Research methodology

1. Researchmethodology

2. What is a resume??? • "Resume CV" is a bit of a misnomer. A resume is a CV. They are two different expressions for the same thing. • What is a CV??CV stands for "Curriculum Vitae" which is Latin for "course of life"

3. The difference between them is: • The information in a Curriculum Vitae (CV) is more detailed and varied than the information in a resume. The primary differences between a CV and a resume are the length, what type of information is included, and what the CV or resume is used for. • A resume is a brief and concise one or two page summary of your skills, experience, and education. A CV is usually longer (at least two pages) and more detailed than a resume.

4. A CV includes a summary of your educational and academic backgrounds as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations, and other details. • In Europe, the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, employers may expect to receive a CV with any application.

5. In the United States and Canada, a CV is primarily used when applying for academic, education, scientific or research positions, and also for fellowships or grants. • The United States CV model is also more comprehensive than the CV model used by the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU).

6. In the UK, a CV is short (usually a maximum of 2 sides of A4 paper). It contains only a summary of the job seeker's employment history, qualifications, and some personal information. • The information is not much different than the information found in a resume but the CV is still more detailed.

7. In the EU, the European Parliament and European Commission are promoting a standardized CV model they developed in 2004 known as "Europass". • This standardized CV system is meant to streamline skilled migration between countries, in part by overcoming language differences, and to be just as helpful to employers and education providers as it is to job seekers and students.

8. If you are applying for college or university teaching positions, you will be asked to submit a "c.v.," also called a "curriculum vitae," or a "vita." • If you apply for positions in a setting where many of the employees have Ph.D.'s, the terms "vita" and "resume" may be used interchangeably. For most other jobs, employers will talk about a "resume."

9. While a c.v. is usually longer than a resume, includes more academic detail, and is more understated, your purpose in preparing either is the same: • to interest a prospective employer enough to invite you for an personal interview. • In both, you have a limited amount of space, and an even more limited amount of a reader's time to present your most relevant qualifications

10. What is most relevant depends upon your employment goal. In order for a resume or curriculum vitae to be effective, it must be targeted to the employer(s) who are going to read it. • Because of the similarity between resumes and curricula vitae, and because many graduate students and postdocs use both a c.v. and a resume, both are discussed here.

11. The C.V. should provide details on all your academic credentials and professional accomplishments. • A resume concisely summarizes your experience, education and skills as they relate to a specific career field or job. • It is important that you are familiar with the industry, career field and organization that interest you. .

12. Getting Started • An effective resume is targeted to the employer(s) who are going to read it. If you plan to apply for more than one type of job, you may develop more than one version of your resume.

13. Before drafting your resume, review all your qualifications. Using the categories suggested below, list everything which you might include. This list will form the basis for your resume or c.v. and will help you identify your accomplishments. • Eventually you will choose what to include or exclude, but initially it is important not to overlook anything relevant. Think through the skills you would like to emphasize.

14. For example, if you would like to stress your organizational abilities, write descriptions which incorporate specific accomplishments demonstrating those abilities. Write a draft, experiment with the format, pare down irrelevant information, have the resume critiqued by a counselor, and make at least one more draft before you produce the final version.

15. Content and Organization • Every resume or c.v. should include information about your education and relevant professional experience. A c.v. also includes publications and presentations. Many other sections may be added, including a job objective, honors and awards, summary of qualifications, extracurricular and community activities, certifications, professional memberships, languages, computer and research skills, and background information. Choose categories which showcase your strengths.

16. Contact information such as your name and address should always come first. • Continue with whatever category of information is most important, given your career goal. In many cases this is "Education.“ • Continue to add categories in decreasing order of importance. Within each category, give information in reverse chronological order. In general, whatever is most relevant merits the most space.

17. Name • Put it at the top of every page. • Address, phone number(s), and e-mail address • List only phone numbers which you're sure will be answered professionally. A number with an answering machine is best. Make sure the message on the tape is appropriately professional. Include your URL if you have one. List only one e-mail address, even if you have two. An employer won't know which to use if more then one are listed.

