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Three pillars make up an effective CV: teaching, research and service. The information included in your CV should demonstrate your relevance to a specific program, role or area of interest: You will need to tailor your CV based on the job you are applying for.

Applying to Graduate School or Professional Degrees

• Indicate your areas of interest
• Demonstrate alignment with potential supervisors’ area(s) of study
• May present as an “academic resume” and will develop throughout graduate school

Applying to Research Positions or Postdoctoral Fellowships

• Ordered to highlight record of research (activities, publications and presentations)

Applying to Academic Teaching Positions

• Ordered to target the position you’re applying for, addressing a focus on teaching, research or both
• Can include teaching professional development and training such as the Graduate Teaching and Learning (GTL) program

Applying to Fellowships, Awards, Grants and Recognitions, etc.

• Present the activities/experiences that address the requirements of the award, grant, etc.

CVs are typically organized into clear sections and subsections. Including subsections can help group relevant activities, making it easier to read and understand. For example, professional activities could be grouped into subsections such as peer reviewer, steering committee member and judge to clearly indicate the focus of the activities.

The order of sections depends on their relevance to the purpose of your CV (e.g., applying to an academic position or applying to graduate school).

Common CV section titles include:

• Degrees/Licensure Awarded
• Thesis and/or Dissertation Title and Research Interests
• Grants/Awards
• Publications and Presentation List
• Teaching Experience
• Advising/Mentoring Experience
• Academic Service/Interests
• Professional Activities

Different academic fields may use discipline-specific sections. For example, fine arts or design studies may include sections related to solo and group exhibitions. Reach out to professors in your department to learn about CVs in your discipline and which sections are and are not typically included. Examples can sometimes be found on faculty member bio pages on departmental websites.

Additionally, some institutions and departments require candidates and current faculty members to structure and sequence the sections in a specific way. They may provide a template to faculty members to use and follow. In this case, it is important to follow the established conventions. Similarly, some funding agencies may provide guidelines on the sections that must be included in a CV.

It is important to follow proper citation conventions based on your discipline of interest. For example, social science disciplines primarily use APA, linguistics and humanities often use MLA, history and anthropology use Chicago and IEEE is common in engineering. This is particularly important when formatting the content for publications and presentations.

A CV generally uses concise descriptions of your education, experience and activities. List these activities without providing a detailed description.

Use consistent wording and text formatting throughout your CV. Similar to a reference list, items should be written in a standardized way. Your field of study or supervisor may dictate the wording; if not, determine a consistent format for yourself.

Like a resume, there are many considerations to make when organizing, editing and formatting your CV. Optimize the presentation of your CV to enhance the overall readability of the content. Below are typographic tips to enhance your presentation:

• Aim for consistency in design: fonts, alignment, hierarchy of information and spacing.
• Highlight relevant information before secondary details. For example, decide if it is more important to stack the name of your role (e.g. Research Assistant) above the institution or the other way around.
• Use spaces, formatting (bold or italics) and subtle changes in size to create a hierarchy of information and visual distinction. Maintain consistency and readability while using these features, and note that italics can be hard to read on a screen.
• Use white space to allow for breathing room on the page. Do not adjust your margins to fit in more content as this can make the document harder to read.
  Bullet points should not be overly disconnected from the text. Bullets should also not be too large.
• Do not include additional graphic elements, such as graphic bars, if unnecessary. If included, use them sparingly.
• Use for number ranges instead of hyphens (e.g. 20XX–20XX).
• Limit the use of colour.