how to write a purpose essay

9 Examples: How to Write a Purpose Statement

By Status.net Editorial Team on September 30, 2023 — 15 minutes to read

• Key Elements of a Purpose Statement Part 1
• How to Write a Purpose Statement Step-by-Step Part 2
• Identifying Your Goals Part 3
• Defining Your Audience Part 4
• Outlining Your Methods Part 5
• Stating the Expected Outcomes Part 6
• Purpose Statement Example for a Research Paper Part 7
• Purpose Statement Example For Personal Goals Part 8
• Purpose Statement Example For Business Objectives Part 9
• Purpose Statement Example For an Essay Part 10
• Purpose Statement Example For a Proposal Part 11
• Purpose Statement Example For a Report Part 12
• Purpose Statement Example For a Project Part 13
• Purpose Statement Templates Part 14

A purpose statement is a vital component of any project, as it sets the tone for the entire piece of work. It tells the reader what the project is about, why it’s important, and what the writer hopes to achieve.

Part 1 Key Elements of a Purpose Statement

When writing a purpose statement, there are several key elements that you should keep in mind. These elements will help you to create a clear, concise, and effective statement that accurately reflects your goals and objectives.

1. The Problem or Opportunity

The first element of a purpose statement is the problem or opportunity that you are addressing. This should be a clear and specific description of the issue that you are trying to solve or the opportunity that you are pursuing.

2. The Target Audience

The second element is the target audience for your purpose statement. This should be a clear and specific description of the group of people who will benefit from your work.

3. The Solution

The third element is the solution that you are proposing. This should be a clear and specific description of the action that you will take to address the problem or pursue the opportunity.

4. The Benefits

The fourth element is the benefits that your solution will provide. This should be a clear and specific description of the positive outcomes that your work will achieve.

5. The Action Plan

The fifth element is the action plan that you will follow to implement your solution. This should be a clear and specific description of the steps that you will take to achieve your goals.

Part 2 How to Write a Purpose Statement Step-by-Step

Writing a purpose statement is an essential part of any research project. It helps to clarify the purpose of your study and provides direction for your research. Here are some steps to follow when writing a purpose statement:

• Start with a clear research question: The first step in writing a purpose statement is to have a clear research question. This question should be specific and focused on the topic you want to research.
• Identify the scope of your study: Once you have a clear research question, you need to identify the scope of your study. This involves determining what you will and will not include in your research.
• Define your research objectives: Your research objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They should also be aligned with your research question and the scope of your study.
• Determine your research design: Your research design will depend on the nature of your research question and the scope of your study. You may choose to use a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approach.
• Write your purpose statement: Your purpose statement should be a clear and concise statement that summarizes the purpose of your study. It should include your research question, the scope of your study, your research objectives, and your research design.

Research question: What are the effects of social media on teenage mental health?

Scope of study: This study will focus on teenagers aged 13-18 in the United States.

Research objectives: To determine the prevalence of social media use among teenagers, to identify the types of social media used by teenagers, to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health, and to provide recommendations for parents, educators, and mental health professionals.

Research design: This study will use a mixed-methods approach, including a survey and interviews with teenagers and mental health professionals.

Purpose statement: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of social media on teenage mental health among teenagers aged 13-18 in the United States. The study will use a mixed-methods approach, including a survey and interviews with teenagers and mental health professionals. The research objectives are to determine the prevalence of social media use among teenagers, to identify the types of social media used by teenagers, to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health, and to provide recommendations for parents, educators, and mental health professionals.

Part 3 Section 1: Identifying Your Goals

Before you start writing your purpose statement, it’s important to identify your goals. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I want to achieve?
• What problem do I want to solve?
• What impact do I want to make?

Once you have a clear idea of your goals, you can start crafting your purpose statement. Your purpose statement should be a clear and concise statement that outlines the purpose of your work.

For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a business, your statement might look something like this:

“Our purpose is to provide high-quality products and services that improve the lives of our customers and contribute to the growth and success of our company.”

If you’re writing a purpose statement for a non-profit organization, your statement might look something like this:

“Our purpose is to improve the lives of underserved communities by providing access to education, healthcare, and other essential services.”

Remember, your purpose statement should be specific, measurable, and achievable. It should also be aligned with your values and goals, and it should inspire and motivate you to take action.

Part 4 Section 2: Defining Your Audience

Once you have established the purpose of your statement, it’s important to consider who your audience is. The audience for your purpose statement will depend on the context in which it will be used. For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a research paper, your audience will likely be your professor or academic peers. If you’re writing a purpose statement for a business proposal, your audience may be potential investors or clients.

Defining your audience is important because it will help you tailor your purpose statement to the specific needs and interests of your readers. You want to make sure that your statement is clear, concise, and relevant to your audience.

To define your audience, consider the following questions:

• Who will be reading your purpose statement?
• What is their level of knowledge or expertise on the topic?
• What are their needs and interests?
• What do they hope to gain from reading your purpose statement?

Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, you can begin to craft your purpose statement with their needs and interests in mind. This will help ensure that your statement is effective in communicating your goals and objectives to your readers.

For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a research paper on the effects of climate change on agriculture, your audience may be fellow researchers in the field of environmental science. In this case, you would want to make sure that your purpose statement is written in a way that is clear and concise, using technical language that is familiar to your audience.

Or, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a business proposal to potential investors, your audience may be less familiar with the technical aspects of your project. In this case, you would want to make sure that your purpose statement is written in a way that is easy to understand, using clear and concise language that highlights the benefits of your proposal.

The key to defining your audience is to put yourself in their shoes and consider what they need and want from your purpose statement.

Part 5 Section 3: Outlining Your Methods

After you have identified the purpose of your statement, it is time to outline your methods. This section should describe how you plan to achieve your goal and the steps you will take to get there. Here are a few tips to help you outline your methods effectively:

• Start with a general overview: Begin by providing a brief overview of the methods you plan to use. This will give your readers a sense of what to expect in the following paragraphs.
• Break down your methods: Break your methods down into smaller, more manageable steps. This will make it easier for you to stay organized and for your readers to follow along.
• Use bullet points: Bullet points can help you organize your ideas and make your methods easier to read. Use them to list the steps you will take to achieve your goal.
• Be specific: Make sure you are specific about the methods you plan to use. This will help your readers understand exactly what you are doing and why.
• Provide examples: Use examples to illustrate your methods. This will make it easier for your readers to understand what you are trying to accomplish.

Part 6 Section 4: Stating the Expected Outcomes

After defining the problem and the purpose of your research, it’s time to state the expected outcomes. This is where you describe what you hope to achieve by conducting your research. The expected outcomes should be specific and measurable, so you can determine if you have achieved your goals.

It’s important to be realistic when stating your expected outcomes. Don’t make exaggerated or false claims, and don’t promise something that you can’t deliver. Your expected outcomes should be based on your research question and the purpose of your study.

Here are some examples of expected outcomes:

• To identify the factors that contribute to employee turnover in the company.
• To develop a new marketing strategy that will increase sales by 20% within the next year.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a new training program for improving customer service.
• To determine the impact of social media on consumer behavior.

When stating your expected outcomes, make sure they align with your research question and purpose statement. This will help you stay focused on your goals and ensure that your research is relevant and meaningful.

In addition to stating your expected outcomes, you should also describe how you will measure them. This could involve collecting data through surveys, interviews, or experiments, or analyzing existing data from sources such as government reports or industry publications.

Part 7 Purpose Statement Example for a Research Paper

If you are writing a research paper, your purpose statement should clearly state the objective of your study. Here is an example of a purpose statement for a research paper:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of social media on the mental health of teenagers in the United States.

This purpose statement clearly states the objective of the study and provides a specific focus for the research.

Part 8 Purpose Statement Example For Personal Goals

When writing a purpose statement for your personal goals, it’s important to clearly define what you want to achieve and why. Here’s a template that can help you get started:

“I want to [goal] so that [reason]. I will achieve this by [action].”

Example: “I want to lose 10 pounds so that I can feel more confident in my body. I will achieve this by going to the gym three times a week and cutting out sugary snacks.”

Remember to be specific and realistic when setting your goals and actions, and to regularly review and adjust your purpose statement as needed.

Part 9 Purpose Statement Example For Business Objectives

If you’re writing a purpose statement for a business objective, this template can help you get started:

[Objective] [Action verb] [Target audience] [Outcome or benefit]

Here’s an example using this template:

Increase online sales by creating a more user-friendly website for millennial shoppers.

This purpose statement is clear and concise. It identifies the objective (increase online sales), the action verb (creating), the target audience (millennial shoppers), and the outcome or benefit (a more user-friendly website).

Part 10 Purpose Statement Example For an Essay

“The purpose of this essay is to examine the causes and consequences of climate change, with a focus on the role of human activities, and to propose solutions that can mitigate its impact on the environment and future generations.”

This purpose statement clearly states the subject of the essay (climate change), what aspects will be explored (causes, consequences, human activities), and the intended outcome (proposing solutions). It provides a clear roadmap for the reader and sets the direction for the essay.

Part 11 Purpose Statement Example For a Proposal

“The purpose of this proposal is to secure funding and support for the establishment of a community garden in [Location], aimed at promoting sustainable urban agriculture, fostering community engagement, and improving local access to fresh, healthy produce.”

Why this purpose statement is effective:

• The subject of the proposal is clear: the establishment of a community garden.
• The specific goals of the project are outlined: promoting sustainable urban agriculture, fostering community engagement, and improving local access to fresh produce.
• The overall objective of the proposal is evident: securing funding and support.

Part 12 Purpose Statement Example For a Report

“The purpose of this report is to analyze current market trends in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, assess consumer preferences and buying behaviors, and provide strategic recommendations to guide [Company Name] in entering this growing market segment.”

• The subject of the report is provided: market trends in the electric vehicle industry.
• The specific goals of the report are analysis of market trends, assessment of consumer preferences, and strategic recommendations.
• The overall objective of the report is clear: providing guidance for the company’s entry into the EV market.

Part 13 Purpose Statement Example For a Project

“The purpose of this project is to design and implement a new employee wellness program that promotes physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace.”

This purpose statement clearly outlines the objective of the project, which is to create a new employee wellness program. The program is designed to promote physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace, which is a key concern for many employers. By implementing this program, the company aims to improve employee health, reduce absenteeism, and increase productivity. The purpose statement is concise and specific, providing a clear direction for the project team to follow. It highlights the importance of the project and its potential benefits for the company and its employees.

Part 14 Purpose Statement Templates

When writing a purpose statement, it can be helpful to use a template to ensure that you cover all the necessary components:

Template 1: To [action] [target audience] in order to [outcome]

This template is a straightforward way to outline your purpose statement. Simply fill in the blanks with the appropriate information:

• The purpose of […] is
• To [action]: What action do you want to take?
• [Target audience]: Who is your target audience?
• In order to [outcome]: What outcome do you hope to achieve?

For example:

• The purpose of our marketing campaign is to increase brand awareness among young adults in urban areas, in order to drive sales and revenue growth.
• The purpose of our employee training program is to improve customer service skills among our frontline staff, in order to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• The purpose of our new product launch is to expand our market share in the healthcare industry, by offering a unique solution to the needs of elderly patients with chronic conditions.

Template 2: This [project/product] is designed to [action] [target audience] by [method] in order to [outcome].

This template is useful for purpose statements that involve a specific project or product. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information:

• This [project/product]: What is your project or product?
• Is designed to [action]: What action do you want to take?
• By [method]: What method will you use to achieve your goal?
• This app is designed to provide personalized nutrition advice to athletes by analyzing their training data in order to optimize performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key elements of a purpose statement.

A purpose statement should clearly communicate the main goal or objective of your writing. It should be concise and specific, providing a clear direction for your work. The key elements of a purpose statement include the topic or subject matter, the intended audience, and the overall goal or objective of your writing.

How can a purpose statement benefit your writing?

A purpose statement can help you stay focused and on track when writing. It can also help you to avoid going off-topic or getting bogged down in unnecessary details. By clearly identifying the main goal or objective of your writing, a purpose statement can help you to stay organized and ensure that your writing is effective and impactful.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a purpose statement?

One common mistake is being too vague or general in your purpose statement. Another mistake is making your purpose statement too long or complex, which can make it difficult to understand. Additionally, it’s important to avoid including unnecessary information or details that are not directly relevant to your main goal or objective.

How can you tailor your purpose statement to your audience?

When writing a purpose statement, it’s important to consider your audience and their needs. You should tailor your purpose statement to your audience by using language and terminology that they will understand. You should also consider their level of knowledge or expertise on the subject matter and adjust your purpose statement accordingly.

What are some effective templates for writing a purpose statement?

There are many effective templates for writing a purpose statement, but one common approach is to use the following structure: “The purpose of this writing is to [insert goal or objective] for [insert audience] regarding [insert topic or subject matter].”

Can you provide examples of successful purpose statements?

• “The purpose of this report is to provide an analysis of the current market trends and make recommendations for future growth strategies for our company.”
• “The purpose of this essay is to explore the impact of social media on modern communication and its implications for society.”
• “The purpose of this proposal is to secure funding for a new community center that will provide educational and recreational opportunities for local residents.”
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Thesis and Purpose Statements

Use the guidelines below to learn the differences between thesis and purpose statements.

In the first stages of writing, thesis or purpose statements are usually rough or ill-formed and are useful primarily as planning tools.

A thesis statement or purpose statement will emerge as you think and write about a topic. The statement can be restricted or clarified and eventually worked into an introduction.

As you revise your paper, try to phrase your thesis or purpose statement in a precise way so that it matches the content and organization of your paper.

Thesis statements

A thesis statement is a sentence that makes an assertion about a topic and predicts how the topic will be developed. It does not simply announce a topic: it says something about the topic.

Good: X has made a significant impact on the teenage population due to its . . . Bad: In this paper, I will discuss X.

A thesis statement makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of the paper. It summarizes the conclusions that the writer has reached about the topic.

A thesis statement is generally located near the end of the introduction. Sometimes in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or an entire paragraph.

A thesis statement is focused and specific enough to be proven within the boundaries of the paper. Key words (nouns and verbs) should be specific, accurate, and indicative of the range of research, thrust of the argument or analysis, and the organization of supporting information.

Purpose statements

A purpose statement announces the purpose, scope, and direction of the paper. It tells the reader what to expect in a paper and what the specific focus will be.

Common beginnings include:

“This paper examines . . .,” “The aim of this paper is to . . .,” and “The purpose of this essay is to . . .”

A purpose statement makes a promise to the reader about the development of the argument but does not preview the particular conclusions that the writer has drawn.

A purpose statement usually appears toward the end of the introduction. The purpose statement may be expressed in several sentences or even an entire paragraph.

A purpose statement is specific enough to satisfy the requirements of the assignment. Purpose statements are common in research papers in some academic disciplines, while in other disciplines they are considered too blunt or direct. If you are unsure about using a purpose statement, ask your instructor.

This paper will examine the ecological destruction of the Sahel preceding the drought and the causes of this disintegration of the land. The focus will be on the economic, political, and social relationships which brought about the environmental problems in the Sahel.

Sample purpose and thesis statements

The following example combines a purpose statement and a thesis statement (bold).

The goal of this paper is to examine the effects of Chile’s agrarian reform on the lives of rural peasants. The nature of the topic dictates the use of both a chronological and a comparative analysis of peasant lives at various points during the reform period. . . The Chilean reform example provides evidence that land distribution is an essential component of both the improvement of peasant conditions and the development of a democratic society. More extensive and enduring reforms would likely have allowed Chile the opportunity to further expand these horizons.

For more tips about writing thesis statements, take a look at our new handout on Developing a Thesis Statement.

