These are recommendations that EEB members developed during our Ecology Group discussion:
- Statement must make an impact in a short amount of time:
- Committee members typically have about 5 minutes to spend on each statement during the first round of review (although will spend longer during subsequent rounds).
- Figures are good, so long as:
- There are only 1-2.
- Figure is a conceptual model that summarizes research approach, rather than merely an interesting photo.
- Figure is clearly organized, large enough to read, and high resolution once uploaded.
- Make organization clear and paper readable:
- Keep paper short enough that you can use spacing to separate sections, and don’t have to resort to small font and margins.
- Bolding key headings/items is good, so long as not overused.
- Avoid having too many different numbering systems (for sections, research questions, hypotheses, etc.), which quickly can get confusing.
- Good to start with statement of who you are (e.g., community ecologist) and what you study.
- Instead of just listing projects, papers, etc., provide cohesive description of overall research trajectory.
- While descriptions of student mentoring are helpful, they are more appropriate in a teaching or diversity statement.
- Don’t need to include a list of citations:
- Committee members typically do not read them.
- If most of the papers listed are yours, they’re in the CV anyway.
- Proposing collaborations with specific faculty members:
- Can strengthen application, but not required/expected.
- The risk is that applicant misunderstands faculty’s research or departmental politics (i.e., proposes collaborations among people who don’t get along), or proposes to fill a gap that has recently been filled (and department website just hasn’t been updated yet).
- There are other ways to convey why you’re interested in a department:
- By identifying its strengths
- By proposing how you could bridge X and Y
- Most importantly, by tailoring your application to the departmental needs identified in the job call.
- Important to describe future research directions since committee will want to know plans for next 5-10 years.
To keep in mind
Recognizing diversity of research backgrounds from even search committee
Get feedback from people not in your lab group
Vision for research program, not collection of projects – sense of what it is they are trying to do
Articulation of how the work is set apart from what other people in the field are doing
Easy to read – prose and format
Organization / Formatting
Page # with name on each page
Clear headings to guide reader
Headings convey content / are overview by themselves
Hierarchy: Use of open space, not overly complex (ideally not more than 2 levels, 3 at most)
Highlighting important statements within text
Organize by research question / theme, not chronologically; don’t make a laundry list / don’t be constrained by chronology
One (or 2) good graphic – conceptual, summarizing work completed (could be “info graphic”), general approach
Photos can help if appropriate
Potentially separate funding section
Less than 3 pages
Color is good but don’t count on it being viewed as such
Use consistent format with other documents (Teaching, Diversity statements, CV, etc.); have your application appear as unified package visually.
Writing
Conversational writing style
Avoiding jargon / acronyms
Don’t overly cite outside literature (OK not to cite any outside lit at all)
Consider full / brief citation within text (vs. bibliography at end)
Like seminar, have broad framing and some technical detail
Content – Intro
Overview paragraph – clear statement of purpose, background
Context early on for what field is missing / needs big questions
Statement of your identity as researcher
Content – Body
Clearly document what work is done at what stages of career
Integrating different fields – impact of research on outside fields
Make a narrative that describes a unified research program
Clean transition from past work to future plans – past work as “preliminary data”
Make clear your research techniques, tools you bring
Content – Future
Specific hypotheses / goals for future plans – conveying you are at the stage of writing grant proposals
Content – Funding
Demonstrate likelihood of getting funding from different agencies, not just one
Potentially continuing project if feasible
Tailoring
Customizing to job – synergies
Connecting to local systems
Mentioning existing research / facilities within target department
Don’t point out deficiencies of department / what is missing, just what is added
Work that can be done on the ground at the target department
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