Transcript Perception & Design Examples

Creating Effective CVs
Hints, Tips, &
Examples
By Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie
What is in a name?
Curriculum Vita or Curriculum Vitae?
• Both are used
• Vita means “life’s course” (singular)
• Vitae means “life’s courses” (plural) or
“life’s course” (singular, feminine)
• According to Webster: Vitae is the way to
go
CV Vs. The Resume
• CVs are for “faculty, research, clinical,
or scientific position[s]”
• CVs are more formal and longer
– Resumes should be a page
– CVs should be more than 2 pages
• CVs include publications, presentations,
professional activities, honors, and
additional information, no objectives
• There is no “set” format for a CV
Things to Include
•
•
•
•
•
•
Basic contact information
Educational background
Honors and awards
Teaching experience
Other employment experience if related
Publications (in bibliographic format) including
– publications forthcoming
– manuscripts under consideration
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A brief description of your dissertation
Academic service
Professional memberships/Affiliations
List of references
Grants
Consulting
Volunteer Experience
Address where your dossier is available
CV Tips
• People reading your vita usually grant it 20 seconds. There is no
room for error: misspellings, contradictions, grammatical mistakes,
awkward phrases, or chronological gaps.
• The formatting should be clean and easy to read.
• Highlight significant items by placing them strategically.
• Do not pad your vita with trivial or irrelevant items.
• Do not pass off one vita item for something more significant than it
is.
• Have a “master” CV with everything that you draw from to create the
CVs you use
• If you can: Don’t include all publications or presentations so you can
list them as “selected” publications and “selected” presentations
(only good if you have a lot, otherwise not worth it)
• Length: Debatable, more than 2 and less than 6 (w/o references)
Setting up your CV: Part 1
• Start with name & contact info
• Then education in reverse chronological order
(most recent 1st)
• Next dissertation info: title, committee, brief
summary (<200 words)
• Decide which is more important:
– Publications & Presentations (for research jobs)
– Teaching (for teaching jobs)
– Both? Go with your strength, often Publications best
Setting up your CV: Publications & Presentations
• Set up in MLA (or appropriate) format
• List in reverse chronological
• Include things under consideration or
upcoming
• Put your book reviews in a subcategory
under Publications
• If only doing a selective listing concentrate
on items that reflect your academic/
research “focus” & what the job wants
Publications & Presentations Examples
• Publications:
“Student Problems with Hypertext and Webtext: A Student-Centered
Hypertext Classroom?” Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology,
and Pedagogy 6.2 (2001).
“From Blood Ties to Surrogate Involvement: Cornelius Suttree's
Search For Happiness in McAnally Flatts” Under review September
2004 The Southern Quarterly.
“Memento Mori,” Black Warrior Review, Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2001.
Publications & Presentations Examples
“Considering Relationships, Differences, and Boundaries: Expanding
and Empowering Technical Communication by Adopting Feminist
Approaches.” Conference on College Composition and
Communication; San Antonio, TX (March 2004).
“The Sum of All Lesser Tales’: Cultural Myths and Social Conflicts in
Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy.” Western Literature Association
Conference. Rice University, Houston, TX. October 2003.
“‘I Guess You Learn from Me’: Towards a More Reciprocal
Relationship Between Doctoral Students and Graduate Faculty.”
Presenter. Conference on College Composition and Communication
(CCCC) 2003 Convention, New York City. March 20. Session G24.
Setting up your CV: Teaching
• Provide at least:
– Place, title (TA, Instructor, whatever), course
title, dates
• Consider (especially if it is a teaching job):
– Details on the class like material covered,
genres, technology
Teaching Examples
Literature
English 2307 (Introduction to Fiction), 8 sections at Texas Tech
University (2002-2003)
First Year Composition
English 1302 (Composition/Rhetoric II), 2 sections at Dallas County
Community College (2004-present)
Ball State University, Instructor (1998-Present). Undergraduate courses
taught include computer-mediated, face-to-face, hybrid, and
distance education basic writing, Composition I, Composition II, and
Writing in the Disciplines (an upper-division history of writing
technologies course).
Setting up your CV: Other items
• Include the remaining items in the order
that most qualifies you
• Awards/Honors: include name of award,
date received, info on award, and amount
(if applicable)
• Service: departmental, university &
organizational
– Include name of organization, title of position,
dates & other important info
Setting up your CV: More other items
• Professional Experience & Consulting (if
applicable):
– Include job title, place/org. and dates
– If you need to add also include brief details
• Affiliations: include name, abbreviation
and dates
• Computer Skills: if applicable
• Editor & Administrate Roles: title, org.,
dates
Setting up your CV: More other items
• References:
– ALWAYS ask first
– Include at least a teaching reference, a
research reference, & the chair of your diss,
and another (more are good, but not too
many)
– Include their name, title, and contact info
Design?
• Design is always good, but a CV should
not be a work of art
• Use a simple, clean design
• Use 1-2 fonts either serif or sans serif
– If using 2 use one serif and one sans serif
• Include white space!
Look at the examples:
• Jennifer L. Bowie (me): Ph.D. in Tech
Comm
• Richard A. Rice: Ph.D. English,
Concentration: Composition and Rhetoric
Pedagogy, Specialty: Computers and
Writing
• Elizabeth Burmester: Ph.D. in English,
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and
Rhetoric
Questions?