Writing Process and Structure

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Getting Started with Your Paper

Interpreting Writing Assignments from Your Courses

Generating Ideas for Your Paper

Creating an Argument

Thesis vs. Purpose Statements

Developing a Thesis Statement

Architecture of Arguments

Working with Sources

Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources

Using Literary Quotations

Citing Sources in Your Paper

Drafting Your Paper

Introductions

Paragraphing

Developing Strategic Transitions

Conclusions

Revising Your Paper

Peer Reviews

Reverse Outlines

Revising an Argumentative Paper

Revision Strategies for Longer Projects

Finishing Your Paper

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

How to Proofread your Paper

Writing Collaboratively

Collaborative and Group Writing

How to Write a Statement of Purpose That Stands Out

Defining What Is a Statement of Purpose and Its Importance

A Statement of Purpose (SOP) is more than a paper; it demonstrates your aims, ambitions, and goals. Creating an effective Statement of Purpose, a crucial part of a graduate school application, is necessary for anyone hoping to enter a university, seek employment, or transition to a new profession. When unsure what is a statement of purpose, remember that this piece of writing is your ticket to show off your individual qualities, qualifications, and abilities and prove that you're the best choice. So, whether you are a graduate student, a professional, or an individual with an ambition to become an entrepreneur, a statement of purpose excellently crafted can be the key to achieving your ambitions.

It typically outlines why a student has chosen to apply for a graduate program, including their understanding of the subject and past experiences. It provides the admissions office with an accurate representation of their character. To make the most of your application, it's a good idea to list your long-term goals and how you want to reach them, like finishing school. The admissions team doesn't know you, so you must tell them who you are and why you're the right candidate. Your statement of purpose is the best way to do that.

It's not just your character and enthusiasm for further study that a statement of purpose will show; it'll also give a glimpse of your writing ability. When constructing your statement, pay special attention to the fundamentals, such as grammar and punctuation. Demonstrate your vision of storytelling and showcase your capacity to sell yourself; admissions officers are discerning and will judge you critically. Make sure to keep the big picture in mind and portray yourself as a driven individual in terms of future career ambitions and all areas of life.

To gain a better insight into this concept, let's delve into the following parts, where our psychology essay writing service breaks down useful details such as how long should a statement of purpose be or what's a template for statement of purpose. Let's create an irrefutable statement that the admissions committee cannot overlook!

Proper Statement of Purpose Format

The first step towards mastering how to write a statement of purpose for grad school is knowing its proper formatting. The format is very similar to any other one. These papers, however, do not require research and sources. There's also no need for a title page and a works cited section—as you will not use sources in the statement of purpose format. However, be sure to start with a header.

The formatting of a statement of purpose is as follows:

• Header: [Your Name] - [Program/Field of Study]
• 12-point Times New Roman (or similar) font;
• 1-inch margins on all sides;
• 1.5 line spacing;
• Up to 2 pages in length;

The statement of purpose graduate school format requires a basic formality that shows that you follow the principles of academic writing and can present yourself professionally. Let's jump right into how to start a statement of purpose properly.

How to Write a Statement of Purpose: Steps + Outline

The best way to craft a powerful statement of purpose is to look into the program and decide what you want to get out of it and the experiences you want to have. Making a statement of purpose outline that highlights the main points and helps you stay focused is a great next step. Moving forward, we will guide you through every step of constructing your statement, from refining and editing it with exact language to avoiding common mistakes.

Start with a Statement of Purpose Outline

Make a rough outline of your professional experience. In your statement of purpose, you should surely mention any research projects you have finished or any relevant knowledge you have acquired in the sector. Create a section where you could share anything pertinent, such as your senior project, undergraduate thesis, articles you've written or edited, etc.

Plan a part where you go into detail about your research interests. Be explicit in your response. Instead of merely saying that you want to study anthropology, for instance, talk about your genuine interest in understanding the diversity of human experiences and explaining how societies and cultures have evolved over time.

Introduction: How to Start a Statement of Purpose?

So how to start statement of purpose that comes off strong and hooks the reader right off the bat? It's not that complicated so don't overthink it. At the beginning of your thesis, simply introduce yourself, including your educational and professional background and the career goal or objective you aim to achieve with this particular program and its coursework.

Talking about your passion for cooking when applying for medical school will not help you, nor will it be a part of your achievements. Any information you provide in your presentation must relate to specific program areas. In addition, think carefully about the subject of relationships in your essay, as it may create a double impression.

Body: Making an Impression with Your Statement of Purpose

Don't be shy about praising yourself in the latter paragraphs. There is no place for modesty. Be honest about your successes without boasting. Keep in mind that you want to dazzle the admissions panels! Name the people you wish to collaborate with. In your business statement of purpose, for example, note any particular math or economics teachers you hope to collaborate with throughout your graduate study. You must customize this for each school and program you apply to.

If there are any gaps or issues in your academic background, be sure to explain them. Taking a break between your undergrad and grad school is fine; just let them know what happened.

You should spend at least one lengthy paragraph on the subjects that fascinate you. Describe the modern theories, authors, thinkers, or subjects that interest and inspire you. You may even ask someone about their academic and professional interests. This adds spice to your work and demonstrates your capacity to develop research topics.

Conclusion: How to End Statement of Purpose?

The ending should be memorable. So how to end statement of purpose on a strong note? Well, wrapping your personal statement up with the main points and stressing how much you want to be part of the program or job would be a good start.

A strong ending should make the reader feel sure you know what you're doing and enthusiastic about what you can do. To round it all off, think about what you want to accomplish in the future and how this program or position can help you get there. Additionally, you can express your gratitude for being allowed to apply and reiterate your enthusiasm for the program or position.

Polishing Up: Review and Proofread Your Statement of Purpose

Don't neglect revision! Read your work out loud. Although your statement of purpose is written for an audience of scholars and can contain technical language, it should still sound nice. Reading your essay out loud is an effective way to guarantee that it flows smoothly and has no clumsy phrases, overly long sentences, or other difficulties.

Ask a professor to scrutinize your statement. People in your field of study will understand what makes a powerful statement of purpose.

After you've written and revised the statement of purpose and a few professors approve, they're ready for the final polish. You'll read your essay carefully and see if there's a typo or any other error.

Want to Join Fellow Grad Students Soon?

Share your academic interests with our PRO writers, and they will craft you a compelling SOP in your own words!

Statement of Purpose Example

Here is a free statement of purpose example you may use to master how to write a statement of purpose and its formatting. Avoid rewriting someone else's work. As we have said before, be unique and genuine.

SOP for Masters of Arts in Teaching Middle Grades Language Arts

If you enjoyed the given example, you can easily buy essay papers online on our platform!

Statement of Purpose Example:

Need more academic help.

Doubting the quality of your business statement of purpose? Or do you want to make it shine compared to other applicants? You should take a look at our writing service! Our team of professional writers can provide you with a strong sample statement of purpose customized to your specifications.

Our service is designed to help you put your best foot forward and get accepted into the program of your choice. So if you want to give your masters statement of purpose that extra oomph, say " write my personal statement for me " and let our DISSERTATION WRITERS FOR HIRE lend a hand and help you get there.

And if you don't know how to cite APA in essay or you need help writing a political science essay , you can rely on us for that too!

Want to Pursue Graduate Study Soon?

Get closer to your dream graduate degree by crafting an uncontested purpose statement. For that, rely on our expert writers!

FAQs on Writing a Statement of Purpose

A lot of candidates are curious about the process, from what to put in their statements to how to arrange their writing. Luckily, there are answers to these common queries that can help point you in the right direction.

How Long Should a Statement of Purpose Be?

What are the 5 tips for writing a good statement of purpose, what not to write in a statement of purpose.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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How to Write a Statement of Purpose: Tips, Guidelines, and Statement of Purpose Examples

Success in college and grad school applications begins with knowing how to write a statement of purpose. A statement of purpose should succinctly express your goals, stand out among others, and convince the selection committee that you are well-suited for the program.

According to Statista, the projected number of master’s degree recipients for the 2022 to 2023 academic year is 836,000. The statement of purpose examples provided in this guide will help you shine in your college application and get into the graduate program of your dreams. Keep reading to learn some quick tips for beginning and ending a good statement of purpose.

Find your bootcamp match

What is a statement of purpose.

A statement of purpose is a graduate school application essay that articulates one’s interests, academic and professional experience, career goals, accomplishments, and reason for applying to the program. It is written by the prospective student and is a prerequisite for graduate and undergraduate college admissions.

A statement of purpose is your chance to tell the admissions committee who you are, how you can impact the academic community, and why you are an attractive candidate. If you want to get accepted into a good college , it is necessary to learn how to write a statement of purpose.

What Are the Parts of a Statement of Purpose?

• Introduction. You should start your statement of purpose by introducing yourself. Focus on your academic interests and what motivated you to pick your particular field. The admissions team has a large number of applications to review, so it’s vital to highlight your background and interest in your program of choice.
• A summary of your academic journey. Your academic record is a vital part of your statement of purpose. To qualify for a graduate program and start your chosen career path, you must state where you obtained your undergraduate degree. Place attention on your undergraduate thesis and how it has impacted your academic and career choices.
• A description of relevant experiences and accomplishments. Discuss relevant personal experience you have in your fields such as jobs, internships, or volunteer work, and indicate what your responsibilities were. This part of your essay should be original as it’s your chance to show a more personal side of yourself to the selection committee.
• Conclusion. End your statement of purpose by briefly stating your long-term goals . Explain how the program will prepare you to accomplish your future plans. Be clear and precise when you articulate your professional goals and ensure they relate to your program of choice.

How to Write a Statement of Purpose: Beginning and Ending

As with any piece of writing, it can be difficult to decide how to begin or end a statement of purpose. Read the guidelines below to learn how to keep your reader engaged from start to finish.

How to Begin a Statement of Purpose

If you’ve ever written a personal statement, writing a statement of purpose might seem quite similar. However, a statement of purpose is a formal academic piece that tells the reader about your career plans, not about who you are. It requires a slightly different approach. Your statement of purpose needs to stand out.

Your opening paragraph helps readers form their first impression of you and assess your academic proficiency. Starting with a famous short quote is a fun way to relate to the program or tell the committee relevant details about yourself. You want to highlight your academic interest, your passion for the field of study, and the motivating factor behind your choice of program.

How to End a Statement of Purpose

The closing paragraph must convey a sense of completeness and flow from the central theme of your essay. You should end your statement of purpose by restating its strongest points. Make sure not to include any information that shifts from the contents of the main body of the essay.

Show some enthusiasm by ending your statement of purpose on a positive note. Show the reader that you’re excited about the program and are prepared to take on the responsibilities that it entails. Ending your essay is just as important as starting it as it’s the impression that will linger for the admissions team.

How to Write a Statement of Purpose: 5 More Useful Tips

Don’t Tell Your Life Story

While you may be trying to intrigue the reader and catch their attention, avoid excessive storytelling in your essay. The admissions committee prefer concise essays that explain a person’s academic goals and career objectives, so don’t waste time sharing personal experiences that are irrelevant to your application.

Customize Your Essay

A common mistake many students make is using one essay as a template for all of their different school applications. Every school has diverse characteristics and requirements, so it’s important to customize your statement of purpose to suit each school or program. You want to show the team that you’re attentive to detail and not cutting corners.

Show Your Qualifications

You want to convince the reader that you are an ideal candidate for the program, so be elaborate and specific about the area of study you are interested in and show your qualifications. Include a summary of your academic journey, relevant extracurricular activities, accomplishments, and work experiences that relate to the program.

Use a Formal but Conversational Tone

You want to use a formal yet conversational tone when writing a statement of purpose. Although you want to be professional, your essay should also be conversational and engaging. Do your best to maintain a balance between incorporating the required information in a formal and concise way and letting the reader get a sense of your personality.

Proofread Your Essay

Proofreading is a critical phase in any writing process. Read over your statement of purpose several times to spot any grammatical errors or writing inconsistencies. We recommend having someone else proofread your essay to gain a third-person perspective and be prepared.

Statement of Purpose Examples to Help You Get Accepted Into College or Graduate School

Now that you’ve learned how to write a statement of purpose, we’ve drafted a few examples to help you write a strong statement of purpose and nail your graduate school application.

Statement of Purpose Example 1: Culinary Arts Statement of Purpose

“A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.” I was eight years old and the youngest at the kid’s culinary camp when I first heard this quote by Thomas Keller. I remember writing it down and immediately picturing what it would look like engraved on the wall of my restaurant. That’s the day I knew I wanted to be a cook. My high school days exposed me to recreational cooking classes where I gained hands-on experience and knowledge about different elements of the food industry. My interest in culinary arts was further fueled by encounters I had with culinary entrepreneurs from around the world, from winemakers in France and chefs in Mexico to local food truck owners across my street.

I developed my leadership skills when I started a cooking club at my high school. I followed this ambition to college where I hosted the school’s first mini chef-style competition. My culinary journey continued when I took up cooking as a community service project and volunteered at a homeless shelter in California. I learned about flavors from different cultures, which I hope to share with guests at my restaurant, someday. This experience motivated me to take a course in sustainable food and agriculture, fulfilling my intellectual curiosity about food and nutritional security.

One of the driving factors behind seeking admission into your culinary program is the prospect of working with Chef André. His intriguing recipes and diet planners are promising areas for advanced study on sustainable diet and food security. I would be thrilled to work with him and explore my interest in these topics. I am also drawn to your extensive curriculum featuring culinary innovations, and your yearly seminars and conferences that bring together the best culinary experts from around the world. With my academic background, experience, and passion for culinary arts, I believe I am a perfect candidate for your program.

I am very proud of my ability to carry my passion for culinary arts from my childhood to this stage with the limited resources that I had. When I visit the cities of New York and California, I feel connected with my culinary journey, which further fuels my passion. With this program, I aim to acquire skills that are crucial to the evolution of my practice as a professional chef and restaurant owner.

Statement of Purpose Example 2: Mechanical Engineering Statement of Purpose

My journey to mechanical engineering began with an obsession with taking apart and rebuilding random objects around my family house. Soon after, this curiosity metamorphosed into an overarching desire to become a part of the engineering community. My passion for building began to evolve into creating. I was modifying everyday objects to make them look less conventional. By the time I was 17, I had built a remote-control mini drone.

My undergraduate studies in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Denver Institute of Technology have provided me with vast knowledge about different areas of the engineering field, such as thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and machinery kinetics. In college, I was focused on creating designs that improved the efficiency and safety of objects rather than just modifying their appearance. For my undergraduate project, I designed and fabricated a burglary-proof door. For about a year and a half, I worked as a junior engineer at Hawks Automobile. My responsibilities involved research before I was transferred to the design team after a few months. Some of my designs were integrated into their inventions and I hope to create more designs for future innovations across top-level engineering companies.

With my experience in both the academic and industry aspects of mechanical engineering, I look forward to working with experts to design prototypes that solve more complex human problems. I am certain that your master’s program will give me the skills and knowledge I need to excel as a trained professional in the engineering industry. The insights I will have learned from your program will equip me to tackle industry-level challenges with interdisciplinary solutions. This will help me gain a competitive advantage in the mechanical engineering job field.

Engineering has been an essential part of my life. I look forward to deepening my understanding of engineering concepts from a research perspective to reinforce my drive and natural predisposition to the field of mechanical engineering.

How to Use Statement of Purpose Examples to Write Your Own

Using a sample statement provided, you should be able to write a powerful statement of purpose that will leave a lasting impression on the admissions officers. Follow the guidelines and steps outlined in this article to write an original, motivating and truthful statement of purpose.

Now that you know how to write an effective statement of purpose, you’re one step closer to confidently acing the admissions process and walking through the gates of your dream school. We recommend you get acquainted with commonly asked college interview questions and have a look at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment outlook for graduate-level occupations .

How to Write a Statement of Purpose FAQ

No, a statement of purpose does not require any title or labels. The most important function of a statement of purpose is to express the candidate’s academic interest, future career goals, and reasons for wanting to join their program of choice.

A typical statement of purpose has an average word count of 800-1000 words and should not go beyond one to two pages. However, the range of 800-1000 words is not the standard word count, as some schools set their minimum word count to 500 and the maximum word count to 1200 words. Make sure to read the application instructions carefully.

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No, you don’t need to write your name on a statement of purpose unless otherwise stated in the application instructions. Your essay is one part of the admissions bundle required by the admissions office during the application process. Your application already contains your name, so you do not need to include it in the statement of purpose.

A statement of purpose is important because it’s a requisite for prospective students. It helps articulate your interests and goals and is one of the defining factors in whether or not you’re admitted into your dream school. For these reasons, it’s important to have a carefully crafted statement of purpose.

