For Graduate Students: Creating an Effective CV
CV Format
What to emphasize
Which experience is included on a CV?
Highlighting Your Thesis
What not to include
Generally, there is no single correct format or style for writing a CV. CV’s are frequently longer than resumes and thus can be multiple pages long. In a CV,completeness is more important than brevity.
What to emphasize
A CV summarizes educational and academic history. It emphasizes academic achievements such as:
- teaching experience,
- publications (books, articles, research papers, unpublished manuscripts, or book chapters), and
- academic honors and awards.
Which experience is included on a CV?
- On a CV it is appropriate to describe both teaching and research experience in detail. (On a resume this is usually not appropriate.)
- If applying for a position that primarily involves research, describe research experience first; if the reverse is true, put teaching experience first.
- Work experience not directly relevant to research/teaching/academic opportunities should be omitted or described only briefly.
Highlighting Your Thesis
Including a one- or two- page abstract of your thesis, is recommended, but optional. If you do provide an abstract, write (See Abstract Attached) in the Education section of your CV, after the name of your thesis title.
If you are working on or have recently finished your doctoral degree, at least include a brief, clear summary of your thesis topic in the Education section.
What Not to Include
- Omit references to date of birth (age), marital status, children, health, spouse's work, religious affiliation.
- Do not include as headings, words such as "Personal Information", "Name", "Address".
- You don’t need to use the heading "Curriculum Vitae" at the top. It’s understood that it’s a CV.
Last updated on Tuesday, November 15, 05 at 09:11:41 AM EST.
