BEYOND BARNARD C.V.

GUIDE
The Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) describes one’s personal history of academic achievement. It remains the
central document in applications for graduate school, academic jobs, many fellowships, and awards. It
serves as a clear narrative of productivity in research, publishing, teaching and mentoring,
presentations, posters, service to one’s profession and college (or university), work experience related
to education, and references. It evolves over time and may change shape or look throughout a career.
But it always paints a thorough portrait of an individual, primarily through accumulation.

In other words, unlike the résumé, it does not have a page limit—and it will continue to grow over time
(undergraduates worried that their C.V. may be relatively short should not worry! You are not expected
to have a huge C.V. at this point in your career). But importantly, the C.V. is not a substitute for a
résumé. It is meant to be comprehensive, as opposed to curated. It can be tailored in small but
potentially important ways to particular opportunities and for particular audiences. It may look like
“just” a list. But it is really telling a story about you as a scholar, building a case about your experience
and qualifications.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE: there are no hard and fast rules to writing a C.V. This guide includes best
practices for Barnard students and alumnae. It presents conventions—not laws. There are exceptions to
every rule. It is always best to have someone review your C.V. before submitting it. Please also always
consult examples from your specific academic discipline, as conventions can vary by field.

4 THINGS TO GET STARTED DO THE “EASY” STUFF

 Take an Inventory of Your Experience: gather Some quick formatting conventions to keep in
notes on publication dates, awards, projects, mind before rushing to think about sections and
research and fieldwork experience, specific experiences:
presentations, classes that you’ve TA’d for,
community service, mentoring, and references. - FONTS: use a clear and standard font:
something legible, but not Times New Roman,
 Pick Citation Conventions: the precise format Calibri, or Cambria. These are the default
of publication and presentation citations fonts. Take just a moment to pick a font that
should follow conventions of your discipline. will make your C.V. a bit more visually distinct.
The most important thing is to pick a set of Go no smaller than size 11.
rules and remain consistent across the Serif or Sans-Serif fonts are acceptable!
document.
- MARGINS: keep them sensible. One inch on all
 Collect Examples from Scholars: take a close sides is a good start. Respect your reader’s
look at the C.V. of scholars in your field. Many eyes: don’t go below 0.7” on a side.
college and university departments allow
faculty to post their C.V. Think of these as - BOLDS, ITALICS, ALL-CAPS: use these
resources, but be sure to use more than one sparingly. Overuse can make the document
example as a guide! Again, don’t feel as though difficult to read.
you have to match the length of these - DATES: each section should be arranged in
examples. reverse chronological order.
 Don’t Panic or Pad: it can be a stressful
process to take this kind of self-inventory. But CONTACT INFO ON A C.V.
this is an opportunity to feel good about all you Don’t waste space. Your name and contact info
have accomplished. The C.V. is a chance to should take 2-3 lines at the top of the document
highlight your success. Be honest with all that at a maximum. Pick your department address OR
you’ve done and proud of your achievements as your home address. Either is acceptable.
a scholar!

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EDUCATION SECTION
For Barnard students and recent alumnae, the Education Section typically comes first, though it may be
appropriate to add a “CURRENT POSITION” section that lists your present work. It’s appropriate to
include a Thesis title your advisor’s name. Study abroad experiences can be added here as well. In
some cases, it’s appropriate to include college-wide, national, or international awards in this section
(though, unlike in the case of a résumé, you may also want to add an Awards & Honors section.
CONTACT INFO Millie Bear
Keep it short. Don’t waste 4-5 lines on this info. 727 Altschul | New York, NY 10027 | 327-557-1234 | [email protected]

EDUCATION EDUCATION
You can add your thesis advisor and topic Barnard College, Columbia University | New York, NY | BA Comparative Literature Expected May 2019
Selected Courses can be a separate Section. Minor in Chemistry; Dean’s List (Spring and Fall, 2017) GPA: 3.65
Awards and honors can be separate as well, Thesis Advisor: Prof. Rachel Austin
but you can include some here. Thesis Topic: “On the Structures of Molecules in Polymers”
Universidad de Sevilla | Seville, Spain January – May 2018
STUDY ABROAD Completed coursework on contemporary Spanish literature (all coursework in Spanish)
Mentioning your study abroad experiences
can be helpful in the education section.
ABSTRACTS: In most disciplines, it is not conventional
PUBLICATIONS SECTION: to include a full thesis abstract. Check with your
advisor!
If you have publications to list, use a citation
convention commonly used in an important
journal for your field. Be consistent in the use MOST COMMON SECTIONS
of this convention. A typical C.V. includes the sections below. They can
What about Articles Under Review? be reordered depending on a candidate’s strengths
Include them, but check with your faculty and the requirements of a particular application or
advisor as to whether it is allowable to include institution.
the title of the journal. If you are using the C.V. Education
to apply for jobs or fellowships, you might have Publications
good progress to report about these papers at Research Experience* On Spacing:
Beyond Barnard recommends
the interview! Teaching putting section titles in all-caps