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How to Write a Statement of Purpose for Graduate School

Congrats! You’ve chosen a graduate program , read up on tips for applying to grad school , and even wrote a focused grad school resumé . But if you’re like many students, you’ve left the most daunting part of the application process for last—writing a statement of purpose. The good news is, the task doesn’t have to feel so overwhelming, as long as you break the process down into simple, actionable steps. Below, learn how to write a strong, unique statement of purpose that will impress admissions committees and increase your chances of getting into your dream school.

What is a statement of purpose?

A statement of purpose (SOP), sometimes referred to as a personal statement, is a critical piece of a graduate school application that tells admissions committees who you are, what your academic and professional interests are, and how you’ll add value to the graduate program you’re applying to.

Jared Pierce, associate director of enrollment services at Northeastern University, says a strong statement of purpose can be the deciding factor in a graduate student’s admission.  

“Your statement of purpose is where you tell your story about who you are and why you deserve to be a part of the [university’s] community. It gives the admissions committee the chance to get to know you and understand how you’ll add value to the classroom,” he says.

How long should a statement of purpose be?

“A statement of purpose should be between 500 and 1,000 words,” Pierce says, noting that it should typically not exceed a single page. He advises that students use a traditional font at a readable size (11- or 12-pt) and leave enough whitespace in the margins to make the statement easy-to-read. Make sure to double-space the statement if the university has requested it, he adds. 

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How to Write a Statement of Purpose: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now that you understand how to format a statement of purpose, you can begin drafting your own. Getting started can feel daunting, but Pierce suggests making the process more manageable by breaking down the writing process into four easy steps.

1. Brainstorm your ideas.

First, he says, try to reframe the task at hand and get excited for the opportunity to write your statement of purpose. He explains:

“Throughout the application process, you’re afforded few opportunities to address the committee directly. Here is your chance to truly speak directly to them. Each student arrives at this process with a unique story, including prior jobs, volunteer experience, or undergraduate studies. Think about what makes you you and start outlining.”

When writing your statement of purpose, he suggests asking yourself these key questions:

• Why do I want this degree?
• What are my expectations for this degree?
• What courses or program features excite me the most?
• Where do I want this degree to take me, professionally and personally?
• How will my unique professional and personal experiences add value to the program?

Jot these responses down to get your initial thoughts on paper. This will act as your starting point that you’ll use to create an outline and your first draft.

2. Develop an outline.

Next, you’ll want to take the ideas that you’ve identified during the brainstorming process and plug them into an outline that will guide your writing. 

An effective outline for your statement of purpose might look something like this:

• An attention-grabbing hook
• A brief introduction of yourself and your background as it relates to your motivation behind applying to graduate school 
• Your professional goals as they relate to the program you’re applying to
• Why you’re interested in the specific school and what you can bring to the table
• A brief summary of the information presented in the body that emphasizes your qualifications and compatibility with the school

An outline like the one above will give you a roadmap to follow so that your statement of purpose is well-organized and concise. 

3. Write the first draft.

Your statement of purpose should communicate who you are and why you are interested in a particular program, but it also needs to be positioned in a way that differentiates you from other applicants. 

Admissions professionals already have your transcripts, resumé, and test scores; the statement of purpose is your chance to tell your story in your own words.

When you begin drafting content, make sure to:

• Provide insight into what drives you , whether that’s professional advancement, personal growth, or both.
• Demonstrate your interest in the school by addressing the unique features of the program that interest you most. For Northeastern, he says, maybe it’s experiential learning; you’re excited to tackle real-world projects in your desired industry. Or perhaps it’s learning from faculty who are experts in your field of study.
• Be yourself. It helps to keep your audience in mind while writing, but don’t forget to let your personality shine through. It’s important to be authentic when writing your statement to show the admissions committee who you are and why your unique perspective will add value to the program.

4. Edit and refine your work.

Before you submit your statement of purpose:

• Make sure you’ve followed all directions thoroughly , including requirements about margins, spacing, and font size.
• Proofread carefully for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Remember that a statement of purpose should be between 500 and 1,000 words. If you’ve written far more than this, read through your statement again and edit for clarity and conciseness. Less is often more; articulate your main points strongly and get rid of any “clutter.”
• Walk away and come back later with a fresh set of eyes. Sometimes your best ideas come when you’re not sitting and staring at your computer.
• Ask someone you trust to read your statement before you submit it.

Making a Lasting Impression

Your statement of purpose can leave a lasting impression if done well, Pierce says. It provides you with the opportunity to highlight your unique background and skills so that admissions professionals understand why you’re the ideal candidate for the program that you’re applying to. If nothing else, stay focused on what you uniquely bring to the classroom, the program, and the campus community. If you do that, you’ll excel.

To learn more tricks and tips for submitting an impressive graduate school application, explore our related Grad School Success articles .

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in March 2017. It has since been updated for thoroughness and accuracy.

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Need to write a graduate school statement of purpose, but not sure where to start? Let us guide you through how to write a statement of purpose for grad school!

We’ll go over what a statement of purpose, or letter of intent, for grad school is and how it’s different from other admissions essays like personal statements. Then we’ll discuss what schools are looking for in a statement of purpose for graduate school. Finally, we’ll give advice on how to write one!

What Is a Grad School Statement of Purpose?

If you’re on this page, you probably know that a statement of purpose (AKA a letter of intent) is an essay requested by lots of graduate programs as part of their application process. But there’s more to it than that.

A statement of purpose is where you tell the admissions committee why you’re interested in a particular graduate program, the kind of work you plan on doing when you’re there, and why you in particular should be doing that work.  At more research-focused programs, like PhDs, the graduate school statement of purpose will be focused on your research skills and interests. At more professionally-focused programs, like MPPs and MBAs, the statement will more closely address your professional skills and goals.

It’s important to note that a statement of purpose is not the same thing as a personal statement. What’s the difference? Well, a grad school statement of purpose is more closely focused on your academic/professional qualities, accomplishments, and goals, while a personal statement is more concerned with you as an overall person. Personal statements allow for you to be more personal. There’s definitely some overlap in that both will expect you to address your goals and interests in the field, but a statement of purpose generally has a slightly tighter focus.

Of course, the demarcation between a statement of a purpose and a personal statement won’t always be hard-and-fast. Some programs will call the essay that they want a personal statement, but most of the questions they offer to guide you are academic/professional. Others will ask for a statement of purpose but provide sample essays laden with personal anecdotes and experiences. Still others will ask for a “personal statement/statement of purpose.” Graduate school admissions processes are, alas, not totally consistent across programs even within the same field.

You can allow the information available on the admissions website to guide the direction of your graduate school statement of purpose. However, if they don’t provide further specifications, the general scheme holds: A statement of purpose = tight focus on academic work/research and a personal statement = broader picture of you as a person (including academic goals).

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Some programs ask for a graduate school letter of intent instead of an essay. A letter of intent for graduate school is very similar to a statement of purpose in content and focus. You’ll just structure it a little more like an actual letter by addressing your writing to the admissions committee and signing your name.

What Are Schools Looking for in a Statement of Purpose?

Now that we’ve provided a brief overview of what a statement of purpose is, let’s consider what programs are looking for in a statement of purpose or grad school letter of intent more specifically. There may be some small variation in what different programs are looking for; you should consult any available guidelines for each program. However, here are the specific elements that most graduate programs will be looking for in a statement of purpose:

Your Research and Professional Interests

One of the main things programs will be looking for in your graduate school statement of purpose is a description of the research and/or professional interests you want to develop in their program. For a research-focused program (like pretty much all PhDs and some master’s programs), you’ll target this more specifically to the research projects you would like to do while you there.

For more professionally-focused graduate programs, there may not be much a built-in research component. In this case, focus more on your specific interests within the degree field and what related skills you’re trying to build through the program.

It’s best to be as specific as possible in discussing what interests you. Don’t be vague or say that everything in the field appeals to you. This will make you seem both unfocused and boring. Instead, use particular examples of situations or phenomena that you find exciting. You want everything about your grad school statement of purpose to be intriguing and memorable!

Don’t worry that your statement of purpose will box you into a particular research area. Admissions committees understand that interests change, especially as you become more immersed in a field. However, having a focused plan helps reassure admissions committees that you are motivated and will actually be able to complete the program.

How Your Background Qualifies You

The next essential component admissions offices will be looking for is evidence of how your background qualifies you to pursue this particular field and area of interest (and research area if applicable). What brought you to these particular interests? You can describe your undergraduate studies, relevant professional experience, any major projects you’ve worked on, papers you’ve written, talks you’ve given, mentors you’ve worked with, and so on. Don’t just tell the admissions committees what makes you particularly suited to what you’re pursuing—show it with specific, vivid examples.

A Track Record of Success

Admissions committees will also be looking for a proven record of academic and personal success. Your accomplishments will almost certainly overlap with your background and qualifications. Just keep in mind that you’ll want to emphasize major accomplishments that highlight your ability to succeed in the rigorous graduate school environment!

What Interests You in the Program

At every program you’re applying to, you should be able to speak to particular things about that program that appeal to you. Are there specific professors you want to work with? Does the department have a specific focus that gels well with yours? Is there something special or particular about the curriculum you’re excited to take advantage of?

You should also demonstrate how you (and your research/work) fit in with the program. Why is it a match? What do you bring? Again, admissions committees will want you to show, not tell.

Your Passion for the Field

Admissions officers will also be looking for you to show genuine passion for your field and research/professional area of interest. Why are you planning on devoting your life to this thing? Remain professional, but communicate your excitement!

It’s become a common refrain, but be specific. You won’t stand out—at least not in a good way—if you write things that are vague, cliche, and/or grandiose. Stay away from things like “I love engineering,” or “Ever since I was a child I knew I wanted to be a lawyer.”

And don’t just say that you’re interested in disease pathology because you want to help people or save the world. It’s fine to mention an altruistic motive, but you should be specific and particular when articulating what you’re passionate about within your field. So instead, say something like “Volunteering with HIV-positive individuals in a community program impressed upon me the critical importance of improving our understanding of HIV. I feel driven to work towards improved treatments with fewer side effects.”

Your Writing Skills

Graduate school invariably involves writing, and usually lots of it. Admissions committees will be looking to your statement of purpose (and any other writing you submit with your application) to make sure you have the writing skills necessarily to succeed in a graduate program. So you want your statement to be well-organized and clearly communicate your ideas. Admissions committees will also be looking for your statement of purpose to be descriptive but concise; a statement of purpose for graduate school shouldn’t be longer than two pages even if there’s no hard word limit. You also want your writing style to stand out. While you shouldn’t use an overly familiar tone, you also don’t want to be too staid and buttoned-up. You definitely don’t want to bore anyone reading your essay!

How to Write a Statement of Purpose for Grad School

When you sit down to write your statement of purpose, there are two major components to consider: content (what you’re going to say) and style (how you’re going to say it). Content is what makes up the underlying bones of your statement of purpose/letter of intent. Graduate schools care about both content and style, but during the writing process, it makes sense to focus first on content and then consider style more closely when you know what you want to say.

This nine-step guide will walk you through how to write a statement of purpose for grad school.

Step 1: Brainstorming

The first step is to generate ideas for what to include in your grad school statement of purpose. This should include many of the elements we addressed in the previous section. As you brainstorm, it’s fine to start with more general statements and ideas and then hone in on more specific examples to include in your statement. But thinking of specific examples in advance will make writing the actual statement of purpose much easier!

There are many brainstorming methods you could consider. Some people like making lists while others prefer to just free-write paragraphs. Some would rather draw a mind map or even make voice memos. Just so long as it helps you record the information and get your brain going, any method is fine.

Here are some things to consider in your brainstorming session, with brainstorming questions for each:

Your research/professional interests in the field

• What interests you most in your field? Consider what you’ve researched/done before, and how closely you want your future interests to hew to what you’ve done in the past.
• Are there particular themes, methods, theories, etc. that interest you?
• What problems are you hoping to solve or address through your work/future career?

Your research/professional background and qualifications

• What major projects have you worked on? Did you write a thesis? Do an amazing internship? Work on a research project? Build an app? Create a curriculum? Have clinical experience?
• Have you presented at any conferences? Do you have any papers published?
• If you have work experience, how is it relevant to your program? What competencies and skills did you build there that carry over to your planned research/work?

Your major accomplishments

• Any major accomplishments not covered in your background/qualifications? Try to tie them back to your ability to succeed in graduate school and your specific research/professional endeavors.

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What’s appealing about the specific programs you’re applying to

• Are there specific professors you want to work with?
• Do they have resources especially suited to your research/professional interests? Like particular classes or special programs?
• How will your work fit there?

Why you’re passionate about the field

• What made you initially interested?
• What goals are you passionate about accomplishing?
• What do you find particularly fascinating or intriguing in your field?

Weaknesses to address

Are there any weaknesses in your application you need to address? If you have a semester with very low grades or another “hole” in your application, you can address it directly in your statement of purpose. Graduate schools won’t want excuses, but it’s fine to provide some kind of explanation: were you dealing with a family emergency or chronic illness? Did you need to work full-time and go to school full-time? Whatever you write, try to frame it in positive terms, to emphasize your ultimate success in the face of setbacks.

If you find yourself struggling to generate ideas for any of the above areas, there are a few things you could do. You could look at old papers and projects you’ve turned in. You could also speak to mentors and friends. They’ll remember amazing things you’ve done and should talk about in your application.

It’s also a good idea to discuss your graduate school statement of purpose with a professor in your field of interest. They are likely to have a good idea what graduate programs and looking for and can help you generate and hone ideas.

Step 2: Outline

Next, you’ll want to select your most impactful ideas and examples from your brainstorming session and arrange them into an outline. Highlight the overall points you want to make and the examples that go with each of those points. Try to arrange your points in an order that flows logically.

However, don’t get too hung up on the details for your initial outline. It’s better to keep moving with a rough plan than to be paralyzed early in the process!

Step 3: First Draft

Next, with the help of your outline, you’ll write your first draft. Don’t feel like your first draft has to be application-ready. In fact, your very first draft doesn’t have to be ready for anyone’s eyes but your own. The purpose of this draft is to get your initial thoughts on paper. It’s fine to focus more on content than style. Hammer out your main points, and don’t worry too much about word limit yet (although you will have to cut down to 1-2 pages at most for your final statement of purpose).

Step 4: Initial Edit

Once you have a first draft, you’ll want to make a first editing pass through yourself to tighten things up. Try to make sure that your writing flows logically and start to cut points that seem less relevant. You don’t need to make your statement of purpose perfect right now on your first editing pass, but try to refine it into something you’re comfortable sharing with others.

Make sure that the following critical points are coming through clearly:

• Your research/professional interests
• Your qualifications and accomplishments
• Why you’re interested in the particular program

If you’re feeling lost or stuck, it’s fine to move on to step 5 and solicit some feedback from others.

Step 5: Get Feedback

Now that you have a workable draft, it’s time to get feedback from other people—preferably people familiar with the graduate school admissions process. They can read your statement of purpose and give you advice on the clarity and organization of your ideas. They can help you figure out if you’ve framed your examples correctly and advise where you need to further develop ideas.

It’s a good idea to have several people look at your draft. You don’t necessarily need to accept every piece of writing advice from every person who looks at your essay. However, if multiple people give a similar piece of feedback, you should probably take that advice.

Step 6: Edit Again

Next, you’ll revise your graduate school statement of purpose again based on the feedback you received from others. Now you should try to really tighten things up and think about how the final product will be received by the admissions committee. Make sure all of your examples and points are well-organized, concise, and impactful. Bring your statement under the word limit.

Step 7: Make It Sparkle

As you work on finishing up your statement of purpose for graduate school, you want to really go the extra mile on making your statement stand out. So make the following stylistic tweaks:

Make sure your opening sentences are attention-grabbing (in a good way)! Starting with a cliche, a generalization or another boring statement will disengage your readers right from the start, which is the last thing you want. Here are some cliches to avoid:

• Don’t start with a quote unless it’s somehow very directly linked to your research interests. Admissions committees are interested in your thoughts and insights; borrowing the insights of others can make you seem intellectually lazy.
• Don’t start with “Ever since I was a child, I wanted to…” This is a hugely overused beginning and also says nothing about you as a person now, which is what programs are interested in.
• Avoid starting with an overly broad or vague statement, like “I love science” or “I was born to be a lawyer.” You want to engage readers from the very first sentence, and since everyone applying to the program presumably loves science or wants to be a lawyer (etc), you’ll make yourself seem generic.

