For Students:
WRITING YOUR VITA
By Steven C. Hayes and Linda J. Hayes
Your vita is a document you will get to know well. Regardless of your goals, you will be asked for it many times. It is a record of what you have done and a ticket allowing you to do more.
The topic of vita development can have a negative quality. Some people fall into vita building just for the sake of personal aggrandizement. Some scientists focus more on the quantity of the work than its quality; more on the notoriety of the work than its substance. But don’t let these attitudes blind you to the importance of a good record, professionally presented. Your vita can give you access to good jobs where you can do good things; and considering what goes into a vita can help you focus your efforts and maintain your professional growth.
There are two aspects to a vita: doing and telling. That is, both form and substance are important. This article will describe what kinds of things go into a vita and how to present them.
Personal History
Vita
Your Name Date
A. Personal History
Business Address:
Department of Psychology
University of London
London, England
Phone: (123) 456-7890
Home Address:
123 St. Norbert Cross
Flat #34
London, England
Phone: (123) 987-6543
Birthdate: August 24, 1965
Citizenship: USA
Marital Status: Single
You should line up the information in an attractive manner.
Double space between items. You may wish to leave out marital status
and/or birthdate. Some feel this information is irrelevant and could
be used for discriminatory fashion. You should not include such items
as religion, hobbies or items of that kind. They are unnecessary
and unprofessional.
Here you simply list each post secondary school you have attended. For each school, list your major, minor degree (type and date), any honors you received there, and titles of theses or dissertations (and the chairs of your advisory committees). The entries should either go from first to last or last to first. First to last is more traditional. You may wish to put the dates flush right so that they stand out. Here’s an example:
B. Educational History
1. University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Major:
Psychology
Minor:
Philosophy
Degree:
B.A., Cum Laude 1980
Honors:
California State Scholar 1976-1979
Honors Program:
1977- 1980
Honors Thesis:
A comparison of response prevention and shaping in the reduction of avoidance
behavior in rats (Chairperson: Ima Psychologist, Ph.D.)
Professional Positions
The next section is usually professional positions. Like the schools attended, professional positions are usually ordered sequentially (either from first to last or vice versa). First to last is traditional.
This is the first section where you can be a little creative. You want to list all positions you held, even if not necessarily paid. Thus, a practicum appointment would usually fit here. Research assistantships would fit. What does not fit here are short, one-shot experiences (e.g., giving a lecture to a group). One-shot paid consultants may fit. Unpaid consultants would probably fit better in a later section, such as "Professional Activities."
For each item, list what your title was and the name and address of the agency. The city is usually a sufficient address for this purpose if the agency is known. You should also list the nature of the position (full-time; ½ time) and when you held it. List your duties and your supervisor. The duties lists is important, especially for more applied jobs, because it allows you to show the fit between your background and your desired work setting. Think of all the jobs you actually did and list them. This is often hard to remember, which is why you should get ready for vita writing long before you have much time to put into one. Keep a file of your professional positions and add to it as new duties are fulfilled.
Here is an example: Note the consistency of style, both
within this section, and between sections (e.g., note the flush right date)
C. Professional Positions
2. Research Assistant, Brown University, Half-time position.
1985-1986
Duties: Assist in research on priming effects on memory.
Analyze data using SPSS-X and SAS. Program in BASIC and PASCAL.
Supervisor: H.D. Science, Ph.D.
List all of them. Note whether you are a member, associate, or student member. Here is an example:
American Psychological Society (Student Associate)
Society for Research in Child Development (Student Member)
This is the place where you list all the projects you
started, neat things you did, committee memberships you held (don’t forget
departmental committees. They count.), in-service training programs you
conducted, important guest lectures you presented, etc. You can be creative
here (but see later section on "padding"). You can subdivide this section
as needed (e.g., Associations and Divisions, Administrative, etc.) Persons
giving lots of workshops or colloquia may want a separate section for these.
You may list items first to last or vice versa. An example:
E. Professional Activities
If you go to a lot of conventions, do a good deal of research, and get to know prominent people, you will probably be reviewing manuscripts before you get out of graduate school. Reviewing is a critically important activity for the field, and you should list it. If you review a MS sent to you, you usually list that as "Ad Hoc Editorial Consultant." Example:
List the grants you have received. Some professionals include grants they had a significant role in, even if they were not the Principle Investigator. Many people list grants they wrote that were not funded. AS a student or young professional that is probably fine, since if you even sent one in it is a good sign. Use your own sense in this area. Certainly a long list of "failures to fund," if not countered by several successes, could eventually hurt more than help. People may think you are a motivated incompetent. Here’s an example of this section:
List all the papers you presented at professional meetings. It seems to be common to list them by year starting with the most recent and working back. Some people number entries, but that seems to say that you are counting so it probably is not a good idea. Some people also put colloquia here; others put them in a separate section (e.g., in the "Professional Activities" section). List papers in regular APA format and double space between entries.