18. Objective • In almost every other case, a well-worded, specific objective strengthens your resume. It should answer the question, "What does this person want to do?" Avoid bland phrases like "Challenging and responsible position using my creativity."

19. The objectives below, while simple, are acceptably specific: • Position designing and administering public education programs for an organization concerned with broadening public access to the Internet. Position in telecommunications policy research. • Position in public opinion polling or consumer product market research using skills in survey design and statistical analysis. • To work with the design and development of new computer systems with a special interest in microprocessor applications and computer design. • An objective is usually omitted for postdocs, fellowships, or college or university teaching positions.

20. Qualifications or Profile • This optional category is usually used on resumes, not on C.V.'s. It can follow or replace an objective. A well-written "Qualifications" section can focus the reader's attention on your strengths. Like the objective, it must be specific. Writing a good one requires you to think carefully about exactly what you have to offer.

21. Meticulous public opinion researcher with experience in project management. Persuasive public speaker. Bilingual in Spanish and English. Strong interest and background in public health issues. • Two years' experience serving as liaison between community groups and government agencies. Familiarity with budget preparation and administration. Skill at public speaking and negotiating working relationships between public and private sector organizations.

22. Education • In reverse chronological order, list all your degrees from college on, with the name of the institution, and date they were awarded. List the date you expect to receive the degree for the program you are currently in. If you are a doctoral student who will not complete your degree for some time, date the times important milestones, such as completing all coursework, were completed. Omit secondary school. If you would like to include it because you expect many of its alumni to recognize it, include it in a "Background" section at the end of the resume.

23. If you are applying for a job which requires a c.v., include academic detail. For each institution and degree, include any special areas of academic concentration, title of dissertation or thesis, and name of advisor. You may also list additional research projects, names of members of your dissertation committee, or specific research papers. For other types of jobs, condense or expand your academic background as it is relevant.

24. Honors, Awards, and Activities • These categories can be combined with "Education" or given separate sections, depending upon how major a qualification they are for you. If you have received several prestigious and highly competitive awards, for example, you might want to highlight them with a separate section. • Commonly known honors (Phi Beta Kappa) need no explanation, but other awards can be briefly explained. Foreign students, in particular, should stress the degree to which an unfamiliar award was competitive. For example, "One of three selected from among 2,000 graduating chemists nationally."

25. If you were very active in school, give details about only your most impressive/interesting activities. In general, there will be more interest in extracurricular activities if you are applying for an administrative position than if you want to teach or do research. If you became extremely involved in an activity and want to discuss it at some length, it can also be included under "Experience."

26. In this example, honors and awards are combined with "Education." • Ph.D., Communications, Annenberg School for Communication,University of Pennsylvania, 2005 - Dean's Fellowship- Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship

27. Experience • In this section, more than any other, you will emphasize material in proportion to its probable interest for a particular audience of employers. Include everything you've done that's relevant, whether you did it as an employee, as an intern, as a volunteer, as a member of a student research team, or as the officer of an organization.

28. Sometimes one general heading called "Experience" is all you need. Sometimes you will want to subdivide this section by functions (such as "Editing," "Promotion," and "Program Administration"), by topic (such as "New Technologies" and "Public Education") or by industry (such as "Publishing," "Telecommunications" and "Advertising"). For teaching positions, a common breakdown is "Teaching" and "Research."

29. Describe each experience to give an overview of what you did, with an emphasis on what you were able to accomplish in the position. Use verb phrases and make every word count. Instead of saying "Responsibilities included developing various new course materials and instructional aids," say "Developed training materials on customer service now used for all new employees."

30. If you are describing a research project, give a brief introductory statement indicating what you set out to accomplish and what results you obtained. If relevant, go on to indicate important research techniques you used.

31. Publications/Presentations • These are usually cited only on a c.v. for a research position, or on a resume for a position which requires writing for publications. In these cases, use standard bibliographic format. If you are applying for a position in a non-research setting, don't cite publications in full. A phrase such as "Five publications in professional journals" is usually all that is necessary.