Of course, you should avoid platitudes and cliches throughout your writing, not just in the introduction. Try to replace cliche phrases like “Achilles heel,” “wake-up call,” “right up my alley,” and so on with more vivid and memorable language.

Make sure you’re using active voice instead of passive voice in your writing. So instead of “I was told by my professor…” try “My professor told me…”

Avoid overly informal language, contractions, and slang.

The first time you use an acronym, spell out what it is.

Step 8: Get Feedback Again

Now that you have a fairly polished second draft, hand it around for another round of feedback. You can ask more specifically for writing-style based feedback at this point if you would like.

Step 9: Final Tweaks

After you get your last round of comments from your readers, it’s time for the final tweaks. Incorporate any comments you want to address. Fix any punctuation, grammar, or spelling mistakes. Reading your entire essay out loud is a good technique as it will allow you to catch mistakes more easily and point to places where the text may sound awkward.

Once you’ve put on the final finishing touches, you’re ready to submit your graduate school statement of purpose!

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The Keys to a Great Graduate School Statement of Purpose

A graduate school statement of purpose serves to introduce your research/professional skills and interests to the programs you’re applying for. It’s more tightly focused on your academic and professional life than you as an overall person.

Here are the key ingredients committees will be looking for in your graduate school statement of purpose:

• A clear articulation of your research and/or professional interests (whichever is more applicable to the program)
• What qualifies you for the program (and for any proposed research)
• Examples of your professional/academic success
• Your interest in the features of a particular department/program
• A deep level of passion for the field
• Skillful writing!

And here’s a nine-step process to writing one:

• Brainstorm: Brainstorm ideas and examples for all of the essential ingredients mentioned above
• Outline: Arrange the best ideas from your brainstorm into a loose outline
• First draft: Write a rough first draft. Focus on getting ideas onto paper.
• First edit: Make a pass through to clean up your thoughts and ideas.
• Ask for feedback: Ask mentors and people you trust to look over your draft and give feedback.
• Second edit: Incorporate feedback and tighten everything up into a more cohesive piece of writing.
• Make it sparkle: Hone in on writing style concerns. Make sure your language is lively, concise, and effective.
• Get feedback again: Get a final round of feedback. This can focus more on style issues if you’d like.
• Make final tweaks: Address any comments from your readers and make sure your statement is error-free!

What’s Next?

Need more information about graduate school ? If you’re wondering what GPA you need for grad school , if you have to take the GRE , or how long a master’s program is , we can help!

Prepping for the GRE? We can help you figure out when to take the GRE , answer all your GRE questions , and give you 34 critical tips and strategies for GRE success !

Ready to improve your GRE score by 7 points?

Author: Ellen McCammon

Ellen is a public health graduate student and education expert. She has extensive experience mentoring students of all ages to reach their goals and in-depth knowledge on a variety of health topics. View all posts by Ellen McCammon

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Applying to Graduate Programs

• Writing Statements of Purpose and Other Application Essays

As noted in the application qualifications and admissions criteria section of this website, the statement of purpose (in other words, the primary application essay; sometimes also called personal statement , background statement , and other names) can play a major role in determining whether an applicant is invited to interview and in final selection decisions.  Specifically, the statement can be used to assess the applicant’s fit with the program, match with faculty members, writing ability, and more.  Thus, spending the time to craft a well-written statement of purpose or other types of application essays is necessary in order for your application to have a chance of succeeding.  To help with this process, here we provide an overview of the process of writing such statements and other application essays. 

Types of Statements of Purpose and Other Application Essays

Depending on the program, you may be required to provide a statement of purpose , application essay , autobiographical essay , personal statement , career goal statement, background statement , or other similarly named piece of writing.  Each of these commonly is your opportunity to provide information about yourself beyond that communicated in the rest of your application materials.  You may also be asked to provide supplementary essays such as a diversity statement. 

Typically, graduate applications provide an essay prompt which includes specific questions or themes that you should address in the essay.  Common themes include: 1,2

• Your long-term career plans
• Your research interests or areas of interest in psychology
• Your reasons for choosing the program that you are applying to
• Your prior research experiences
• Your academic background or objectives
• Your motivation for pursuing your field of study

It is common for programs to specify how the essay should be formatted, or at a minimum, its maximum length.  For instance, an application essay may be stated to be “no longer than 2 double-spaced pages” or no more than 500 words.  It is important to follow all directions and not exceed that limit.

Using the same exact essay for each application is not advised . 1,3   Each program typically has specific information that they are seeking, and if you do not directly address those details in your essay, your application will suffer.  You may be able to reuse different parts of your application essays, but you should expect to have to write new material for each application.

Are there example statements of purpose that I should examine?  A variety of online sources do contain example statements, and you can find links to example statements at the bottom of this page.  However, application essays in general are unique to each individual – each person has a different set of experiences and different aspects that they may wish to emphasize.  Moreover, writing an application essay that resembles someone else’s can result in that essay appearing derivative – and given the highly competitive application process, that is something you should avoid.  Thus, examples are for reference only.

How to Write a Statement of Purpose and Other Application Essays

When writing an application essay, it can be helpful to rely on the following steps.  Please note that these procedures represent a common approach for writing application essays; you may wish to adapt some of the steps, or use/add others, for best results. 1,3

1. Brainstorming/clustering

At this first stage, jot down your thoughts as you think of answers to the essay prompt.  Try to think of themes that you wish to emphasize, as well as concrete examples that you may wish to describe in the essay.  You can organize them into clusters (for example, write ideas in circles and draw connecting lines).  Remember that the overall goal of the essay is to convince the admissions committee that you are an attractive candidate and a good fit for their program.

2. Outlining

This is an optional step.  Take your brainstorming/clustering notes and organize them into an outline of how the essay will be structured.  You might have a chronological structure that begins with your earlier experiences and advances towards your more recent activities.  Alternatively, you may organize your essay around themes (for example, research topics).  A common outline involves an opening paragraph, then discussion of academic accomplishments, research experience, other experiences, future plans and suitability for the program of interest, and a concluding paragraph. 4

3. Freewriting/initial draft

Often one of the biggest hurdles is just getting words on the page.  The key here is to not worry about having your words sound perfectly the first time around.  Try drafting several sentences, a paragraph or two, and see whether your thoughts translate well into prose.  It is common at this stage to discard whole sections of text in favor of new material.  At this conclusion of this process, you should aim to have a completed first draft.

4. Revising

It is easy to get burned out on writing, so after you have completed that first draft, set it aside for a while.  Then, return with fresh eyes and read through it carefully.  You are likely to find areas that need improvement – be sure to take notes or highlight them.  It can help to read the essay out loud; a general rule is that if it sounds unusual when spoken aloud, it should be rewritten.  Then, revise the essay.

5. Solicit feedback

Have another individual or individuals read your essays critically and provide feedback.  Your mentor can be an ideal person to provide that feedback; alternatively, you might try a university writing center or your peers. 

6. Revise and finalize your essay

Using the feedback and your own thoughts while reading the essay, edit it further until it is a polished product.  Be sure to proofread, check formatting, and make sure that all aspects of the essay prompt are clearly and thoroughly addressed.

Statement of Purpose Do’s and Don’ts

Here are some recommended elements to include, strategies to try, and recommended elements or strategies to avoid. 1,3

• Do emphasize your individual strengths
• Do customize each statement to the program that you are submitting it to
• Do provide specific examples of relevant experiences (such as research, coursework, etc.)
• Do thoroughly address all aspects of the essay prompt
• Do use clear topic sentences, connective words or phrases, and paragraph transitions (for more information, please see the improving scientific writing section of this website)
• Do consider emphasizing your fit to the program that you are applying to
• Do consider discussing faculty mentors of interest

Dont’s

• Don’t use jokes, humor, or try to be funny
• Don’t excessively self-disclose personal problems
• Don’t be very general or vague in your research interests
• Don’t include complaints and criticisms
• Don’t use clichés such as “since my childhood I have always been interested in” or “I just want to help everyone”, unless you can genuinely and convincingly use them

Financial Aid, Fellowships, and Scholarship Application Essays

As you complete your graduate applications, you might also consider applying for financial aid or some sort of graduate research fellowship such as the Ford Foundation Fellowship or the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship .  Such fellowships typically require a background statement that is similar in some aspects to the statement of purpose. 

Workshops and Downloadable Resources

• For in-person discussion of the process of applying to graduate programs in psychology, neuroscience, and related fields, please consider attending this department’s “Paths to PhDs” workshop and other related events (for dates and times, please check the undergraduate workshops calendar).
• Tips for Applying to Graduate Programs in Psychology (a brief summary) [ PDF ]

Further Resources

How-To Videos     

• Applying to Grad School Videos

Recommended Reading

• American Psychological Association (2007). Getting in: a step-by-step plan for gaining admission to graduate school in psychology .  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Keith-Spiegel, P., & Wiederman, M. W. (2000). The complete guide to graduate school admission: psychology, counseling, and related professions . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Slideshow guide to writing winning statements of purpose from UCLA
• Guide to writing statements of purpose from Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Tips for writing the statement of purpose from UC Berkeley
• 10 tips for writing statements of purpose from USC
• 11 tips for writing powerful statements of purpose from CrunchPrep.com
• Choosing a graduate program from the Association for Psychological Science
• Smart shopping for psychology doctoral programs [PDF]

APA Videos on Graduate Applications

• Preparing and applying for graduate school in psychology [12-part video series]
• Preparing and applying for graduate school in psychology [video slides in PDF format]
• UCSD Graduate Division Statement of Purpose Prompt
• UCSD Career Center Graduate Application Process
• UCSD OASIS Language and Writing Program
• UCSD Writing Programs and Resources
• UCSD Muir College Writing Hub
• UCSD Writing Hub

1  American Psychological Association (2007).  Getting in: a step-by-step plan for gaining admission to graduate school in psychology . 

2  norcross, j. c., & hogan, t. p. (2016).  preparing and applying for graduate school in psychology: 12 modules. american psychological association [video workshop]., 3  keith-spiegel, p., & wiederman, m. w. (2000). the complete guide to graduate school admission: psychology, counseling, and related professions . psychology press., 4  rutgers university camden college of arts and sciences.  writing a personal statement ., prepared by s. c. pan for ucsd psychology, graphic adapted with permission from leoncastro under creative commons attribution-share alike 4.0 international license..

• Finding and Choosing Graduate Programs of Interest
• Timelines for the Graduate Application Process
• Applicant Qualifications, Admissions Criteria, and Acceptance Rates
• Requesting Letters of Recommendation
• Preparing for the Graduate Record Examination
• Graduate Admissions Interviews
• Applying to Clinical Psychology Programs
• Applying to Medical School and Professional Health Programs
• Accepting Graduate Admissions Offers

Understanding Your Purpose

The first question for any writer should be, "Why am I writing?" "What is my goal or my purpose for writing?" For many writing contexts, your immediate purpose may be to complete an assignment or get a good grade. But the long-range purpose of writing is to communicate to a particular audience. In order to communicate successfully to your audience, understanding your purpose for writing will make you a better writer.

A Definition of Purpose

Purpose is the reason why you are writing . You may write a grocery list in order to remember what you need to buy. You may write a laboratory report in order to carefully describe a chemistry experiment. You may write an argumentative essay in order to persuade someone to change the parking rules on campus. You may write a letter to a friend to express your excitement about her new job.

Notice that selecting the form for your writing (list, report, essay, letter) is one of your choices that helps you achieve your purpose. You also have choices about style, organization, kinds of evidence that help you achieve your purpose

Focusing on your purpose as you begin writing helps you know what form to choose, how to focus and organize your writing, what kinds of evidence to cite, how formal or informal your style should be, and how much you should write.

Types of Purpose

Don Zimmerman, Journalism and Technical Communication Department I look at most scientific and technical writing as being either informational or instructional in purpose. A third category is documentation for legal purposes. Most writing can be organized in one of these three ways. For example, an informational purpose is frequently used to make decisions. Memos, in most circles, carry key information.

When we communicate with other people, we are usually guided by some purpose, goal, or aim. We may want to express our feelings. We may want simply to explore an idea or perhaps entertain or amuse our listeners or readers. We may wish to inform people or explain an idea. We may wish to argue for or against an idea in order to persuade others to believe or act in a certain way. We make special kinds of arguments when we are evaluating or problem solving . Finally, we may wish to mediate or negotiate a solution in a tense or difficult situation.

Remember, however, that often writers combine purposes in a single piece of writing. Thus, we may, in a business report, begin by informing readers of the economic facts before we try to persuade them to take a certain course of action.

In expressive writing, the writer's purpose or goal is to put thoughts and feelings on the page. Expressive writing is personal writing. We are often just writing for ourselves or for close friends. Usually, expressive writing is informal, not intended for outside readers. Journal writing, for example, is usually expressive writing.

However, we may write expressively for other readers when we write poetry (although not all poetry is expressive writing). We may write expressively in a letter, or we may include some expressive sentences in a formal essay intended for other readers.

Entertaining

As a purpose or goal of writing, entertaining is often used with some other purpose--to explain, argue, or inform in a humorous way. Sometimes, however, entertaining others with humor is our main goal. Entertaining may take the form of a brief joke, a newspaper column, a television script or an Internet home page tidbit, but its goal is to relax our reader and share some story of human foibles or surprising actions.

Writing to inform is one of the most common purposes for writing. Most journalistic writing fits this purpose. A journalist uncovers the facts about some incident and then reports those facts, as objectively as possible, to his or her readers. Of course, some bias or point-of-view is always present, but the purpose of informational or reportorial writing is to convey information as accurately and objectively as possible. Other examples of writing to inform include laboratory reports, economic reports, and business reports.

Writing to explain, or expository writing, is the most common of the writing purposes. The writer's purpose is to gather facts and information, combine them with his or her own knowledge and experience, and clarify for some audience  who or what something is ,  how it happened or should happen, and/or  why something happened .

Explaining the whos, whats, hows, whys, and wherefores requires that the writer analyze the subject (divide it into its important parts) and show the relationship of those parts. Thus, writing to explain relies heavily on definition, process analysis, cause/effect analysis, and synthesis.

Explaining versus Informing : So how does explaining differ from informing? Explaining goes one step beyond informing or reporting. A reporter merely reports what his or her sources say or the data indicate. An expository writer adds his or her particular understanding, interpretation, or  thesis  to that information. An expository writer says this is the  best or most accurate  definition of literacy, or the  right  way to make lasagne, or the  most relevant  causes of an accident.

An arguing essay attempts to convince its audience to believe or act in a certain way. Written arguments have several key features:

• A debatable claim or thesis . The issue must have some reasonable arguments on both (or several) sides.
• A focus on one or more of the four types of claims : Claim of fact ,  claim of cause and effect ,  claim of value , and/or  claim of policy  (problem solving).
• A fair representation of opposing arguments  combined with arguments against the opposition and for the overall claim.
• An argument based on evidence presented in a reasonable tone . Although appeals to character and to emotion may be used, the primary appeal should be to the reader's logic and reason.

Although the terms  argument  and  persuasion  are often used interchangeably, the terms do have slightly different meanings. Argument  is a special kind of persuasion that follows certain ground rules. Those rules are that opposing positions will be presented accurately and fairly, and that appeals to logic and reason will be the primary means of persuasion.  Persuasive writing  may, if it wishes, ignore those rules and try any strategy that might work. Advertisements are a good example of persuasive writing. They usually don't fairly represent the competing product, and they appeal to image, to emotion, to character, or to anything except logic and the facts--unless those facts are in the product's favor.

Writing to evaluate a person, product, thing, or policy is a frequent purpose for writing. An evaluation is really a specific kind of argument: it argues for the merits of the subject and presents evidence to support the claim. A  claim of value --the thesis in an evaluation--must be supported by criteria (the appropriate standards of judgment) and supporting evidence (the facts, statistics, examples, or testimonials).

