CV Questions: Abstracts, Presentations, and References!

[Psych_Mom_15]

Hi All,

 

I listed my poster presentation, but do I list my published abstract? The abstract is published in my undergraduate university's research library and is accessible (and searchable) to everyone.

 

Would you add invited presentations and talks to your CV? They are on the same abstract and poster presentation.

 

How many references are typically included? I've seen two or three.

 

 

Thanks!

 

[Eigen]

Depends- you say it's published in your university's research library. Is this published as part of, say, a proceedings of (insert national organization here)? Or is this just a listing of abstracts for a University research fair?

 

Personally, I just cite the published abstract under "Poster Presentations" as my entry for that item on my CV. 

 

As to invited presentations and talks, again it depends. Is another university inviting you to come give a research talk as a seminar? Then absolutely. 

 

By on the same topic as the abstract and poster presentation, do you mean the exact same topic? Or just the same project?

 

For a CV, assuming you mean references to your cited work, you include all of them. A CV should be a comprehensive list of your academic achievements, and all officially published material counts there (assuming it's not one of the above cases where you're citing the same work more than once). 

[Psych_Mom_15]

Thank you for your response! I put my poster presentation under the heading "Presentation & Publication" I listed the abstract separately under it using bullet points; I did the same for the invited in-class presentation. For example, it looks like this:

 

Hopeful G., Hanna T. (May, 2012). Oh My Goodness: Application Season is Here and it is Driving Me Bananas! Poster presented at XXX University      Undergraduate Research Conference, City, State. 

 

*Invited in-class presentation.....blah blah blah

 

*Abstracted published.....blah blah blah

 

 

Correctly indented of course. As for references, I was referring to professional references on the CV for myself. List 2 or 3?

[TakeruK]

This might be a difference in field thing, but I usually only list the presentation once because the people that publish that abstract are the same as the people that run the conference. For example, one entry in my CV is like:

 

Name, "Super Awesome Science Project", Proceedings of the 45th Annual ABC Meeting, 5-9 May 2013, Poster Presentation. 

 

In my field, this signals to the reader that I gave a poster presentation on this topic and if they search the meeting title, they will also find my abstract indexed. 

 

Sometimes I present the same work at more than one meeting, so I usually only list the most recent or the highest impact (e.g. I might present it at a student conference and then later present it at a professional conference; so I'd only list the second one). 

 

However, it sounds like you have a special case (or maybe it's common in your field?) where the abstract is indexed separately from the organization that ran the conference? If so, I think your format seems concise and displays the information clearly.

 

What is the context of your invited in-class presentation? Was it a presentation of work you did for the class, or did you get invited to "guest lecture" for another class? If it's the first one, I would probably say to not include it in your CV--the norm in my field is to not include any coursework on your CV but this might be different in yours. However, if you did "guest lecture", it might be a good idea to list this as a completely separate entry under "Presentations & Publications" because I'd say a guest lecture type presentation is very different than a poster presentation at an undergrad research conference!

 

Finally, for references, I generally do not see these on academic CVs unless specifically requested by the application form. Normally, you would just input this information separately on the application form. 

[fuzzylogician]

As an applicant to PhD programs, I think you can list all three - the poster presentation, the abstract, and the invited lecture (assuming that it was in front of a class that you were not a student in, otherwise I don't know if it belongs on your CV). The way you list all three entries seems concise so I like it. Once you are in grad school, I would consider removing the smaller stuff - i.e. the abstract and the guest lecture. These are fine in the beginning of your career, but look like padding at some point down the road.

 

For example, I have recently removed all grad student conferences and small within-department awards that I have won, so that they don't drown out the international conferences and national competitive awards. I also don't have entries for abstracts, so it's easier to see the journal papers. Earlier on, all those things were on there, before there was enough other stuff that I needed to worry that someone skimming might miss something important because of something unimportant. So, you want to structure your CV so that it serves your interests, and those may change over time. 

[Psych_Mom_15]

The "guest lecture" done was after I graduated. I was asked to present my research, the one from the poster session, to an Advanced Research and Methods class. Naturally, I spoke more about--and they were more interested in--'how' the research was done and not what it was about.

All the example CVs I've seen have references listed. It may be field specific and it does seem like this is something that would be reserved for the application now that you mentioned it.

Yes, padding would be bad and, I think, a sign of being pompous.

[fuzzylogician]

All the example CVs I've seen have references listed. It may be field specific and it does seem like this is something that would be reserved for the application now that you mentioned it.

 

In my field people list references when they are on the job market, but not before and not once they have a TT job. So, there may be some subtlety to this.

[Psych_Mom_15]

Thank you. That makes sense; I'm going to leave them off.

[Eigen]

Are you talking about a CV here, or a resume?

 

I would say it's uncommon to have references listed on a CV, although it's common practice on a resume. 

 

Similarly, the way you're doing your publications and presentations is unusual, what with bullet pointed descriptors. 

 

I'm used to a CV that would have, say:

 

Oral Presentations

 

Hopeful, G. (May 2012) Oh My Goodness: Application Season is Here and it is Driving Me Bananas! Undergraduate Research Conference, City, State.

 

Poster Presentations

 

Hopeful, G. (October 2012) Ins and Outs of Applications. Undergraduate Research Conference, City, State.

 

Peer-Reviewed Publications

 

Hopeful, G. Application Woes. J Grad. Appl. 5(10) 2009.

 

So to me, an abstract wouldn't merit an entry in the last bit. When I have an abstract from a conference published in a proceedings publication, I just use that citation under the appropriate header in oral/poster presentations as the official citation for that event. 

[fuzzylogician]

Eigen -- normally, yes, but I've seen people go to great lengths to avoid having headings with just one entry on their CV, and I understand that preference. I don't think there is anything wrong with having just one 'presentations' heading with the poster and guest lecture under it, instead of two headings with one entry each in this case. You structure your CV however it best highlights your accomplishments for your current purposes. 

 

(I attended a series of professionalization workshops last year where one activity was to go over each participant's CV with the workshop leader and the other participants making suggestions for improvement. Different people got different advice, depending on their situation. For example, some participants were advised to have a 'publications' heading that included all of their publications: proceedings papers, book chapters, and journal papers; this happened when they had very few or no real peer-reviewed publications (which is not unusual in my field for grad students who have not graduated yet), so for them having day 8 entries under a single heading made a better impression than 1+1+6, or 0+1+7 (especially when the 1 isn't a high tier publication). Some people were advised to separate posters from talks to highlight how many talks they have given at prestigious conferences; others had an imbalance and were told to just have a 'talks and poster presentations' heading. Some were told it'd be good to have "teaching as an instructor" vs. "teaching as a TA" subsections. It really all depended on what would work best for them and for the particular job they were applying for, and there is an element of personal taste here too.) 

 

Also, FWIW, I don't list references on my CV even when applying for jobs. There is always another place to specify references on the application and I don't think it needs to be on my CV. But I've seen people choose to do otherwise, too, and do just fine.

[Eigen]

Yeah, I didn't split mine out until I had 3-4 in each section.

[Psych_Mom_15]

"When I have an abstract from a conference published in a proceedings publication, I just use that citation under the appropriate header in oral/poster presentations as the official citation for that event."

That's a good way to list an abstract too! I'm definitely going to have an advisor to look at it.

I just want my CV streamlined and free of clutter and fluff. At the same time, I'd hate to sell myself short by missing the opportunity to show I'm trying