecdote about a pivotal experience in their studies which led to their current interests. Pick a good story if you do this, obviously, and work on making a smooth transition to the in-depth description of your interests themselves. Some people begin with a concept that fascinates them, then follow out the connections to the kinds of reading and thinking they most enjoy. Make sure that this is clear and interesting and seems fully explained to people other than yourself. Some people begin by explaining how they became fascinated with one particular historical field (perhaps through a specific class, perhaps not), then go on to describe which particular topics and/or texts in that field they find especially interesting. Keep the explanation brief and limit your examples, rather than describing every class you've taken in this area in detail. Whichever method of zeroing in on the your ideas and enthusiasms you may choose, make sure to limit the number of examples or personal experiences and explain their implications fully.
選擇例子要認真謹慎。不要去描述，你參加過的每個課程。

Keep one eye on the future. Talk not just about what you've already done and thought, but about what you hope to do next. What ideas do you want to pursue further, and how? Any specific ideas you might have about how you might do this at Duke are definitely worth mentioning : do you want to work with particular faculty members? engage in some specific kind of interdisciplinary work that would be easy to do here? etc.不要談論你做了什么，還要注意沒有做什么，或者打算做什么。

If appropriate, explain possible concerns without being defensive. If your GREs or GPA are unusually low, or if your undergraduate record has some unusual aspect, then you might, at your discretion, want to include some brief acknowledgement, and possibly explanation, that could work to allay concerns about your future success that these features of your application might raise. You don't need to defend yourself: people are not machines, and plenty of successful people have blips in their official records. But a brief acknowledgement, usually appearing close to some statement of your future plans and goals, may be useful.

Keep it short. Remember that your audience may be reading more than 200 of these statements. Don't go beyond two pages; and feel free to manipulate font, margins, and spacing in order to achieve this goal, but not to any ridiculous extent: keep your statement easy to read.不要超過兩頁