What if I don’t have publications? Presentations bold and allowing two full
spaces between sections.
As an applicant, it’s nice to have some kind of Awards & Honors
research publications to highlight. But it’s not a Service
deal-breaker. It can be good to show that you Languages
have research work underway, regardless of the Professional Affiliations
state of its completion. So you can also call this Technical Skills
section “RESEARCH PROJECTS” and list titles of References
*mostly for sciences/social sciences
seminar papers or other long essays that you’ve
completed.
OTHER IDEAS FOR SECTIONS
Should I Include Translations and/or Works in
Other Languages? Make choices for inclusion of sections based on
Depending on the field, these may count toward your strengths, your field, and the audience. Some
your publication record. They can be broken out examples:
into a separate subsection. Administrative Experience; Research or Teaching
Should I Include Book Reviews and/or articles Interests; Media Appearances; Volunteer Work;
for non-academic publications? Pedagogical Training; Mentoring Experience;
These may indeed be an asset, though they Committee Work; Lab Leadership; International
should be broken into a subsection as well. Collaborations; Secondary Teaching; Community
College Teaching; Related Work Experience

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RESEARCH AND/OR FIELDWORK
A Research Experience and/or Fieldwork Section is more common in the sciences and social sciences
than in the humanities (though such a section can be used productively in the humanities, for example
to describe long-term international projects or technical/digital methodologies if these are pertinent
to discuss in the context of specific programs).
An effective Research and/or Fieldwork Experience section emphasizes:
 Innovation: what new knowledge, process, tools, etc. did the research produce?
 Impact on the Field: how does your research contribute to or change the focus of the field? Quantify
this impact if you can.
 Collaboration: demonstrate that your work involves coordination with teams of researchers. It’s
good to emphasize international collaboration, work across disciplines and fields, etc.
 Mentoring: especially in cases where formal teaching opportunities may have been minimal, it can be
good to emphasize mentoring responsibilities and relationships.
 Grant Writing: show that you are able to successfully win money for your work if possible
 Skills/Methodologies: what techniques did you have to use to conduct your research? What technical
skills or familiarities did you develop in the course of your research?

CONFERENCE, POSTER, AND WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS

The most common mistake that the Beyond Barnard Don’t Sell Yourself Short!
team sees in this section is inconsistency. Pick a We often find out that students and alumnae leave
format and stick to it! If you are thin on publications out entirely their presentations at campus
and/or presentations, you can combine the two into workshops or in courses.
“Publications & Presentations.”
While you should be clear to distinguish between
No matter how you format the presentations in these workshops, conferences, colloquia, and courses,
sections, you should include the following information it is acceptable to include diverse types of
for each: presentations in your C.V.

 Date You can also include panels that you moderated or

 Title of Presentation and Conference/Workshop convened underneath subheadings within a
 Host Venue (university or institution) “Presentations” section. Depending on the type of
 City conference and your role, you might consider
putting such activities in the Service section
Note: It’s not advised to summarize (or provide an instead.
abstract for) the content of each presentation.

HONORS & AWARDS SERVICE / COMMUNITY WORK

 Arrange honors and awards in reverse What belongs in the service section can depend
chronological order; make sure dates are upon your specific experience:
clearly visible to show productivity  Any kind of volunteering activities
 Honors and awards may be broken out into  Committee work; student government
“University Awards” and “External Fellowships  Professional association volunteering
and Awards” subsections
 Mentoring undergraduate students or younger
 It is acceptable to include short descriptions of cohorts of graduate students
awards (especially those with which the faculty  Research assistantships and higher education
committee might not be familiar). internship positions

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TEACHING & MENTORING (ALWAYS VALUABLE)
All institutions value effective teaching. When applying to graduate programs (and later, academic jobs),
it is a mistake to downplay or “bury” teaching on a C.V. It is true that some programs will value
research, publications, and presentations more highly than others. However, all institutions emphasize
the quality of their teaching in materials to prospective undergraduates and expect that graduate
students (many of whom will serve as T.A.’s – and ultimately, as standalone instructors) will share a
commitment to teaching.
For students considering any kind of graduate work, Beyond Barnard endorses the pursuit of teaching,
mentoring, and tutoring work and volunteering opportunities. Whether you’re a Writing Fellow,
Speaking Fellow, Peer Health Advisor, Tutor, non-profit volunteer mentor – or anything in between! –
this experience is helping to train you as a student.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT TEACHING SECTIONS

 There’s no need to include course numbers.
 Teaching at multiple institutions and demonstrating that you have experience teaching students
other than those at Barnard (and maybe of various ages and levels of experience) can be an asset.
 Especially if your formal classroom teaching experience is limited, you can certainly include
mentoring opportunities.

