You might find this article helpful...

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=410208

For PhDs in Canadian and American universities it is best to look at individual professor profiles. To find professors in your field I suggest looking more closely at the authors of key publications. University rankings can also be useful to give you a rough idea of what schools excel in your field of interest, but I wouldn't take them too seriously. Then, determine which professors' research interests are similar to your own and send them a brief email expressing your interest in pursuing a PhD with them as well as detailing your research interests and qualifications.

Hope this helps!

Some important things to include would be:

-your motivation for doing a PhD
-a brief description of the skills learned during each of your degrees (and any work experience) and how these will help you during your PhD
-your career ambitions and how this PhD will contribute to your career growth (ex: what skills are you looking to gain during this PhD?)
-challenges you may face while doing your PhD and how you expect to overcome them
-reasons for why you are applying to a particular school

Hope this helps. If you'd like I'd be more than happy to look over your personal statement.

Good Luck!!!:-)

Just wondering what programs/apps people use for organizing their papers and research. Currently I use the Papers App and I love it. It allows you to highlight your PDFs, make notes, assign keywords etc. In addition, you it allows you to cite/create a bibliography into whatever word processor you use. Only downside is that is costs money. Evernote and Dropbox are good for backing up files.

Any other great apps/programs that people have come across and would like to share?