Curriculum Vitae

What is a CV? A CV (short for Curriculum Vitae) is a document that showcases your academic achievements, educational background, and research work. It is usually required by applications for graduate teaching assistantships, Ph.D. programs, and academic job positions. Your CV shows off your skillset and is helpful for highlighting your research (including publications and presentations), teaching, and service.

 

What does my CV need to accomplish? Your CV should provide details of your experience  in research, teaching, and service. Unlike a resume, a CV can be as long as is necessary to fully display your capabilities.

 

How should my CV be formatted? Keep the font consistent and to a readable size and have your personal information at the top. Start with the type of experience that is most relevant to the position you’re applying for.

 

CV Do’s:

  • Order sections to highlight your most relevant experience (e.g., for a research-intensive position, place your publications right after education)
  • Be detailed and include all relevant information.  
  • Proofread everything and check for errors.
  • Ask a professor/mentor and the Writing Center to look over a draft. 
  • Be consistent in font, line spacing, and indentation.

CV Don’ts:

  • Include high school information unless it is relevant to your skillset. 
  • List more than one item under a single heading. Each individual project or publication should have its own space.
  • Include unpublished/unsubmitted papers. 

 

What sections do I need in my CV?

 

Contact Information 

  • All CVs should include contact information for the employer or other reviewer to contact you with to offer you a job or an interview. Make sure all of your information is current.
  • Include: phone number, mailing address, a professional e-mail address.

 

Education

  • Include: names and levels of any degrees you have earned or are in the process of earning, names of majors and minors, names of institution(s) where you earned the degree(s), dates of graduation (or expected date). 
  • Do not include: a high school diploma. Start with an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
  • Optional: GPA and Latin honors. 

 

Experience

  • Experiences should be relevant to the line of work you are applying for.
  • Research Experience
    • Research projects both done on your own and as a member of a team.
    • Include: name/location of the project, responsibilities, relevant experience gained from the project, the date(s) the project took place, and any advisors.
  • Graduate Work
    • Graduate teaching assistantships, graduate projects, and practicums can all be listed under experience as well.
    • Include: name/location of the project, responsibilities, relevant experience gained from the project, the date(s) the project took place, and any advisors.
  • Other Relevant Work
    • Non-academic work experience related to the position.

 

Honors and Awards

  • Dean’s list, department awards, scholarships, grants, fellowships, off-campus awards, contests
  • Keep these connected to what you’re applying for: an award for writing a book will not reflect your experience with scientific inquiry. 

 

Publications

  • Include: works published or under review.
  • Do not include: unsubmitted works, course papers.

 

Presentations

  • Include: Symposium/conference presentations, invited talks, other formal presentations of research.
  • Do not include: class presentations.

 

References

  • Order these in the order of whom you would like to be contacted first.
  • These should be as relevant as possible to the position you are applying for; they could be advisors/supervisors of the aforementioned experience items or professors/researchers you have worked closely with.
  • Include: the name of the reference, their contact information, and their position title

 

Optional Sections

 

Leadership and Advising Experience

  • Some positions may ask for this section. 
  • Include: officer positions, project leadership, management, advising and mentorship roles.

 

Professional Affiliations/Memberships

  • List your professional organizations here, such as honors societies, academic or professional societies, unions, field-specific associations. 

 

Languages

  • Include: your native language(s), languages you speak/have studied and have any form of competency in.
  • A basic measure can be used to indicate fluency (novice, intermediate, advanced, native-like) or an official measure from a certification should accompany the language.
  • It is best to indicate a measure with different skills in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking proficiency. 

 

Computer Skills

  • Include: any relevant skills to the position, such as familiarity with digital resources, programming capabilities, text processing/editing, digital art, web design, chart/spreadsheet use.
  • Names of software can be listed. These skills can be categorized by function. 
  • Be specific! If you know how to program, be sure to include all the languages you know. 

 

Non-Academic Activities

  • This section can be used to showcase extracurriculars that might be relevant to the position or might show off relevant skills. 
  • Include: officer positions which can showcase responsibilities, activities which show a balanced academic and extracurricular life, projects or big events you took part in that express your best qualities.
  • Do not include: clubs or groups in which you were a passive/inactive member, personal hobbies/activities which do not speak to your academic performance or skillset.

 

Resources

 

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/careerservices/cvguide/affiliations

 

Acknowledgement to Dr. Géraldine Walther, who provided some of these tips in review of a sample CV.