Tips and Samples
THE BASICS
The curriculum vitae, also known as a CV or vita, is a comprehensive statement of your educational background, teaching, and research experience. It is the standard representation
of credentials within academia.
- The full CV is only used when applying for academic positions in four-year institutions.
- Do not use a CV when applying to community colleges—use a teacher-focused résumé instead.
- Tailor your CV to the specific positions to which you are applying and place more relevant sections earlier in the document.
- For a position at a teaching-focused liberal arts college, the CV will strongly emphasize teaching.
- For a position at a research-intensive university, the CV will accentuate research.
- The format can vary by field, so also seek disciplinary-specific advice from advisers, professors, and others within your field.
- There are no length restrictions for CVs.
FORMATTING
- Your CV must be well-organized and easy to read.
- Choose an effective format and be consistent.
- Use bolds, italics, underlines, and capitalization to draw attention.
- List all relevant items in reverse chronological order in each section.
- Strategically place the most important information near the page’s top and/or left side.
- Use a footer with page numbers and your last name in case pages get separated.
- In general, place the name of the position, title, award, or institution on the left side of the page and associated dates on the right.
DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCES
- Articulate what you have done and take advantage of the opportunity to describe your research and teaching experiences—do more than list them.
- Avoid the bland phrase “responsibilities included.” This can sound like a dull job description. Instead, use bullets to describe your activities, accomplishments, and successes.
Also Check: How to Write a Statement of Purpose (SOP) that gets you Admission and Scholarships?
SECTIONS TO INCLUDE
The Basic Sections
Heading:
Name, email address, mailing address (only one), and phone number
Education:
List academic degrees that are in progress or most recently earned first.
- Name of institution, city and state, degree type and significant, month and year degree was (will be) awarded
- Thesis title and advisor, if applicable
Relevant Experience:
List positions that show off your skills and expertise. You can group experiences into relevant categories to enhance your CV (e.g., Research, Teaching and Administration). For each position, include:
- Title, organization name, city and state, dates position was held.
- Bullet points that summarize your activities/duties, accomplishments, and successes.
Use action verbs.
Publications:
Provide bibliographic citations for articles, pamphlets, book chapters, research reports, or any other publications you have authored or co-authored. Use the format appropriate to your academic discipline for a clean appearance.
Presentations (Oral and Poster):
Give the titles of professional presentations, the name of the conference or event, dates, and location, and, if appropriate in your discipline, a brief description. Use the format appropriate to your particular academic discipline for a consistent and clean look.
Honors and Awards:
Receipt of competitive scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships; names of scholastic honors; teaching or research awards.
References:
Three to five are appropriate. If you are responding to an advertisement that asks
for references, include those requested on a separate addendum sheet.
Optional Sections
Qualifications or Skills: A summary of particular or relevant strengths or skills you want to highlight. Typically, this is not included separately but addressed in other sections. Occasionally, it may be appropriate to list special computing or language skills.
Grants Received: Include the name of the grant, the name of the granting agency, the date received, and the title or purpose of the research project.
Institutional Service: List institutional committees you have served on, including offices held,
student groups you have supervised, or special academic projects you have assisted with.
Certifications: List all relevant certifications and the year received.
Professional Associations: Memberships in national, regional, state, and local professional organizations. Also, list significant appointments to positions or committees in these associations. Student memberships in professional associations are appropriate.
Recent/Current Research: Description of research projects recently conducted or in progress.
Include the type of research and a brief description of the purpose.
Community Involvement: Appropriate and relevant volunteer work, church work, community
service organizations, etc.
Educational Travel: Names of countries, dates, purpose.