Dozit, E.Z. (August 1986). An experimental analysis of
life, behavior, and the whole universe. Paper presented at
the meeting
of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
Dozit, E.Z. (August 1986). The role of response mediation
in the formation of prototypes. Paper presented at the
meeting of
the International Society for Psychological Research, Lake Tahoe, NV.
When you have sufficient entries, organize them by year and by type (articles, chapters in books, books). It seems to be common to list them from the most recent to the oldest. That way, the current work (which is usually what you want folks to see0 is seen first. List papers in regular APA format.
Do not put papers which are under submission or in preparation
in this section. It will look as though you are padding (see section below).
In press articles belong here. Invited articles which are in preparation
probably belong since they will definitely be published. An example of
this section:
Tense, I.M. (1989). Having fun with anxiety. New York:
Weirdo Publications.
In this section, list your articles that are currently under submission. List only authors and title. It seems unnecessarily risky to say where you sent it. If it is turned down you have to change your vita and everyone knows that it was rejected. Listing the journal probably makes the listing more credible, however, so there is a trade-off. Once papers are on this list, keep them there until you give up resubmitting, or until they get accepted. When they get accepted, they go to the publications section, and are said to be "in press."
Projects Underway
Use this section for manuscripts in preparation and for projects that are actually underway (e.g., experiment in progress). List as in the section on papers currently under submission. Both this section and the previous one (under submission) are optional; professionals with established reputations sometimes leave them off. Students often need these sections, however. Established researchers sometimes list articles in preparation just to make sure they will not forget the publication of a minor project when they update their vita.
Statement of Professional Interests
You may want to save some work by including a brief paragraph on your professional interests: research interests, applied interests, and teaching interests. Many vita of established professionals contain a brief outline of current or favorite research or other professional interests. You might want to start off with a general statement and then conclude with a specific listing.
Professional References
Finally, you need three to five professional references
who will speak very highly of you. Don’t ask for a reference simply because
the person is well known, unless you are confident of the quality of the
actual reference. Ask the person before you include his or her name on
your vita if it is OK to do so, as a professional courtesy. List and number
each reference, give their name, title, and address. Sometimes people leave
this section blank, with a line such as "References Available on Request"
appearing instead. The only advantage of this is that the best and most
current references can then be used as needed. If the relationship with
a former referee becomes strained, this would prevent their having an opportunity
to speak in your behalf. This circumstance is rare, and it is more common
to list the references.
Forms and Style
This document is critical so prepare it carefully. Use
a carbon ribbon or laser printer, not a cloth ribbon; use wide margins
and white space in between items and sections; lay it out in an attractive
and well organized fashion; proof the document carefully; put your name
at the top of each sheet. For example:
Detail
Remember, you want to be honest, and you also want to impress. Provide sufficient detail to do so. For example, on papers presented, give the full reference on each. Such understatement as only listing the convention is needlessly modest (or it may be interpreted as lazy) and does not convey the important information. On the other hand, don’t over burden the document with detail that is unimportant. Have some psychologists read it and get their feedback.
What Not to Put In
Don’t try to overly personalize your vita – leave that for a separate letter or an interview. It is unprofessional to include your hobbies, the name of our dog, your high school activities, and the like. Occasionally, persons do foolish things like putting their favorite poem on the first page of his vita. That alone will kill nay chance for many positions. Remember that if you are qualified, there are also a dozen others who are too. The slightest little stimulus could be reason enough to weed out your application. Poor attention to form, detail, content, or "what not to say" could be the stimulus.
Padding
One of the cardinal sins in vita writing is padding. Padding is defined when a reader reacts to the vita as more form than substance ("Who is he trying to kid?!") Thus, it refers to an audience reaction, not a specific vita writing behavior. The reaction is most likely when the importance or substance of the item is not obvious. This is especially true in the professional activities and projects underway sections. Make sure these sections are legitimate. For example, never list umpteen projects underway if you don’t have any publications. People will never believe you even if it is true. Instead, if you are in that situation, list the most important projects underway. Similarly, don’t list a zillion projects submitted, when you have no publications’ it may not seem fair, but remember "padding" is an audience reaction, not a specific vita writing behavior.
Other signs of padding include listing conventions attended, journals subscribed to, articles you read over and edited for a friend, and projects you worked on in anon-professional role (e.g. secretary).
Vita Development
Single copies of this article are available from Linda J. or Stevens C. Hayes, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557-0062