Speaker 1: Hi, this is Kevin and Jessica from WorldDevice.

Speaker 2: You may have heard that many graduate and doctoral programs require you to submit an academic CV or curriculum vitae as part of your application package. In addition, the academic CV is required for any grants or scholarship applications in addition to any academic work you might do after graduation.

Speaker 1: But what exactly are admissions committees looking for in an academic CV? What should you include and how can you strengthen the writing in your CV? In this video, we will give you some useful tips in writing a CV that will impress admissions committees and that will help you to get into the graduate program of your choice.

Speaker 2: So here are five tips for writing a knockout academic CV. Tip number one, focus more on recent experiences and those related to your area of study. A rule of thumb for writing a CV is to make sure that you focus more on academic experiences over professional ones. If you do choose to include professional experiences, make sure that they highlight skills that are also useful in grad school, such as work ethic and tenacity. This also applies to educational experiences. Write your experiences from most to least recent and include more details about those that are most recent. If you just finished your master's degree, you might include three or four bulleted points about what you did in that degree. Whereas for your undergraduate, you might only include one or two points. If you had a lot of experiences as an undergraduate, you don't need to include information about every one of those experiences. Focus a lot more time and attention on your Ph.D. and graduate programs and put those first in your CV.

Speaker 1: Tip number two, divide your relevant experience into different categories. Students applying for graduate school for the first time may not have a lot of experience in teaching or research, and that's okay. But for those who do, separating this experience into different categories shows your most relevant experience, not just your most recent ones. Instead of a general heading of relevant experience, list your experience in this order and in these categories. Research experience, conducting research in a huge part of graduate school. So if you have conducted any research on large projects or small, list this experience first. Teaching experience, including tutoring, assistant teaching, or leading small group discussions in and out of class. Administrative experience, if you have ever worked for an institution or government or been in charge of an assistant, include this impressive work here. Professional experience, although the CV is not heavily focused on work experience, employment can show your work ethic, especially if you don't have many of the other experience listed above. Within each category, list your experience in reverse chronological order. For each position or experience, include your position title, the institution or company you work for, the location, and the days you did this work. For the more recent and relevant experience, include a couple of bullet points explaining your basic duties and responsibilities.

Speaker 2: Tip number three, bulleted items should include powerful terms and concrete details. To make it more interesting for these adcoms and to make your CV stand out, write your bullet point descriptions in tight one-sentence phrases. Use key terms and power verbs. For example, instead of writing, I use some computer programs to keep the accounts organized, use a strong phrase in specific language and lead with the power verb. Arranged client accounts according to alpha codex bibliography system. Your bullet points should not be written in complete sentences, but rather phrases that lead with the power verb. In addition, make sure that you vary your language. Never use the same leading verb twice in one section.

Speaker 1: Tip number four, good formatting is your friend. Formatting is key to keeping your reader's attention and directing it towards certain information. For a CV, which has a lot of biographical information and details about your experience, formatting is especially important. While CVs do not follow any one standard formatting style, there are some factors that strong CVs have in common. First, the font. There are many fonts to choose from when writing a CV, and some are better than others. But whichever font you use, it is a good idea to switch up the look of the heading and the body text. Use a sans-serif font for the headings and serif font for the main body of your text. This standard convention will make your CV easier to read. Next, some text should be put in bold lettering. Including the section headings, your academic degrees and majors, and the titles of your positions you have worked, including teaching and research positions. You should also put the dates of your experience in bold if the content on that line is also bolded, and keep the text normal when it is not. To highlight place name or degree distinctions, use italics, especially when you list bullet items below. This will help separate the kind of information you are displaying in the CV. Last but not least, remember to leave plenty of space between the lines and sections of your CV. As a rule, leave about 3 spaces between different sections and 1.5 spaces between individual lines within each section. For examples of great CV formatting, check the links below.

Speaker 2: Tip number 5, revise and proofread your CV, and then revise and proofread again. This may not seem like part of the actual writing process, but as any seasoned CV and resume writer will tell you, this is probably the most important thing you can do to ensure that your document is perfect. Proofreading your CV is a great idea for at least one obvious reason. Typos, grammar errors, spelling mistakes, those can all make you seem like a candidate that doesn't have the best work ethic or attention to detail. Here are some measures you can take to make sure that your CV is ready for the mailbox. Read through the CV from start to finish for any missing information. Don't forget to include any key experiences or details that might boost your academic profile. Have a friend, peer, or colleague review your CV. Sometimes just having fresh eyes and someone that's not closely connected to your work is the best way to see if there's anything missing that should be added. Send your CV to a professional editor. If you don't have a close friend or peer who has a critical eye for these kinds of things, a professional editor is detached enough and has enough experience that they can help with formatting details and really make your CV look sharp. And if you're searching for such a company that has editors with high qualifications and years of experience editing these kinds of documents, then consider WordVice editing services.

Speaker 1: If you have further questions about academic writing, visit the WordVice resource page for more useful articles and videos.

Speaker 2: Thanks for watching and happy writing.