32. Professional Memberships/Leadership • List memberships or committee work in professional organizations. If you have been very active in university committee work, you might include that information here, or create a separate section. If you are applying for a non-research position, list only the memberships which are relevant to the type of position you're seeking.

33. Civic or Community Activities/Leadership • Often employers are interested in what you do besides work. Volunteer work with charity organizations, alumni associations, or civic or political groups is of interest. Usually you don't need detailed descriptions of these activities. Occasionally you may be concerned about reaction to controversial activity. In such cases, you can use more general phrases, such as "the Pennsylvania Senatorial primary," rather than identifying a campaign by the candidate's name.

34. Research Interests/Teaching Competencies • These are optional categories used only for academic positions. • Research Techniques/Computer TechniquesThis section is usually in the form of a simple, specific list. If you are listing laboratory research skills, include only the more specialized and difficult ones you have mastered.

35. Background/Additional Information • This is the place to put interesting information that does not fit elsewhere. It is used more commonly on resumes than on c.v.'s. You may include foreign languages, (unless they are highly relevant to your career goal, in which case they merit their own section), interests, and willingness to travel or relocate. You do not need to include date of birth, health or marital status. Do not include the latter unless you are certain it will work to your advantage.

36. If there is anything in your resume which may make an employer question whether you have U.S. work permission, list U.S. citizenship or permanent residency if you have it. If you do not, either make the most positive statement about work eligibility which you honestly can, for example: "Visa status allows 18 months of U.S. work permission" or omit any mention of citizenship.

37. If you have self-financed a significant portion of your undergraduate and graduate education, through any combination of scholarships, work, and loans, you may want to put a statement on a resume such as "Self-financed 80% of undergraduate and graduate education."

38. References • Usually there is no need to list them on the resume, and "references available on request" is so obvious as to be unnecessary. However, if your references are so well-known, that the mere inclusion of their names strengthens your qualifications, you may want to list them. If you have their permission, provide their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses as an added convenience to employers.

39. Length • There is no page limit for an academic c.v., although you should present information as concisely as possible. Most graduate students will be able to manage with not more than two pages, plus publications. This limit of two pages plus publications is appropriate for most industrial research positions as well.

40. For most other employment, a one-page resume is preferred. Usually academic settings, other not-for-profit organizations and government agencies are the most tolerant of length. In many businesses, there is a strong preference for a one-page resume. In any case, if you use more than one page, put the most important information on the first page (with the exception of publications).

41. Layout and Reproduction • Use a standard font that is easy to read. Times and Helvetica, or fonts like them, are commonly used. Use, at the most, two fonts and/or type sizes. Using one type and size of font and relying on capitalization and boldfacing for emphasis is also fine. Fonts within entries should be the same point size, no smaller than 10 point or larger than 12. Headings should be 10 or 12 point. Layout is crucial to the impression your resume makes.

42. Resumes are skimmed before they are read, so try to have the most important information "jump off the page" when readers take an initial glance at your resume. A good check for whether or not your resume is effective is to show the resume to a friend for 15 seconds and then ask them which points they remember, or what items they saw first. To create emphasis, use indentations, capitalizations, spacing, boldface and italics. Put dates, which are relatively uninteresting, on the right-hand margin so that you can save the left-hand margin for interesting content, such as the names of your employers.

43. Have paper copies printed on good quality paper. You may choose white or some neutral color. Avoid pastels and gray, which do not copy well. Print on only one side of each page. If you have more than one page, put your name on and number the second page, but do not staple the pages, in order to make your resume easier to photocopy.

44. Making Sure Your Resume Scans Well and can be Forwarded Well • Some organizations scan in all the resumes they receive so that employing managers can do key-word searches to identify candidates. To make sure your resume scans easily, with all words readable, avoid gray paper and elaborate fonts. If someone were selecting resumes for the kind of job you want, what key words do you think they might look for? Make sure those words appear on your resume. For the convenience of human "scanners," make sure the words appear in places where they're easy to spot on the page.