Writers often use a  three-column log  to set up criteria for their subject, collect relevant evidence, and reach judgments that support an overall claim of value. Writing a three-column log is an excellent way to organize an evaluative essay. First, think about your possible criteria. Remember: criteria are the standards of judgment (the ideal case) against which you will measure your particular subject.  Choose criteria which your readers will find valid, fair, and appropriate . Then, collect evidence for each of your selected criteria. Consider the following example of a restaurant evaluation:

Overall claim of value : This Chinese restaurant provides a high quality dining experience.

Problem Solving

Problem solving is a special kind of arguing essay: the writer's purpose is to persuade his audience to adopt a solution to a particular problem. Often called "policy" essays because they recommend the readers adopt a policy to resolve a problem, problem-solving essays have two main components:  a description of a serious problem  and an argument for  specific recommendations that will solve the problem .

The thesis of a problem-solving essay becomes a  claim of policy : If the audience follows the suggested recommendations, the problem will be reduced or eliminated. The essay must support the policy claim by persuading readers that the recommendations are feasible, cost-effective, efficient, relevant to the situation, and better than other possible alternative solutions.

Traditional argument , like a debate, is confrontational. The argument often becomes a kind of "war" in which the writer attempts to "defeat" the arguments of the opposition.

Non-traditional kinds  of argument use a variety of strategies to reduce the confrontation and threat in order to open up the debate.

• Mediated argument  follows a plan used successfully in labor negotiations to bring opposing parties to agreement. The writer of a mediated argument provides a middle position that helps negotiate the differences of the opposing positions.
• Rogerian argumen t also wishes to reduce confrontation by encouraging mutual understanding and working toward common ground and a compromise solution.
• Feminist argument  tries to avoid the patriarchal conventions in traditional argument by emphasizing personal communication, exploration, and true understanding.

Combining Purposes

Often, writers use multiple purposes in a single piece of writing. An essay about illiteracy in America may begin by expressing your feelings on the topic. Then it may report the current facts about illiteracy. Finally, it may argue for a solution that might correct some of the social conditions that cause illiteracy. The  ultimate purpose  of the paper is to argue for the solution, but the writer uses these other purposes along the way.

Similarly, a scientific paper about gene therapy may begin by reporting the current state of gene therapy research. It may then explain how a gene therapy works in a medical situation. Finally, it may argue that we need to increase funding for primary research into gene therapy.

Purposes and Strategies

A purpose is the aim or goal of the writer or the written product; a strategy is a means of achieving that purpose. For example, our purpose may be to explain something, but we may use definitions, examples, descriptions, and analysis in order to make our explanation clearer. A variety of strategies are available for writers to help them find ways to achieve their purpose(s).

Writers often use definition for key terms of ideas in their essays. A formal definition , the basis of most dictionary definitions, has three parts: the term to be defined, the class to which the term belongs, and the features that distinguish this term from other terms in the class.

Look at your own topic. Would definition help you analyze and explain your subject?

Illustration and Example

Examples and illustrations are a basic kind of evidence and support in expository and argumentative writing.

In her essay about anorexia nervosa, student writer Nancie Brosseau uses several examples to develop a paragraph:

Another problem, lying, occurred most often when my parents tried to force me to eat. Because I was at the gym until around eight o'clock every night, I told my mother not to save me dinner. I would come home and make a sandwich and feed it to my dog. I lied to my parents every day about eating lunch at school. For example, I would bring a sack lunch and sell it to someone and use the money to buy diet pills. I always told my parents that I ate my own lunch.

Look at your own topic. What examples and illustrations would help explain your subject?

Classification

Classification is a form of analyzing a subject into types. We might classify automobiles by types: Trucks, Sport Utilities, Sedans, Sport Cars. We can (and do) classify college classes by type: Science, Social Science, Humanities, Business, Agriculture, etc.

Look at your own topic. Would classification help you analyze and explain your subject?

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison and contrast can be used to organize an essay. Consider whether either of the following two outlines would help you organize your comparison essay.

Block Comparison of A and B

• Intro and Thesis
• Description of A
• Description of B (and how B is similar to/different from A)

Alternating Comparison of A and B

• Aspect One: Comparison/contrast of A and B
• Aspect Two: Comparison/contrast of A and B
• Aspect Three: Comparison/contrast of A and B

Look at your own topic. Would comparison/contrast help you organize and explain your subject?

Analysis is simply dividing some whole into its parts. A library has distinct parts: stacks, electronic catalog, reserve desk, government documents section, interlibrary loan desk, etc. If you are writing about a library, you may need to know all the parts that exist in that library.

Look at your own topic. Would analysis of the parts help you understand and explain your subject?

Description

Although we usually think of description as visual, we may also use other senses--hearing, touch, feeling, smell-- in our attempt to describe something for our readers.

Notice how student writer Stephen White uses multiple senses to describe Anasazi Indian ruins at Mesa Verde:

I awoke this morning with a sense of unexplainable anticipation gnawing away at the back of my mind, that this chilly, leaden day at Mesa Verde would bring something new . . . . They are a haunting sight, these broken houses, clustered together down in the gloom of the canyon. The silence is broken only by the rush of the wind in the trees and the trickling of a tiny stream of melting snow springing from ledge to ledge. This small, abandoned village of tiny houses seems almost as the Indians left it, reduced by the passage of nearly a thousand years to piles of rubble through which protrude broken red adobe walls surrounding ghostly jet black openings, undisturbed by modern man.

Look at your own topic. Would description help you explain your subject?

Process Analysis

Process analysis is analyzing the chronological steps in any operation. A recipe contains process analysis. First, sift the flour. Next, mix the eggs, milk, and oil. Then fold in the flour with the eggs, milk and oil. Then add baking soda, salt and spices. Finally, pour the pancake batter onto the griddle.

Look at your own topic. Would process analysis help you analyze and explain your subject?

Narration is possibly the most effective strategy essay writers can use. Readers are quickly caught up in reading any story, no matter how short it is. Writers of exposition and argument should consider where a short narrative might enliven their essay. Typically, this narrative can relate some of your own experiences with the subject of your essay. Look at your own topic. Where might a short narrative help you explain your subject?

Cause/Effect Analysis

In cause and effect analysis, you map out possible causes and effects. Two patterns for doing cause/effect analysis are as follows:

Several causes leading to single effect: Cause 1 + Cause 2 + Cause 3 . . . => Effect

One cause leading to multiple effects: Cause => Effect 1 + Effect 2 + Effect 3 ...

Look at your own topic. Would cause/effect analysis help you understand and explain your subject?

How Audience and Focus Affect Purpose

All readers have expectations. They assume what they read will meet their expectations. As a writer, your job is to make sure those expectations are met, while at the same time, fulfilling the purpose of your writing.

Once you have determined what type of purpose best conveys your motivations, you will then need to examine how this will affect your readers. Perhaps you are explaining your topic when you really should be convincing readers to see your point. Writers and readers may approach a topic with conflicting purposes. Your job, as a writer, is to make sure both are being met.

Purpose and Audience

Often your audience will help you determine your purpose. The beliefs they hold will tell you whether or not they agree with what you have to say. Suppose, for example, you are writing to persuade readers against Internet censorship. Your purpose will differ depending on the audience who will read your writing.

Audience One: Internet Users

If your audience is computer users who surf the net daily, you could appear foolish trying to persuade them to react against Internet censorship. It's likely they are already against such a movement. Instead, they might expect more information on the topic.

Audience Two: Parents

If your audience is parents who don't want their small children surfing the net, you'll need to convince them that censorship is not the solution to the problem. You should persuade this audience to consider other options.

Purpose and Focus

Your focus (otherwise known as thesis, claim, main idea, or problem statement) is a reflection of your purpose. If these two do not agree, you will not accomplish what you set out to do. Consider the following examples below:

Focus One: Informing

Suppose your purpose is to inform readers about relationships between Type A personalities and heart attacks. Your focus could then be: Type A personalities do not have an abnormally high risk of suffering heart attacks.

Focus Two: Persuading

Suppose your purpose is to persuade readers not to quarantine AIDS victims. Your focus could then be: Children afflicted with AIDS should not be prevented from attending school.

Writer and Reader Goals

Kate Kiefer, English Department Readers and writers both have goals when they engage in reading and writing. Writers typically define their goals in several categories-to inform, persuade, entertain, explore. When writers and readers have mutually fulfilling goals-to inform and to look for information-then writing and reading are most efficient. At times, these goals overlap one another. Many readers of science essays are looking for science information when they often get science philosophy. This mismatch of goals tends to leave readers frustrated, and if they communicate that frustration to the writer, then the writer feels misunderstood or unsuccessful.

Donna Lecourt, English Department Whatever reality you are writing within, whatever you chose to write about, implies a certain audience as well as your purpose for writing. You decide you have something to write about, or something you care about, then purpose determines audience.

Writer Versus Reader Purposes

Steve Reid, English Department A general definition of purpose relates to motivation. For instance, "I'm angry, and that's why I'm writing this." Purposes, in academic writing, are intentions the writer hopes to accomplish with a particular audience. Often, readers discover their own purpose within a text. While the writer may have intended one thing, the text actually does another, according to its readers.

Purpose and Writing Assignments

Instructors often state the purpose of a writing assignment on the assignment sheet. By carefully examining what it is you are asked to do, you can determine what your writing's purpose is.

Most assignment sheets ask you to perform a specific task. Key words listed on the assignment can help you determine why you are writing. If your instructor has not provided an assignment sheet, consider asking what the purpose of the assignment is.

Read over your assignment sheet. Make a note of words asking you to follow a specific task. For example, words such as:

These words require you to write about a topic in a specific way. Once you know the purpose of your writing, you can begin planning what information is necessary for that purpose.

Example Assignment

Imagine you are an administrator for the school district. In light of the Columbus controversy, you have been assigned to write a set of guidelines for teaching about Columbus in the district's elementary and junior high schools. These guidelines will explain official policy to parents and teachers in teaching children about Columbus and the significance of his voyages. They will also draw on arguments made on both sides of the controversy, as well as historical facts on which both sides agree.

The purpose of this assignment is to explain the official policy about teaching Columbus' voyages to parents and teachers.

Steve Reid, English Department Keywords in writing assignments give teachers and students direction about why we are writing. For instance, many assignments ask students to "describe" something. The word "describe" specifically indicated the writer is supposed to describe something visually. This is very general. Often, assignments are looking for something more specific. Maybe there is an argument the instructor intends be formulated. Maybe there is an implied thesis, but often teachers use general words such as "Write about" or "Describe" something, when they should use more specific words like, "Define" or "Explain" or "Argue" or "Persuade."

Purpose and Thesis

Writers choose from a variety of purposes for writing. They may write to express their thoughts in a personal letter, to explain concepts in a physics class, to explore ideas in a philosophy class, or to argue a point in a political science class.

Once they have their purpose in mind (and an audience for whom they are writing), writers may more clearly formulate their thesis. The thesis , claim , or main idea of an essay is related to the purpose. It is the sentence or sentences that fulfill the purpose and that state the exact point of the essay.

For example, if a writer wants to argue that high schools should strengthen foreign language training, her thesis sentence might be as follows:

"Because Americans are so culturally isolated, we need a national policy that supports increased foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools."

How Thesis is Related to Purpose

The following examples illustrate how subject, purpose and thesis are related. The subject is the most general statement of the topic. The purpose narrows the focus by indicating whether the writer wishes to express or explore ideas or actually explain or argue about the topic. The thesis sentence, claim, or main idea narrows the focus even farther. It is the sentence or sentences which focuses the topic for the writer and the reader.

Citation Information

Stephen Reid and Dawn Kowalski. (1994-2024). Understanding Your Purpose. The WAC Clearinghouse. Colorado State University. Available at https://wac.colostate.edu/repository/writing/guides/.

Copyright Information

Copyright © 1994-2024 Colorado State University and/or this site's authors, developers, and contributors . Some material displayed on this site is used with permission.

Statement of purpose

The statement of purpose is a short essay that should be customized for each program you apply to. it will be evaluated by the graduate program faculty, so present yourself as someone who will be a good fit for the program., crafting a strong statement of purpose.

Your statement of purpose is an important part of your UC graduate school application. Be sure to write a polished essay so you'll make a good first impression when you apply. Each application is different, but a good Statement of Purpose shouuld contain the following elements: 

• Introduction: Indicate the degree you want to earn and the topic you want to study. Describe your research and how graduate school will help you reach your career goals, as well as the contribution you will make to the program.
• Accomplishments: Summarize your achievements, including research projects, classes or work that stimulated your desire for graduate studies during your undergraduate or master’s career.
• Referrals: If you've received encouragement from professors in the program you would like to enter, mention that as well.
• Format: Modify your statement of purpose for each application you submit, carefully following the guidelines and instructions, which may vary from program to program. Typically, your essay should be one to two pages, single-spaced, using a 12-point font that's easy to read; but make sure to confirm the institutions formatting requirements. Proofread to make sure there are no typos or grammatical errors.

A few writing helpful tips

Writing a statement of purpose can be intimidating, but the following tips can help you create a strong statment that highlights your readiness to begin your graduate education. 

• Address your audience: Your primary audience is the faculty in the program to which you are applying. Treat your statement of purpose as an application to work with a specific professor in that department or scholarly field. Be compelling and clear.
• Provide specific examples: Rather than simply saying you are a high achiever, for example, describe a project on which you exceeded a professor’s expectations. If your grades suffered because of a misfortune, such as an illness, explain how you persevered. You can describe a mistake that taught you a valuable lesson — but don’t make excuses. Be positive and concise.

“I want to ensure that we have nutritious food to eat now and in the future. Studying in California and at UC Davis, I am able to work at the forefront of technology, science and service to the community.”

Informative Essay — Purpose, Structure, and Examples

What is informative writing?

Informative writing educates the reader about a certain topic. An informative essay may explain new information, describe a process, or clarify a concept. The provided information is objective, meaning the writing focuses on presentation of fact and should not contain personal opinion or bias.

Informative writing includes description, process, cause and effect, comparison, and problems and possible solutions:

Describes a person, place, thing, or event using descriptive language that appeals to readers’ senses

Explains the process to do something or how something was created

Discusses the relationship between two things, determining how one ( cause ) leads to the other ( effect ); the effect needs to be based on fact and not an assumption

Identifies the similarities and differences between two things; does not indicate that one is better than the other

Details a problem and presents various possible solutions ; the writer does not suggest one solution is more effective than the others

Purpose of informative writing

The purpose of an informative essay depends upon the writer’s motivation, but may be to share new information, describe a process, clarify a concept, explain why or how, or detail a topic’s intricacies.

Informative essays may introduce readers to new information .

Summarizing a scientific/technological study

Outlining the various aspects of a religion

Providing information on a historical period

Describe a process or give step-by-step details of a procedure.

How to write an informational essay

How to construct an argument

How to apply for a job

Clarify a concept and offer details about complex ideas.

Explain why or how something works the way that it does.

Describe how the stock market impacts the economy

Illustrate why there are high and low tides

Detail how the heart functions

Offer information on the smaller aspects or intricacies of a larger topic.

Identify the importance of the individual bones in the body

Outlining the Dust Bowl in the context of the Great Depression

Explaining how bees impact the environment

How to write an informative essay

Regardless of the type of information, the informative essay structure typically consists of an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Introduction

Background information

Explanation of evidence

Restated thesis

Review of main ideas

Closing statement

Informative essay introduction

When composing the introductory paragraph(s) of an informative paper, include a hook, introduce the topic, provide background information, and develop a good thesis statement.

If the hook or introduction creates interest in the first paragraph, it will draw the readers’ attention and make them more receptive to the essay writer's ideas. Some of the most common techniques to accomplish this include the following:

Emphasize the topic’s importance by explaining the current interest in the topic or by indicating that the subject is influential.

Use pertinent statistics to give the paper an air of authority.

A surprising statement can be shocking; sometimes it is disgusting; sometimes it is joyful; sometimes it is surprising because of who said it.

