The titles begs the question, what the fuck is a Self Historiography? Yep you guessed it, like its confusing predecessors, it’s a CAT 125 assignment. Historiography is defined as the history of history. So rather than just documentation of an event, such as the Hindenburg Tragedy, historiography is a study of the way those events are recorded. What language is used to record events of the past? In what light are the events shown? Who does recording of these events benefit?

Half way through the quarter Mr. Bill asked his students to complete a self historiography. Being about the self, this assignment fits well into the CAT 125 curriculum. I chose to complete this assignment in the format of a statement of intent for graduate school. Writing a statement of purpose is not easy. It must include a compelling hook, the origins of one’s future aspirations, information regarding research experience and most importantly, creative integration of these concepts in a laconic manner.

I intended to make this assignment worthy of submission to an actual graduate program. I decided to apply for the medicinal chemistry graduate program at UC Berkely. In my first draft I made up a fake story about my grandfather’s tragic death and how it inspired me to peruse medicine. Upon revision from you, Ancy, I reworked the hook to incorporate an actual experience from my life. I struggled with keeping the paper short while not neglecting to include critical information. When writing about my research experience I completely fabricated all of the information.

This assignment made evident to me the preparation necessary to create a good statement of intent. Who knows, maybe I’ll get into grad school now that I have some practice in this area.