AN EXAMPLE TEACHING/MENTORING SECTION

Note:
TEACHING & MENTORING EXPERIENCE In certain instances, it can
TEACHING ASSISTANT POSITIONS be appropriate to include
Chemistry Department, Barnard College | New York NY Fall 2017, Fall 2018 mentoring in non-
Introduction to Chemistry profit/extra-curricular
 Graded 40 exams per course section contexts. This may be
 Provided one-on-one tutoring and group study sessions helpful if you have not
 Answered diverse student questions; collaborated with faculty to design homework assignments done a lot of teaching – or
 Prepared lab materials if your experiences with
teaching/tutoring have
Organic Chemistry been varied in nature.
 Provided written feedback on homework and lab reports
 Held weekly prep and review sessions Do not use bullets or
include details for their
TUTORING EXPERIENCE own sake! Make sure that
Dean of Studies Office, Barnard College | New York NY Fall 2017 – Present they are adding
Peer-to-Peer Tutor meaningful detail about
 Met regularly in one-on-one settings with three students your teaching, mentoring,
 Provided support on diverse assignments across STEM subjects and tutoring experience.
 Completed 2-day workshop on tutoring and teaching best practices Use details to help
admissions committees
NONPROFIT MENTORING understand what titles like
Girls who Code | New York NY Fall 2016 – Present Tutor, Mentor, and TA
Mentor mean in the specific
 Designed activities for 20 high school students in Morningside Heights and Harlem contexts of the
 Met regularly with four-member team to design curriculum and activities experiences that you’re
describing.

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CLARIFICATION ON THREE FINAL SECTIONS
LANGUAGES: Include languages and levels of proficiency (reading, speaking, conversational, fluent,
etc.). You do not have to indicate your “native” language, as your nationality or country of origin is not
information you are required to reveal in the application process.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS: include any memberships in professional organizations that are affiliated
with your field.
REFERENCES: it is still common practice to include contact information of references on your C.V. You
should ask individuals whether they would be comfortable being listed on your C.V. You should always
include recommendation letter writers, but it is acceptable to include a few more.

OVERALL C.V. DO’s OVERALL C.V. DON’Ts

1. Read other C.V.’s and follow standard 1. Expect everyone to read the whole
formats for your discipline document
2. Tailor to institutions 2. Assume a publication list replaces the
3. Make PAGE ONE compelling enough for need to include details about your
reader to continue research
4. Explain the significance of your work 3. Include a half-page summary of your
5. Vary section styles to suit the content and dissertation/research
move reader along 4. Write “Curriculum Vitae” at the top
6. Focus on innovation and impact in each 5. List course numbers without description
bullet 6. Tack on employment that is not related to
7. Be specific regarding methodologies research or academia
employed 7. Use subjective claims or adjectives:
8. Quantify wherever possible “exceptional,” “ground-breaking,” etc.
9. Think a bit more about font and layout 8. Include photos, birthdate or any other
10. Proofread (and invite others to proofread) personal biographical information
for consistency and grammar 9. Make it longer than your advisor’s C.V.
11. BONUS: Keep your C.V. updated on your 10. Under-sell yourself!
personal website

ONE-ON-ONE FEEDBACK AT FINAL CHECKLIST

BEYOND BARNARD  Proofread AND Copy-Edit: make sure that
others are reading your C.V. to check for
Every C.V. has a thousand variations. Every mistakes in copy and content
discipline has its own conventions. At Beyond
 PDF: before submitting or uploading your C.V.
Barnard, we are happy to review drafts at every
anywhere, save it as a PDF and be sure that
stage of completion and answer questions specific
formatting was not affected in the conversion
to your individual case.
 Review Descriptions: consider if there are
We can help you with organization, tailoring, additional ways you might be able to adjust your
formatting, and the look/feel of your document. C.V. for the readers in your audience
We can do some proofreading, but we spend the
 Communication: print a copy and save the
bulk of our time with students and alumnae going
current version in your email or cloud-based
over questions about structure and presentation
storage for easy editing in the future.
of information.
 Update your academia.edu page, your LinkedIn
You can sign up with a Staff Member at profile, and your personal webpage with your
http://barnard.joinhandshake.com current C.V.!

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