An interesting incident or anecdote can act as a teaser to lure the reader into the remainder of the essay. Be sure that the device is appropriate for the informative essay topic and focus on what is to follow.

Directly introduce the topic of the essay.

Provide the reader with the background information necessary to understand the topic. Don’t repeat this information in the body of the essay; it should help the reader understand what follows.

Identify the overall purpose of the essay with the thesis (purpose statement). Writers can also include their support directly in the thesis, which outlines the structure of the essay for the reader.

Informative essay body paragraphs

Each body paragraph should contain a topic sentence, evidence, explanation of evidence, and a transition sentence.

A good topic sentence should identify what information the reader should expect in the paragraph and how it connects to the main purpose identified in the thesis.

Provide evidence that details the main point of the paragraph. This includes paraphrasing, summarizing, and directly quoting facts, statistics, and statements.

Explain how the evidence connects to the main purpose of the essay.

Place transitions at the end of each body paragraph, except the last. There is no need to transition from the last support to the conclusion. A transition should accomplish three goals:

Tell the reader where you were (current support)

Tell the reader where you are going (next support)

Relate the paper’s purpose

Informative essay conclusion

Incorporate a rephrased thesis, summary, and closing statement into the conclusion of an informative essay.

Rephrase the purpose of the essay. Do not just repeat the purpose statement from the thesis.

Summarize the main idea found in each body paragraph by rephrasing each topic sentence.

End with a clincher or closing statement that helps readers answer the question “so what?” What should the reader take away from the information provided in the essay? Why should they care about the topic?

Informative essay example

The following example illustrates a good informative essay format:

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IELTS General Training Writing free practice questions

If you need to take an IELTS General Training test, download our free sample questions and add them to your study plan. See sample questions and answers to get a better idea of the questions you might see on test day.

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A quick look at the general training writing test.

Duration: 60 minutes  

The General Training Writing test includes two tasks that are based on topics of general interest.  

Task 1  

You will be presented with a situation and asked to write a letter requesting information or explaining the situation. The letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style.  

Task 2  

You will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem. The essay can be slightly more personal in style compared to an Academic Writing task. You will support your point of view with relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience. 

Task 1: Writing a short letter for a specific purpose

In Task 1 in the General Training Writing test, you are asked to write a letter, where you demonstrate your ability to communicate using English letter-writing conventions. 

You will be given a common, everyday situation such as writing to apologise for missing a friend’s party, or complaining to a company about bad service, writing to give advice to a friend about where to go on holiday, or writing to express your interest in a new job. 

In addition to being given the situation, three bullet points will outline exactly what information you need to include in your letter. You might, for example, have to describe details, give reasons, express likes and dislikes, or make suggestions or recommendations. 

You will need use the correct tone in your letter. Tone is the way you communicate with people showing the kind of relationship you have with them. In letters, the tone you use is clearly indicated by a proper salutation and closing and it should also be conveyed by your choice of words or phrasing. 

Letters are usually written in a formal or informal tone. Generally, if the letter is to friends, people you know well, or family, and the reason for writing is positive, the tone is informal. Letters to everyone else and for all complaints or negative messages, should be more formal. 

Task 2: Writing an essay

In Task 2 of the General Training Writing test, you are asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, an argument, or a problem. Topics are of general interest such as whether it is better to homeschool children, whether the drinking age should be raised, who is responsible for the care of the elderly or how families could be brought closer together. 

The task instructions give you information about the question telling you how to discuss the topic in your essay. You may be asked to provide factual information, outline and present solutions, justify an opinion or evaluate evidence and ideas. It is important that you complete the task carefully using relevant ideas and examples to support your position. Your ideas should be organised clearly, using paragraphs for each idea. You must write a minimum of 250 words.  

You are assessed on your ability to follow English essay-writing conventions to organise and link information in a coherent way using language accurately and appropriately to express your ideas and opinions. 

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How To Stand Out In The Ivy League During Your Freshman Year

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Harvard College

This spring, many students felt the relief and exuberance that comes with an acceptance letter from one’s dream school. Many students attending Ivy League and other top universities are valedictorians and leaders in their high school communities; they excelled throughout their high school careers and graduated with the accolades to prove it. Yet, these students are often in for a rude awakening when they arrive on campus. Though they were exceptional at their high schools, they are a dime a dozen in the Ivy League. This realization can cause many students to feel imposter syndrome and wonder how they can stand out and make an impression on their professors and peers in such a competitive environment.

The more that students prepare themselves for this adjustment, the better. Standing out in college is a different endeavor than standing out in high school—it requires time, intentionality, and a willingness to be uncomfortable and challenge yourself. Most importantly, it takes practice, and if students seek to hone this skill from their first semester on campus, they will set themselves up for success for the next four years.

For students preparing for their first semester in college, here are five strategies to navigate the transition into the Ivy League with confidence, purpose, and distinction:

1. Make your voice heard in the classroom

At Ivy League and many other top schools, faculty-to-student ratios and class sizes tend to be small, allowing greater opportunity for you to establish yourself in the classroom and engage with your professors directly. Many students are weighed down by self-doubt and the desire to avoid making mistakes in their first semester, and as such, they are reluctant to raise their hands or offer their input. But one of the best ways to establish connections with professors is to use your voice in the classroom—college is about learning and growing, so don’t be afraid to get a question wrong or develop your ideas through conversation. Doing so will allow you to connect with others in class, build your intellectual skill set, and demonstrate your curiosity and earnest desire to learn.

2. Engage in activities outside of the classroom

Beyond academics, the Ivy League is known for vibrant opportunities to learn and connect with others outside of the classroom. Whether you're interested in student government, the performing arts, guest lectures, community service, or intramural athletics, there’s an opportunity to explore your passions. Join clubs and organizations that align with your interests and values, and consider taking on leadership roles to showcase your initiative and organizational skills. Engaging in extracurricular activities will not only enrich your college experience but also afford you the opportunity to get to know people outside of your major or residence hall.

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Wwe smackdown results, winners and grades with stratton vs. belair, biden trump debates what to know as trump pushes for 2 more faceoffs, 3. cultivate your network.

One of the most valuable assets you'll gain during your time in the Ivy League is your network of peers, professors, and mentors. Take the time to connect with your classmates and professors, attend faculty office hours, and engage in meaningful discussions. One of the best ways to build your network is to simply put yourself out there—a student’s college years are the prime opportunity to connect with even the most distinguished scholars in their field, as they not only likely have connections through their institution, but professors (even at other universities) are more likely to respond to students who reach out for their advice. If one knowledgeable person doesn’t respond or have the bandwidth to advise you on a particular project or query, move on to the next person on your list!

4. Pursue Research, Internship, and Study Abroad Opportunities

The Ivy League offers unparalleled access to research, internship, and study abroad opportunities that can complement your academic studies and expand your horizons. For instance, Harvard offers a multitude of distinguished research positions for undergraduates, ranging from thesis research to research assistantships. The University of Pennsylvania sent students to 48 countries through their study abroad offerings in the 2022-2023 academic year. Meanwhile, Princeton offers more than 400 programs in 140 countries through which students may study abroad. Whether conducting groundbreaking research in your field of study or gaining real-world experience through internships, the plethora of opportunities available to you at an Ivy League university will not only enhance your resume but also deepen your understanding of your chosen field and prepare you for future success.

5. Carve out your niche

Finally, just as high school is a time to hone your passions and demonstrate them in action in your community, college is a more rigorous opportunity to identify and make a name for yourself within a niche industry or discipline. The best way to begin doing so is to have conversations with professors, graduate students, and older students in your field. Ask them questions like: Where do you see the field expanding or moving in the next five years? What are the most significant recent developments in this profession/field? What subjects do you think have been largely unexplored? What advice would you give to emerging scholars in this discipline? While pursuing a subject of true interest to you is indeed important, it is also important to consider how you will contribute uniquely to your subject of interest, and thereby maximize your odds of success in the job market.

Finally, keep in mind that you can (and should) begin practicing these skills in high school. The more you engage in these activities, the more natural they will be when you are on campus at a top university.

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How to Cultivate a Sense of Purpose

Here's how a sense of purpose drives mood and improves your life..

Posted May 17, 2024 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

• Having a sense of purpose boosts physical and mental health.
• Research shows that one's sense of purpose can fluctuate daily, similar to changes in mood.
• Despite daily variations, cultivating a sense of purpose is good for people.

The evidence clearly shows that having a sense of purpose—no matter what that is—is good for us. Research shows that having a sense of purpose leads to better health outcomes for older adults, improves our daily mood and physical well-being, and is even associated with increased financial earnings .

Now researchers are delving more into how having a sense of purpose plays out in the lives of individual people.

Gabrielle N. Pfund, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University, recently teamed up with Anthony Burrow, a developmental psychologist at Cornell University, and Patrick Hill, an aging researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, on a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Research in Personality that asks some key questions about the value of purpose in our daily lives and looks for an evidence-based way to cultivate purpose.

“First, we wanted to better understand whether feeling purposeful was synonymous with feeling positive emotions and not feeling negative ones,” explained Pfund, whose research focuses on the intersection of personality and health.

For the study, more than 350 participants filled out surveys on their phones in the evening for 10 days. Researchers asked questions about how much drive or purpose they felt each day, such as, “Were you engaged in worthwhile activities?” and “Did you make progress toward your goals ?” They also asked participants to describe to what extent they felt specific emotions on a given day, including irritableness, peacefulness, sadness, and calm. Their goal was to determine how much an individual’s sense of purpose and mood varied from day to day.

They found that individual participants’ sense of purpose or drive varied greatly from day to day; despite these fluctuations, individuals tended to consistently feel purposeful in general or that they were making progress toward their life goals, even when they didn’t feel purposeful on any given day. On the whole, people’s daily sense of purpose tended to vary about as much as their daily moods.

“In this case, we found that purpose was more strongly tied to experiences of positive emotions, but it was more weakly associated with negative emotions,” Pfund said. “This was a fascinating finding because it communicates that there are times where we'll feel purposeful and also might experience negative feelings, as pursuing the things in our life goals and aims can sometimes require stress and challenge. Recognizing that purpose can help us feel good, but also may mean sometimes feeling bad, can assure people that experiencing negative emotions does not mean they are on the wrong track. The best things in life don't come easily.”

The study is important because it helps researchers better understand how to cultivate a sense of purpose in our daily lives, Pfund said.

“This data helps illustrate the benefits of simply focusing on, ‘How do I feel today? Did I make progress toward my goals? Did I feel like I was engaged in worthwhile activities?’” she said. “By tuning into your responses to those questions from one day to the next, you will be better able to figure out over time what gives you a sense of purpose, getting you one step closer to understanding what your purpose in life may be.”

The data in the study also illustrates that daily fluctuations in both mood and purpose are completely normal, Pfund said.

“In my mind, the other exciting aspect of our findings is being able to embrace the phrase of ‘this too shall pass,’” she said. “Just because someone doesn't feel purposeful today, tomorrow, or the day after that, does not mean they are bound to a life without purpose. Purposefulness waxes and wanes. Empirically, we are not bound to always feeling purposeful or never feeling purposeful. There will be good days and bad days, so too will there be purposeful ones versus not.”

The take-home message: It’s normal for your sense of purpose and your mood to vary from day-to-day; despite these oscillations, the best way to cultivate a sense of purpose in your life is to focus on your daily actions and whether they align with your long-term goals.

The Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell University is focused on using research findings to improve health and well-being of people at all stages of life.

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At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day. Here’s how we can face our triggers with less reactivity so that we can get on with our lives.

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Improving Writing Feedback for Struggling Writers: Generative AI to the Rescue?

• Original Paper
• Open access
• Published: 14 May 2024

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• Anya S. Evmenova 1 ,
• Kelley Regan 1 ,
• Reagan Mergen 1 &
• Roba Hrisseh 1  

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Generative AI has the potential to support teachers with writing instruction and feedback. The purpose of this study was to explore and compare feedback and data-based instructional suggestions from teachers and those generated by different AI tools. Essays from students with and without disabilities who struggled with writing and needed a technology-based writing intervention were analyzed. The essays were imported into two versions of ChatGPT using four different prompts, whereby eight sets of responses were generated. Inductive thematic analysis was used to explore the data sets. Findings indicated: (a) differences in responses between ChatGPT versions and prompts, (b) AI feedback on student writing did not reflect provided student characteristics (e.g., grade level or needs; disability; ELL status), and (c) ChatGPT’s responses to the essays aligned with teachers’ identified areas of needs and instructional decisions to some degree. Suggestions for increasing educator engagement with AI to enhance teaching writing is discussed.

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The advances in Generative Artificial Intelligence (generative AI) have transformed the field of education introducing new ways to teach and learn. Its integration is fast growing in all areas of education, including special education (Marino et al., 2023 ). Generative AI has the potential to increase the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education by providing additional assistive supports (Garg and Sharma, 2020 ; Zdravkova, 2022 ). Specifically, large language models like the one used by a popular AI tool, ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) can generate human-like responses to prompts, similar to a conversation. It can facilitate learning for students with and without high-incidence disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, ADHD) who struggle with writing (Barbetta, 2023 ). While experts continue to investigate the future of writing in the ChatGPT era, it is evident that it will significantly alter writing instruction (Wilson, 2023 ). ChatGPT can support students in choosing a topic, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, soliciting feedback, revising, and proofreading (Trust et al., 2023 ). This tool may also be a helpful resource for teachers in providing feedback on students’ writing. Timely and quality feedback by ChatGPT can encourage the use of higher-level thinking skills while improving the writing process including the planning, writing, and reviewing phases of that process (Golinkoff & Wilson, 2023 ).

Writing Instruction and Feedback for Struggling Writers

The writing process may be challenging for some students for many reasons. For example, planning is the first step of writing, but many students don’t systematically brainstorm. Instead, they move directly into drafting their sentences which may, in turn, be disjointed and not effectively communicated (Evmenova & Regan, 2019 ). Students, particularly those with high-incidence disabilities may not produce text or compose limited text, struggling with content generation, vocabulary, and the organization of ideas (Chung et al., 2020 ). While multilinguism is an asset, we have observed similar challenges with writing among English Language Learners in our research (Hutchison et al., 2024 ). The cognitive demands needed for drafting a response leave many students at no capacity to then edit or revise their work (Graham et al., 2017 ). Therefore, teachers should provide scaffolds to break down the complex process of writing so that it is sequential and manageable, progressing from simple to more complex concepts and skills.

Instruction for struggling writers is typically characterized as systematic and explicit (Archer & Hughes, 2011 ; Hughes et al., 2018 ). In order to provide explicit instruction, teachers should be guided by ongoing student data. Specifically, special and general education teachers of writing should collaboratively, systematically, and continuously monitor and responsively adjust instruction based on student progress (Graham et al., 2014 ). Formative assessments of writing inform feedback that a teacher provides a learner. McLeskey et al., ( 2017 ) describes:

Effective feedback must be strategically delivered, and goal directed; feedback is most effective when the learner has a goal, and the feedback informs the learner regarding areas needing improvement and ways to improve performance… Teachers should provide ongoing feedback until learners reach their established learning goals. (p. 25)

Various formative assessments are available to guide feedback in writing, with rubrics being one frequently used method, which we will explore in the following section.

Supporting Writing by Struggling Writers

School-aged students are required to show progress towards mastery of writing independently in order to be successful at school, future work, and in their personal lives (Graham, 2019 ). Thus, educators continuously look for tools to increase and support learner agency and independence including in writing (Edyburn, 2021 ). Over the past decade, the authors have developed a digital tool to support learner autonomy, access, and independence during essay composition as part of a federally funded, design-based research project referred to as WEGO: Writing Effectively with Graphic Organizers (Evmenova et al., 2018–2023 ). This tool is a technology-based graphic organizer (or TBGO) that embeds numerous evidence-based strategies and universally designed supports for students as well as an analytic rubric for teachers to evaluate student products and providing feedback. A detailed description of the tool can be found elsewhere (students’ features: Evmenova et al., 2020a ; teachers’ features: Regan et al., 2021 ).

The TBGO was developed to support upper elementary and middle school students with and without high-incidence disabilities to compose multiple genres of writing including persuasive (Evmenova et al., 2016 ), argumentative (Boykin et al., 2019 ), and/or personal narrative writing (Rana, 2018 ). The TBGO has also been effectively used by English Language Learners (Day et al., 2023 ; Boykin et al., 2019 ). In addition, it includes a dashboard that allows a teacher or caregiver to personalize instruction: assign prompts and support features embedded in the TBGO. After the student has an opportunity to write independently, the teacher can engage in what we refer to as data-driven decision making (or DDDM; Park & Datnow, 2017 ; Reeves and Chiang, 2018 ).

Teachers’ DDDM

A common formative assessment of writing used in classrooms is a rubric. In order to facilitate the DDDM process within the TBGO, various data are collected by the tool and provided to teachers including final writing product, total time spent actively using the tool, video views and duration, text-to-speech use and duration, audio comments use and duration, transition words use, total number of words, number of attempts to finish. A teacher first evaluates those data as well as student’s writing using a 5-point rubric embedded in the teacher dashboard of the TBGO (a specific rubric is available at  https://wego.gmu.edu ). Based on the rubric, a teacher identifies an area of need organized by phases of the writing process: Planning (select a prompt; select essay goal; select personal writing goal; brainstorm); Writing (identify your opinion, determine reasons, explain why or say more, add transition words, summarize, check your work); and Reviewing: Revise and Edit (word choice, grammar/spelling, punctuation, capitalization, evaluate). Then, a teacher provides specific instructional suggestions when the students’ score does not meet a threshold (e.g., content video models, modeling, specific practice activities). Once teachers select a targeted instructional move that is responsive to the identified area on the writing rubric, they record their instructional decision in the TBGO dashboard. The student’s work, the completed rubric, and the instructional decision is stored within the teacher dashboard. Recent investigations report that teachers positively perceive the ease and usability of the integrated digital rubric in the TBGO (see Regan et al., 2023a ; b ). Although promising, the teachers in those studies used DDDM with only a few students in their inclusive classes.

Efficient and Effective DDDM

The current version of the TBGO relies on teachers or caregivers to score student writing using an embedded rubric and to subsequently provide the student(s) with instructional feedback. In a classroom of twenty or more students, scoring individual essays and personalizing the next instructional move for each student is time consuming, and teachers may not regularly assess or interpret students’ writing abilities in the upper grades, especially (Graham et al., 2014 ; Kiuhara et al., 2009 ). Generative AI or chatbots are arguably leading candidates to consider when providing students with instructional feedback in a more time efficient manner (Office of Educational Technology, 2023 ). For example, automated essay scoring (AES) provides a holistic and analytic writing quality score of students’ writing and a description as to how the student can improve their writing. Recent research on classroom-based implementation of AES suggests its potential; but questions have been raised as to how teachers and students perceive the scores, and how it is used in classroom contexts (Li et al., 2015 ; Wilson et al., 2022 ). Other investigations remark on the efficiency and reliability among AES systems (Wilson & Andrada, 2016 ) and the consistency of scores with human raters (Shermis, 2014 ). More recently, a large-language model (specifically, GPT-3.5 version of ChatGPT) was prompted to rate secondary students’ argumentative essays and chatbot’s responses were compared to humans across five measures of feedback quality (see Steiss et al., 2023 ). Although GPT-3.5 included some inaccuracies in the feedback and the authors concluded that humans performed better than ChatGPT, the comparisons were remarkably close.

A greater understanding of what generative AI tools can do to support classroom teachers is needed. First, leveraging technology, with the use of automated systems, or logistical tools, can potentially improve working conditions for both general and special education teachers (Billingsley & Bettini, 2017 ; Johnson et al., 2012 ). Also, although educators see the benefits of AI and how it can be used to enhance educational services, there is urgent concern about the policies needed around its use and how it is ever evolving. For example, when writing this manuscript, GPT-4 evolved, but at a cost, this latter version may not be widely accessible for educators or students. With the fast adoption of AI, the Office of Educational Technology states that “it is imperative to address AI in education now to realize and mitigate emergent risks and tackle unintended consequences” (U.S. Department of Education, 2023 , p. 3). A first step in addressing AI in education is to understand what AI can do, and how its use supports or hinders student learning and teacher instruction. In this case, we focus on teachers’ writing instruction and feedback.

As we learn more about AI tools, it becomes obvious that AI literacy skills will need to be developed as part of digital skills by both teachers and students (Cohen, 2023 ). The importance of how we use chatbots, how we prompt them, and what parameters we use to direct the responses of chatbots becomes paramount.

Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore feedback and instructional suggestions generated by different AI tools when using prompts providing varying specificity (e.g., a generic 0–4 rating vs. analytic rubric provided) to help guide teachers of writing in their use of these tools. The purpose of including two versions of ChatGPT was not to criticize one and promote the other; but rather to understand and leverage their similarities and differences, given the same prompt. The research questions were:

RQ1: What is the difference between responses generated by GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 given prompts which provide varying specificity about students’ essays?

RQ2: What is the nature of the instructional suggestions provided by ChatGPT for students with and without disabilities and/or ELLs (aka struggling writers)?

RQ3: How does the formative feedback provided by GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 compare to the feedback provided by teachers when given the same rubric?

Data for this study were selected from a large intervention research study (led by the same authors) for a secondary data analysis. Specifically, while previous studies focused on the improvements in students’ writing outcomes (e.g., both quantity and quality of written essays) as well as explored how teachers provide feedback on students’ writing, the unique focus of this paper was on the use of AI to provide writing feedback (something we have not done before). The data included 34 persuasive student essays, a teacher’s completed analytic rubric evaluating the essay, and a teacher’s data-driven decisions with instructional feedback in the area of Writing and Reviewing (essays with the teachers’ DDDM in the area of Planning were excluded). We purposefully selected essays completed by students with various abilities and needs in different grade levels who struggled with writing and needed the TBGO intervention.

Participants

The 34 essays used in this study were written by 21 girls and 13 boys. Students ranged in age 8–13 and were in grades 3–7. The majority (59%) were White, 21% were Hispanic, 3% were African American, and 17% were other. Among the students, 41% were identified with high-incidence disabilities (learning disabilities, ADHD); 24% were English language learners (with a variety of primary languages); and 35% were struggling writers as reported by teachers. Teachers identified struggling writers as those who consistently demonstrated writing performance below grade level expectations (e.g., needing extra support with writing mechanics, cohesive and well-organized ideas).

Study Context

The data used in this study were collected in two separate settings: two inclusive classrooms in a suburban, private day school and an after-school program in a community center serving economically disadvantaged families. The same essay writing procedures were used in both settings. All students were first asked to write a persuasive opinion-based essay in response to one of two prompts validated by previous research (Regan et al., 2023b ). Examples of the prompts included:

Some students go to school on Saturday. Write an essay on whether or not students should go to school on Saturdays.

Some people believe kids your age should not have cell phones. Using specific details and examples to persuade someone of your opinion, argue whether or not kids your age should have cell phones.

After the pretest, students were introduced to the technology-based graphic organizer (TBGO) with embedded evidence-based strategies and supports. The instruction lasted 5–6 lessons. Then students were asked to use the TBGO to practice independent essay writing without any help from the teachers. As the TBGO is a Chrome-based web application and works on any device with a Chrome browser installed, each student used their own device/laptop and individual login credentials to access the TBGO. After completing the independent writing, teachers reviewed students’ products and completed the analytic rubric built into the TBGO’s teacher dashboard. They identified one primary area of need and determined an instructional decision that should take place in order to address the existing area of need. The instructional decisions included whole- and small-group activities (especially in those cases when multiple students demonstrated the same area of need); independent activities (including watching video models embedded within the TBGO); as well as individual teacher-student check-ins to discuss the area of need and future steps. A posttest with the TBGO and a delayed posttest without the TBGO were later administered. The essays used in the current study were from an independent writing phase since those included teachers’ DDDM. On average, essays had 133.44 ( SD  = 57.21; range 32–224) total words written. The vast majority included such important persuasive essay elements such as a topic sentence introducing the opinion, distinct reasons, examples to explain the reasons, summary sentence, and transition words. While this provides some important context, the quantity and quality of students’ writing products is not the focus of the current study and is reported elsewhere (Boykin et al., 2019 ; Day et al., 2023 ; Evmenova et al., 2016 , 2020b ; Regan et al., 2018 , 2023b ).

Data Sources

The existing 34 essays were imported into two different versions of the ChatGPT generative AI: GPT-3.5 version of ChatGPT (free version) and GPT-4 (subscription version). Four different prompts were used in both ChatGPT versions (see Table  1 ). As can be seen in Table  1 , the different prompts included (1) using a specific analytic rubric (when a rubric from the TBGO was uploaded to ChatGPT); (2) asking for a generic 0–4 rating (without any additional specifics regarding scoring); (3) no rubric (asking to identify the area of need without any rubric); (4) no information (asking to provide generic feedback without any information about the student in the prompt). Each prompt type constituted its own GPT chat. Thus, eight sets of responses (or eight different chats) were generated by ChatGPT. A prompt tailored to include the student’s essay as well as the specific student characteristics and the essay topic when applicable (according to the prompt samples presented in Table  1 ) was pasted into the chat. After GPT had a chance to react and provide feedback, the next prompt was pasted into the same chat. Thus, each chat included a total of 34 prompts and 34 GPT outputs. Each chat was then saved and analyzed.

Data Analysis and Credibility

Inductive thematic analysis was used to explore how generative AI can be used to provide writing feedback and guide writing instruction for struggling writers (Guest et al., 2011 ). First, each set of ChatGPT responses (or each GPT chat) was analyzed individually, and reoccurring codes across responses were grouped into categories. The four members of the research team were randomly assigned to analyze two GPT sets each. Each member generated a list of codes and categories within a chat that were the shared with the team and discussed. During those discussions, the patterns within categories were compared across different sets to develop overarching themes in response to RQ1 and RQ2. The trustworthiness of findings was established by data triangulation across 34 writing samples and eight sets of feedback. Also, peer debriefing was used throughout the data analysis (Brantlinger et al., 2005 ).

To answer RQ3, frequencies were used to compare teachers’ and ChatGPT scores on the analytic rubric and suggested instructional decisions. First, two researchers independently compared teachers’ and ChatGPT scores and suggestions. Since the same language from the rubric was used to identify the area of need, the comparisons were rated as 0 = no match; 1 = match. For instructional suggestions, the scale was 0 = no match; 1 = match in concept, but not in specifics; and 2 = perfect match. Over 50% of comparisons were completed by two independent researchers. Interrater reliability was established using point-by-point agreement formula dividing the number of agreements by the total number of agreements plus disagreements and yielding 100% agreement.

RQ1: Differences in AI Responses

In effort to answer RQ1 and explore the differences between responses generated by different ChatGPT versions when given prompts with varying specificity, we analyzed eight sets of responses. While the purpose was not to compare the sets in effort to find which one is better, several patterns have been observed that can guide teachers in using ChatGPT as the starting point for generating writing feedback to their struggling writers. The following are the six overarching themes that emerged from this analysis.

Predictable Pattern of Response

As can be seen in Table  2 , all sets generated excessive amounts of feedback (average length: M  = 383; SD  = 109.7; range 258–581 words) and followed a consistent, formulaic, and predictable pattern of responses across all the writing samples. While the layout and headers used to organize the responses differed across different ChatGPT versions and prompts, the layout and headers were consistent within each set. That said, it was also observed in all ChatGPT sets that the organization and headings found in a response changed slightly towards the end of the run for the 34 writing samples. It is unclear whether this pattern change may happen after a certain number of entries (or writing samples in our case) were entered into the ChatGPT run or if this shift in pattern occurs randomly. Similarly, we also observed that the later responses seemed to be more concise and lacked details which were observed earlier in the same set.

Specific Analytic Rubric

Both GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 provided responses organized into nine categories matching those included in the uploaded rubric. Each category included 1–2 sentences of feedback along with a numerical rating on a 0–4 scale. An overall holistic score was also calculated at the end along with a summary of the student’s overall strengths and weaknesses.

Generic 0–4 Rating

For each writing sample, GPT-3.5 consistently included an evaluation of student writing using four criteria-based categories: Content, Organization, Language Use (punctuation, spelling, and grammar), and Development of Ideas. Two to three bullet points of feedback were listed under each category along with a numeric rating on a 0–4 scale for each. The scale was not defined or explained. An overall holistic score was totaled at the end along with a summary of feedback presented in a bulleted list.

GPT-4’s response to the first writing sample included a definition of what each point on the scale meant (e.g., 4 = writing is clear, well-organized, well-developed, with effectively chosen details and examples presented logically, and few to no errors in conventions). In all consecutive responses, an introductory paragraph identified an overall bold-faced score (0–4) and an overview of what the student did and did not demonstrate in the writing. The following areas of writing were discussed across essays: Organization, Development, Main Idea, Reasons, Examples, Coherence, and Grammar.

Each response in GPT-3.5 began with “One area of need is…” followed by two sentences including how to address the need. Areas of need for instruction identified by ChatGPT included a high frequency of subject-verb agreement as parts of sentence structure (topic sentence and supporting details), followed by transition words or phrases, spelling and grammar conventions, spelling and word choice, capitalization, and punctuation. The second part of the response, titled Instructional Suggestion, provided an instructional strategy for a teacher to use, followed by a model of a ‘revised’ essay using ideas from the student’s response.

GPT-4 provided four consistent parts. First, the response opened with a statement about what the student wrote, a positive affirmation, and an instructional area of writing that could be improved upon. Next, under a header of Instructional Suggestion was a brief description as to what the teacher should do. The third part was a bold-faced, numbered list of steps for implementing that suggestion with bulleted cues underneath. The final part of the response was a ‘revised’ paragraph using the student’s initial writing and addressing the area of need.

GPT-3.5 provided feedback organized in 9 to 11 bolded categories. The sections that were identical for every writing sample included Proofreading; Revising and Editing; Encourage Creativity; and Positive Reinforcement. The sections that were consistent but individualized for each writing sample were Clarity and Organization (including a topic/introductory sentence); Supporting Details; Sentence Structure and Grammar (primarily focus on sentence fragments, punctuation, and capitalization); Conclusion; Vocabulary and Word Choice. Feedback on spelling and transition words/phrases was offered either as separate categories or subsumed under others.

GPT-4’s response could be organized in 3 overarching groups: Positive Reinforcement (including specific praise, affirmation, and creativity); Areas for Improvement (content feedback including idea development; details; coherence; clarity and focus; concluding sentence; and technical feedback including sentence structure; punctuation; grammar; word choice); as well as Instructional Suggestions. A sample revised paragraph was offered at the end with an explanation as to how it showcased the offered suggestions.

Using Specific Language from the Rubric

Both Specific Analytic Rubric sets (using GPT-3.5 and GPT-4) referred exclusively to the uploaded rubric and provided feedback using specific language from the rubric. This included feedback across the nine categories built into the rubric (e.g., the writer clearly identified an opinion, the writer has determined three reasons that support his/her opinion, etc.). Also, both ChatGPT versions used descriptors from the rubric (0 = Try again; 1 = Keep trying; 2 = Almost there; 3 = Good job; 4 = Got it). However, GPT-3.5 did not use any explicit examples from the student’s writing within the feedback and used broad and general statements. GPT-4 referred to the specific content from the students’ writing samples and was more tailored, or individualized (e.g., There are some grammatical and spelling errors present, e.g., "are" instead of "our").

Identifying General, Broad Areas of Need

Feedback in all GPT-3.5 sets (regardless of the prompt) was characterized as using common phrases representing broad areas of need. These phrases were not specifically targeted or explicit. For example, the Generic Rating GPT-3.5 set included such common phrases as “The essay presents ideas and supports them with reasonable detail, but there's room for more depth and elaboration.” or “The content is well-structured and effectively conveys the main points.” Similarly, the No Rubric GPT-3.5 set identified instructional areas of need that were only broadly relevant to the students’ writing. For example, in several instances, our review questioned the prioritization of the writing area identified and if ChatGPT was overgeneralizing areas in need of improvement. Specifically, does two instances of using lowercase when it should be uppercase mean that capitalization should be prioritized over other essential features of writing? Finally, the No Info GPT-3.5 set also used common phrases to describe areas for improvement regardless of the writing sample. For example, there were no difference in ChatGPT’s feedback for a writing essay with eight complete, robust, well-written sentences vs. an incomplete paragraph with just two sentences indicating the lack of targeted and specific feedback.

