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Although this preliminary study of stylistic analysis of the SP genre produced interesting results, still my study was limited in scope by having only twenty-four SPs as the data and my analyzing only SPs submitted to one university program. Valid generalization cannot be made to the overall SP genre. As this kind of stylistic analysis in the SP genre is the first of its kind, I was not able to compare my findings. Additional studies on stylistic analysis in the SP genre will help me compare my findings and provide deeper insights of stylistic features to the prospective graduate students. Future researchers should conduct style analysis in SPs submitted to other departments, consider more stylistic markers (for example, cohesive devices, figures of speech, and sentence openers), and include greater sample numbers. Also, future researchers can focus on individual stylistic markers in more detail while analyzing SPs. Furthermore, a future researcher might undertake a comparison of how domestic and international students and/or native and non-native English speakers use the diction, sentence, and paragraphing in their SPs. Finally, it would be interesting to see the role of style in other student-produced genres, like the Master’s thesis and Doctoral dissertation.
My stylistic analysis of twenty-four SPs submitted to the MS in technical communication program at a U.S. university revealed the following commonalities among the applicants’ SPs:
- First-person personal pronouns were used as the persuasive tool to maintain personal style—a result consistent with Stewart’s (2002) suggestion of using first person in the SPs;
- A combination of long and short sentences was used as the persuasive tool to maintain engagement;
- Short sentences were used as the persuasive tool to maintain politeness;
- Simple sentences were used as the persuasive tool to maintain clarity;
- Loose sentences were used as the persuasive tool to maintain lucidity; and
- Varying paragraph lengths were used as the persuasive tool to grab attention and smoothe transition.
My twenty-four participants wrote their SPs independently, and they were given few instructions by the university about the content, organization, and style of the SP. The participants came from diverse backgrounds in terms of their educational and professional qualifications, countries of origin, and hobbies and interests. Yet, collectively they relied upon a common core of stylistic features in their SPs to persuade the audience. This common core suggests a shared understanding of the SP genre as social action (Miller, 1984). This social action occurred in response to a recurrent or typified rhetorical situation associated with a specific discourse community (in this case, the technical communication admission committee).
My study might not provide a ready-made answer to “how to write a statement of purpose” to prospective Master’s students; however, the common stylistic threads identified in my sample offer future students a glimpse of what stylistic choices were commonly and independently used by a small group of students to achieve two main purposes: gaining admission and securing funding. Pedagogically, my study can offer some style heuristics to students in technical communication and composition for understanding this genre. Educators can discuss this genre from a stylistic perspective with their undergraduate students and teach their students how to create a personal, engaging, lucid, consistent, and easily understandable SP by applying rhetorical style effectively.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author had no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.