CV help

[Jvcxk]

Its about time to update my CV and I have a few questions:

 

1) Poster presentations at conferences

    a)Under what heading? 

    Should I include university poster sessions? and if so, how should I call the poster session?

 

2) Potential dead-end manuscript

    I've been working on a paper for some time and have a decent manuscript, so I do mention it on my CV. However, my coauthor has seriously fallen out of touch and everything is at a stand still at the moment. Should I remove any mention of this project from my CV?

 

3) Describing duties/activities 

   After all these years, I'm still not sure what the standard is as far as describing your activities as a research assistant. What are key pieces to include? And what is considered too mundane? or too much information? 

 

Thanks guys!

[free_radical]

I imagine it depends on where you are in your career and what you're applying for, but in general:

 

1.) I personally have separate sections for conference abstracts (of posters I presented, whose abstract got published in journals) and actual papers.  As for university poster presentations, that probably depends on where you are in your career - if you're an undergraduate applying to graduate school, certainly you should put them on your CV.  Most undergrads do not publish by the time they apply to graduate school, and a university presentation is quite relevant.  If you're getting ready to apply for a TT job, I imagine listing a university presentation might seem a bit silly...but I haven't gotten to this stage so I don't really know.  

 

2.) I've heard that generally, you should only include stuff that's actually been accepted for publication, or presentation in the case of poster abstracts.  However, if you're an undergrad applying to graduate school, it could be good to include stuff that's in-progress, because it is kind of a big deal to get there as an undergrad.  

 

3.) Again, I think this depends on the stage of your career.  I've just been accepted to some programs and need to choose a lab soon - in my case, I will include plenty of technical detail on my past positions, so that the professor can see the skill set I can bring into the lab.  For people more advanced, I imagine a high level description of each project should be fine, and they look more at your publication record.

[lewin]

1 & 3. What free_radical said.

 

2. "Manuscripts in prep". Readers don't give this section any weight anyway but it can help you feel productive. If you don't expect anything to come of it, drop it.

[Eigen]

I have a "Scholarly Work" section, in which I subdivide out publications, presentations & posters. 

 

Most of your other questions are an "it depends" thing.... If your CV is sparse and you want to pad it out, then put manuscripts in prep as well as university poster presentations. 

 

As you get enough on there that's weightier, you can start taking some of the weaker items off. 

[lewin]

 If your CV is sparse and you want to pad it out

 

This is always the key, eh?  You want the CV to look as good as possible but there's this fuzzy line where it becomes too much, like people who list scholarships from their high school when applying for jobs after university. You need to pad it without looking like you're padding it.

[fallen625]

I am assuming you are applying to grad school, if not, I don't think these answers would apply. 

 

1. Yes, include it! Just have the name of the poster session (ex: Psychology Department Poster Sessions, Honors Poster Session)

2. Def. include it  - like someone else said, just say it is (In preparation)

3. I would try to include it everything you have done - data entry, data collection, recruiting participants, literature reviews, etc.

 

If you look at school websites, a lot of grad students have their CVs poster, and it can be good examples of what it should look like at the end. Feel free to PM me your CV if you want edits - I have spent quite a bit of time working on mine and had several people look over it. I am sure other posters would be happy to help as well.