No Rubric GPT-4 set would start with identifying a broad area of need (e.g., coherence, grammar, development, organization/development of ideas, attention to detail) followed by a more individualized and specific instructional suggestion (as discussed below). The authors acknowledge that this might be explained by the prompt language to identify one area of need.

Focusing on an Individualized, Specific Areas of Need

Like the Specific Analytic Rubric GPT-4 set, the Generic 0–4 Rating GPT-4 set and the No Info GPT-4 sets were observed to include more guidance for the student, drawing on specific areas of an essay to provide corrective feedback. For example, Generic Rating GPT-4 feedback noted, “We should also try to provide more specific examples or explanations for each reason. For example, you mentioned that students get tired – maybe you can explain more about how having some recess can help them feel less tired.” In turn, No Info GPT-4 included detailed feedback focused on specific areas of need such as encouraging more details and clarifications, cohesion and flow, capitalization, spelling, homophones, and punctuation (including avoiding run-on sentences and properly using commas). Word choice, contractions, and conjunctions were often mentioned offering specific revisions. Varying the length and structure of sentences was sometimes suggested for making the writing more engaging and readable.

Misaligned Feedback

While there were some occasional discrepancies in GPT-4 sets, all GPT-3.5 sets appeared to generate feedback that was more misaligned with writing samples. For example, in the Specific Analytic Rubric GPT-3.5 set, a “Good Job” score of 3 was given for the Summary sentence that read, “Moreover, …” and was not a complete sentence. Also, the Generic Rating GPT-3.5 set did not mention any misuse of capitalization despite numerous cases of such misuse. Subject-verb agreement was erroneously mentioned as an area of need for some writing samples for the No Rubric GPT-3.5 set, and then, not mentioned for those students’ writing in which this feedback would be relevant. In the No Info GPT-3.5 set, the topic or introductory sentence was always noted as a suggested area of improvement and a revised sentence was always provided. This was true for cases when a student:

was missing an opinion that aligned with the prompt

had an opinion but did not start it with words “I believe …” (e.g., “Kids should get more recess time.”); and

already had a strong introductory sentence (e.g., “I believe that school starts too early and should begin later in the morning.”).

Starting with Specific Praise/Positive Affirmation

While most ChatGPT feedback included some general praise and affirmation, Generic Rating GPT-4, No Rubric GPT-4, and No Info GPT-4 sets always started with specific positive reinforcement. Unique elements in each essay were praised including conveying personal experiences, having a clear stance or position, and including a variety of reasons, etc.

RQ2: Instructional Suggestions

Instructional suggestions based on the evaluation of student writing was a focus of RQ2. Although we expected the responses from prompts that included specific student characteristics to differentiate the instructional suggestions in some way, this was not the case. In fact, none of the sets provided explicit instructional suggestions aligned with students’ characteristics (e.g., grade, disability, ELL). First, the suggestions for improving the writing of a 3rd grader’s essay were not distinct from those suggestions provided in response to a 7th grader’s writing (in Generic Rating GPT-3.5 and No Rubric GPT-3.5 sets). Also, there were no remarkable differences in the vocabulary used in the feedback for a 3rd grader vs. a 7th grader (in Generic Rating GPT-4 set). Only one set (Generic Rating GPT-4) offered a personalized message in a student-friendly format (without any additional prompting to do so).

Second, student characteristics were merely acknowledged in some sets. For example, Specific Analytic Rubric GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 only noted those characteristics in the summary section at the end of the feedback (e.g., “This is a well-written persuasive essay by your 7th-grade student with ADHD”). This was also observed in responses from the Generic Rating GPT-4 set, as well. For example, “This feedback emphasizes both the strengths of the student’s writing and the areas where improvement can be made, offering encouragement and guidance that is particularly important for a student with ADHD.” Finally, the No Rubric GPT-4 set also gave a mere nod to the additional context (e.g., Given student characteristics…). Although rare, connecting student characteristics with instruction was observed here: “Students with ADHD often struggle with organizing their thoughts in a coherent manner, and the flow of ideas in this student’s paragraph seems a bit disjointed….” Students’ characteristics were not mentioned in any other sets in which student information was included in the prompt (Generic Rating GPT-3.5 and No Rubric GPT-3.5).

Below is the description of how specific, broad, or no instructional suggestions were included in the ChatGPT sets (see Table  2 ).

Specific Suggestions

Specific instructional suggestions were mentioned in Generic Rating GPT-4, No Rubric GPT-4, and No Info GPT-4 sets. At the end of responses for the Generic Rating GPT-4 set, ChatGPT encouraged the teacher to use self-regulatory instructional strategies with students, such as goal setting or self-evaluation. For example, “By involving the student in the refinement of their work and setting goals, you empower them to take ownership of their learning and progression.”

No Rubric GPT-4 responses used such headings as modeling, guided practice, feedback, and independent practice with bulleted ideas under each. The specific suggestions included practice, mini-instructional lessons, engaging activities, peer review, explicit instruction, sentence-building activities, peer review sentence starters, technology such as word processing and online games, the five W’s and How strategy (i.e., a writing strategy that helps students remember to include the answers to “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how” in their writing to make their writing complete and clear), a mnemonic referred to as PEE (i.e., Point, Explain, Elaborate; this mnemonic helps students ensure their writing is focused, well-supported, and thoroughly developed), a personal dictionary, interactive editing, and a graphic organizer or outline. When the latter was suggested to support the “coherence” or “development of ideas,” ChatGPT’s response sometimes provided a backwards planning model of what the student’s ideas would look like in an outline format.

Responses of the No Info GPT-4 set included specific and varied instructional suggestions organized by categories: Writing Exercises; Focused Practice; and Revision Work. Suggestions included mini lessons on sentence structure, transition workshops, details workshops, personal experience illustrations, developing ideas workshops, worksheets, grammar lessons, spelling activities, sentence expansion or completion, and editing practice.

Broad Instructional Suggestions

Primarily broad instructional suggestions were offered in the Generic Rating GPT-3.5 and No Rubric GPT-3.5 sets. For example, Generic Rating GPT-3.5 responses had a section with a bulleted list of actionable, instructional suggestions. Each began with a verb (i.e., Work on…; Encourage the student to…; Practice…). It was also not clear if these suggestions were presented in any order of instructional priority. Also, the items included broad ideas that aligned with the student essays but may or may not have aligned with the lowest rated category of writing. Examples of largely vague and broad instructional suggestions recycled throughout the responses in the No Rubric GPT-3.5 set including: “use different types of sentences,” “teach basic spelling rules,” and “use appropriate punctuation.”

Revised Essay

The following three ChatGPT sets included responses with a revised student essay along with a brief explanation of how it was better (even though a revision was not requested in the prompt): No Rubric GPT-3.5, No Rubric GPT-4, and No Info GPT-4 sets. We considered that a model of writing, revised for improvement, was a broad instructional strategy. This is one of many excellent strategies for teaching writing, however, the revisions were often characterized by sophisticated vocabulary and complex elaborations. For example, a student wrote, “To illustrate, when students are hungry it’s hard for them to listen.” And ChatGPT elevated the sentence with, “To illustrate, when students are hungry, it's hard for them to listen because their minds may be preoccupied with thoughts of food.” Whereas the latter sentence is a well-crafted model for the student, this revision arguably loses the student’s voice and tone.

No Instructional Suggestions

No explicit instructional suggestions were included in the responses for Specific Analytic Rubric GPT-3.5, No Info GPT-3.5, and Specific Analytic Rubric GPT-4 sets. The reader was only reminded to provide feedback in a constructive and supportive manner and encourage students to ask questions and seek clarifications on any offered suggestions. While this is logical for both Specific Analytic rubric sets (not asking for instructional suggestions in the prompt), it is surprising for the No Info GPT-3.5 set (which asked for feedback and instructional suggestions).

RQ3: Comparisons Between Teachers and ChatGPT

In response to RQ3, we compared a real teachers’ data-based decision-making (DDDM), including the score and the instructional decision, to the scores generated in the Specific Analytic Rubric GPT-3.5 and Specific Analytic Rubric GPT-4 sets for students’ essays ( N  = 34). The first rubric category scored with a 2 or below was considered the area of need for writing instruction.

GPT-3.5 matched the teacher’s recommendation for the area of writing need 17.6% of the time. For example, the teacher identified Word Selection as the area of need (e.g., high use of repeated words and lacking sensory words) and GPT-3.5 noted the same area of need (e.g., there is some repetition and awkward phrasing). When comparing teacher versus ChatGPTs instructional decisions, there was no perfect match; however, 26.5% were coded as a partial match. For example, both the teacher and GPT-3.5 suggested an instructional activity of modeling how to write a summary sentence.

GPT-4 matched the teacher’s recommendation for the area of writing need 23.5% of the time. Similarly, when comparing the teacher versus ChatGPT’s instructional decisions, 47.1% were coded as a partial match for instruction.

Discussion and Practical Implications

Since the end of 2022 when it debuted, school leaders and teachers of writing have been grappling with what ChatGPT means for writing instruction. Its ability to generate essays from a simple request or to correct writing samples is making an impact on the classroom experience for students with and without disabilities and it is reshaping how teachers assess student writing (Marino et al., 2023 ; Trust et al., 2023 ; Wilson, 2023 ). However, teachers may have limited knowledge of how AI works and poor self-efficacy for using AI in the classroom to support their pedagogical decision making (Chiu et al., 2023 ). It is imperative to ensure that teachers receive professional development to facilitate the effective and efficient use of AI. There are more questions than answers currently, especially for its application by students struggling with academics.

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the application of ChatGPT chatbot for teachers of writing. Specifically, we used different versions of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 – free and GPT-4 – subscription) and purposefully different types of prompts, providing limited or more information about the student characteristics and the topic of their writing. Essentially, we asked ChatGPT to evaluate an authentic student’s writing, identify the area(s) of need, and provide instructional suggestion(s) for addressing the problematic area(s) in that individual writing sample. We then compared AI-generated feedback to that completed by humans.

The findings indicate the possibilities and limitations of ChatGPT for evaluating student writing, interpreting a teacher-developed rubric, and providing instructional strategies.

Our finding is that, generally, ChatGPT can follow purposeful prompts, interpret and score using a criterion-based rubric when provided, create its own criteria for evaluating student writing, effectively revise student essay writing, celebrate what students do well in their writing, paraphrase student essay ideas, draft outlines of a student’s completed essay, and provide formative feedback in broad and specific areas along different stages of the writing process. Moreover, the response is immediate. These findings are consistent with previous investigations of ChatGPT and the assessment of student writing (Steiss et al., 2023 ). However, teachers need to consider the following points before relying on ChatGPT to provide feedback to their struggling writers.

In the ChatGPT sets which included no contextual information, the responses included more feedback.

All sets generated excessive amounts of feedback about student writing with no delineation of the next clear instructional move a teacher should attend to. So, ChatGPT may work as a great starting point, but teachers will need to go through the response to prioritize and design their instruction. Sifting through information for relevance can be time consuming and may even warrant a teacher verifying the content further.

Additionally, if students relied directly on ChatGPT, without any vetting from a teacher about the content, they too may be overwhelmed by the amount of feedback given to modify their writing or they may even be provided with erroneous feedback.

All GPT-3.5 sets identified broad areas of writing that needed improvement and frequently used common phrases such as grammar, organization/development of ideas, and attention to detail. In addition, this feedback was more often misaligned with students’ writing. This observation is worrisome since GPT-3.5 version of ChatGPT is free and highly accessible, making it likely the preferred AI tool for classroom educators.

Most GPT-4 sets (except one) generated more specific and individualized feedback about student writing. The specific feedback included in the generated outputs were much lengthier and would take much more time for a teacher to review than GPT-3.5 responses.

All sets identified multiple areas of need and when included in the responses, there were multiple instructional suggestions. Even the No Rubric sets, which explicitly prompted ChatGPT to focus on just one area of instructional need and one suggestion, included much more in the responses. This finding reiterates that we are still learning about AI literacy and the language we need to use to communicate effectively.

Both GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 allowed the upload of a researcher-developed analytic rubric and moreover, interpreted the performance criteria, rating scale, and indicators. ChatGPT also used the rubric’s specific language when providing its evaluation of the student writing.

No tailored feedback or specific suggestions were contextualized when prompts included varying ages, grade levels, or various student abilities and needs. Further research is needed to determine the types of AI literacy prompts or the contextual information that ChatGPT needs to address the particular needs of an individual child. Specially designed instruction, the heart of special education, should be tailored to a particular student (Sayeski et al., 2023 ).

Low agreement reported between the rubric scores and instructional suggestions made by teachers and those generated by ChatGPT does not necessarily mean that ChatGPT’s feedback is incorrect. One explanation for the difference may be that teachers provide targeted and individualized instruction using multiple forms of data and critical information to make instructional decisions. This includes their own professional judgement and knowledge about how each students’ backgrounds, culture, and language may influence student performance (McLeskey et al., 2017 ).

Limitations

This study is an initial exploration. There are several limitations that need to be taken into consideration. First and foremost, the four prompts were designed to present the chatbots with varying levels of details and student information to consider when providing feedback about a student’s writing sample. For example, Specific Analytic Rubric prompt asked the chatbot to assess students’ writing using an uploaded rubric, while No Rubric prompt asked to identify one area of need for the student’s writing and offer one instructional suggestion to address it. In addition to providing the chatbots with varying information, we also used varying language throughout the prompts when seeking feedback and suggestions (e.g., “Identify areas of need for this student’s writing”; “Identify one area of need … and offer one instructional suggestion”; “what feedback and instructional suggestions…”). Chatbots are clearly sensitive to the word choices made; thus, a consistency of the language in prompts should be considered for any future investigations that aim at prompt comparison. The purpose of this work was not to compare the four prompts in effort to find the best possible one. We also were not looking specifically for the feedback that could be shared with students as is (even though some versions generated such feedback without additional prompting). Instead, we were trying to explore how the output might differ depending on the prompts with differing level of detail. So, some of the reported difference are logical. We also did not prompt the ChatGPT any further, which would most likely result in refined feedback and/or suggestions. There is an infinite number of prompts that we could have used in this analysis. In fact, a new field of prompt engineering is emerging right in front of our eyes as we learn to design inputs for generative AI tools that would produce optimal outputs. Further investigations of various prompts to feed ChatGPT are needed. Our hope is that this paper will inspire teacher to spend some time exploring different tools and prompts in effort to find the most appropriate output depending on their context and their students’ needs.

Also, there was a limited numbers of essays from each specific group of learners (e.g., certain age/grade, specific disability categories and other characteristics). While we reported meaningful findings for this initial exploratory analysis, future research should include writing products from more homogeneous groups. Finally, teachers’ DDDM was accomplished by evaluating a completed graphic organizer, while ChatGPT feedback was provided based on the final student essay copied and pasted from the TBGO. Future research should consider new features of generative AI tools (e.g., Chat GPT’s new image analysis feature) where an image of a completed graphic organizer can be uploaded and analyzed.

This study offers examples for how to potentially incorporate AI effectively and efficiently into writing instruction. High quality special education teachers are reflective about their practice, use a variety of assistive and instructional technologies to promote student learning, and regularly monitor student progress with individualized assessment strategies. It seems very likely that teachers will adopt the capabilities of generative AI tools. With ongoing development and enhancements, AI technology is certain to become an integral component of classroom instruction. However, given the limitations of ChatGPT identified in this study, teacher-led instruction and decision making is still needed to personalize and individualize specialized instruction. Engaging with the technology more and building familiarity of what it can do to improve student learning and teacher practice is warranted.

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This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs [award number: H327S180004]. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred.

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Evmenova, A.S., Regan, K., Mergen, R. et al. Improving Writing Feedback for Struggling Writers: Generative AI to the Rescue?. TechTrends (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-024-00965-y

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