Drafting a strong academic curriculum vitae (CV)
An academic CV summarizes a candidate's educational background, which includes their experience in teaching and research, publications, presentations, awards, grants and honours received. This document showcases their potential and qualifications for a graduate program or an academic position while communicating the skills, knowledge,
and experience to potential graduate school committees and/or employers.
Before drafting an academic CV, it is essential to remember that building a good CV takes time to master. Therefore, allow enough time to present your CV in an attractive way to reflect its purpose. For instance, a CV intended for applying to an academic or research position should reflect this purpose. Note that it’s unnecessary to include your biodata, such as age, date of birth, and marital status, in your academic CV as they do not serve any purpose. Additionally, the length of the CV should not be mistaken for a resume. A resume is usually one to two pages long, while a CV is longer. Overall, presenting your CV
using a good formatting style with clear and concise content would be best.
Key contents of an academic CV
Personal information and educational qualification: The first thing to include in your
academic CV is your personal information, such as full name, address, email or
phone, ORCID, and website link. This is followed by your educational qualifications,
which include your relevant degrees, awards, and honours, in chronological order. In
the same section, you might also add your dissertation or thesis title and some
courses you enrolled in during your master or PhD.
Research Interests: Next is to include your research interests. This helps your
audience know what research you are interested in and what your audience can
understand about your research in advance.
Professional Experiences: What follows your research interest is your professional
experiences, where you list all your work experiences in reverse chronological order.
It is essential to briefly describe your roles, responsibilities, and key achievements
for each work experience. Often, teaching and research experiences, volunteering,
and internships are the subsections of professional experiences.
Publications: An excellent academic CV should also showcase your contributions to
your field through research and writing. This is done by adequately listing all relevant
academic publications in reverse chronological order, following a specific formatting
style. Also, it is crucial to highlight your specific role in each publication.
Conferences and workshops: As an academic, you are expected to attend
conferences and workshops as part of your academic life. Your CV should,
therefore, highlight the conferences and workshops you have attended along with
dates and locations. It is important also to mention the roles you played at each
conference and workshop in a clear and concise manner.
Skills and competencies: This section showcases your soft and technical skills,
especially those relevant to the position or program you are applying for. Examples
of such skills include data analysis, graphics design, grant writing, coding, etc.
Other information, such as professional membership affiliations, awards and
scholarships, volunteering experiences, online certifications, and academic
references, can also be included on your academic CV.
References
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