3

I am currently working on grad school applications to US Universities. Somewhere in my statement of purpose, I express my interest in working in a certain field. As a reason for that interest, I want to cite a particular paper written by members of the CS Department at the University of Toronto. The problem targeted by that paper was one that I was very interested in (at an abstract level) when I was in high school. Thus I got deeply excited and would like to extend their work.

Is it okay if I mention this paper in my statement of purpose for schools other than the University of Toronto? Could such a reference give the (mistaken) impression that I had written a statement of purpose specifically for the University of Toronto and then didn't bother to make changes for other schools?

Improve this question
3
  • I understand you'll need to mention the title and the authors when you cite a paper. But, why do you need to mention the university (affiliation) of the authors?
    – Nobody
    Commented Nov 14, 2015 at 9:07
  • No I won't be mentioning the university, but if I am applying to a sub-domain in CS, I believe that a person related to that sub domain would be reading that paper and there are chances that she/he knows that the paper/author does not belong to their university (or might even end up doing a web search)
    – alphacentauri
    Commented Nov 14, 2015 at 9:24
  • 5
    Some computer scientists at Toronto are so famous that mentioning their work would be perfectly natural in any statement of purpose.
    – Andreas Blass
    Commented Nov 14, 2015 at 14:23

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

If the paper was influential for your development, by all means talk about it and cite it.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .