---
name: "academic_cv_writing"
description: "Write, restructure, tailor, and audit an academic CV for faculty, postdoc, and research posts: section order matched to research-heavy, teaching-heavy, or balanced posts, full entry formats for publications, grants, teaching, and service, honest publication status labels, formatting rules committees expect, what to leave off, and the master CV plus short version system. Ships a runnable section builder and auditor plus one complete worked CV for an early career researcher. Use when someone applies for an academic job, fellowship, or grant, converts a resume into a CV, or needs a CV checked before it goes out."
metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }
---

# Academic CV Writing

## Purpose

Produce an academic CV a search committee can read fast and trust line by line. An academic CV is a complete, cumulative record of scholarly work: education, appointments, publications, presentations, grants, teaching, mentoring, awards, and service, with no page limit. It is not a resume. A resume is a short, selective pitch of 1 to 2 pages tailored to one job. A CV grows over a career, and tailoring it means reordering sections and foregrounding relevant work, not cutting the record down to a sales page.

This skill covers US and UK academic hiring as the default. Norms differ by country and by field, so a posting, a funder template, or a department format always beats the defaults here.

## Workflow

1. **Pin the target before touching the document.** Record: the post and institution type (research university, teaching institution, postdoc, fellowship, grant application), the country, any required format or template in the posting, and the field citation style. If the posting names sections, a page limit, or a template, use exactly that and skip the ordering choices below.

2. **Start from the master CV, never from the last tailored version.** The master CV is the long, complete file that holds everything: every publication, talk, grant, course, and service role, updated as each happens. Tailored versions are cut and reordered copies of it. If no master exists, build it first by harvesting the full record, then tailor. Working from an old tailored copy loses entries that were trimmed for a different post.

3. **Choose the profile, because section order is the main tailoring lever.** Committees weight the first pages most, so the work the post values goes first.
   - Research post: Education, Appointments, Research Interests, Publications, Presentations, Grants and Fellowships, Awards, Teaching, Mentoring, Service, Affiliations, Skills, References.
   - Teaching post: Education, Appointments, Teaching, Mentoring, then Publications and the rest in the same relative order.
   - Balanced or unsure: Education, Appointments, Publications, Teaching, Presentations, Grants, Awards, Service, Affiliations, Skills, References.
   The builder encodes all three orders: `python3 scripts/cv_builder.py spec.json --profile research -o cv.md`.

4. **Build each section to its entry format.** Use `references/section_guide.md` for the full per-section rules. The load-bearing ones:
   - Education: degree, field, institution, location, year, plus dissertation title and advisor for the doctorate.
   - Publications: split by type (peer-reviewed, books, chapters, other), then by status. One citation style throughout, own name bold, DOI where one exists.
   - Grants: project title, agency, exact role, amount where the field lists amounts, start and end dates. Split active from completed and external from internal.
   - Teaching: course, level, institution, role, term, enrollment when it shows scale. Instructor of record, teaching assistant, and guest lecturer are three different entries and must never blur.
   - Service: grouped department, institution, profession, public, with real titles and years.

5. **Label publication status honestly, because committees check.** Published means out, with venue and year. In press or forthcoming means accepted and done with peer review. Under review means submitted and waiting. In preparation means a draft exists. Never present an in-preparation draft as under review, never name a hoped-for journal for a draft, and move a rejected paper back to in preparation or off the list. A short honest list beats a padded one: committees discount in-preparation entries heavily.

6. **Format for a tired reader.** One readable font at 11 to 12 point, margins near one inch, clear section headings, consistent spacing, reverse chronological order inside every section, and a running header with name and page number from page 2 on. Spell out an abbreviation once before using it. No tables, text boxes, or design elements that break when the file is printed, copied, or parsed by an application portal.

7. **Cut what does not belong, and check the country rule first.** On a US or UK CV leave off: photo, date of birth, marital or family status, home address, an objective statement, first person job descriptions, and attended-only events dressed up as presentations. Some countries expect some of these items, so verify the target country norm before removing or adding personal details for a post abroad.

8. **Make the tailored version without falsifying the record.** Reorder sections to the profile, foreground relevant work (a Selected Publications heading is fine if it says selected), expand the section the post values, and compress the others. Never drop a status label to make work look finished, never upgrade a grant role or a teaching role, and never remove a gap silently by merging dates. The master CV stays complete so the next version starts from the truth.

9. **Run the builder audit, then read by eye.** Build or check the spec with `python3 scripts/cv_builder.py spec.json --check-only`. The audit catches missing contact and education, publications with bad status values, grants with no role or agency, rejected grants listed, forbidden personal fields, teaching entries missing course or institution, and sections out of reverse chronological order. It cannot judge whether a citation is real or whether a role title is inflated: verify every entry against a source document (acceptance letter, grant notice, course record) before the CV goes out.

10. **Deliver the version plus its maintenance note.** Hand back the finished CV, state which profile and section order were used and why, name anything the source record did not support so it was left out, and remind the owner to add the new entries to the master CV and date the tailored copy by post, for example `cv_lakes-assistant-prof_2026-10.md`. One complete worked example, with the reasoning beside it, is in `references/worked_cv.md`.

## Output Contract

- One CV in the profile order for the target post, or in the posting format where one was given, formatted per step 6.
- Publications grouped by type and status, one citation style throughout, candidate name bold in each citation.
- Every grant entry carries title, agency, role, dates, and amount or a note that the field does not list amounts.
- A short audit note under the CV: builder verdict, entries left out for lack of a source, and any status or role calls the owner must confirm.
- For a tailoring job, the tailored CV plus a one-line note on what moved, what was foregrounded, and confirmation that the master CV was not edited down.
- File name and version note that tie the copy to its post and date.

## Operating Rules

1. Every entry must trace to a real record: a publication, acceptance, grant notice, appointment letter, course assignment, or service appointment. Never invent a paper, grant, course, date, amount, or role, and never round a role up.
2. Publication status words mean what committees take them to mean. In press is accepted, under review is submitted, in preparation is drafted. Mislabelled status is a credibility failure, not a style choice.
3. A posting, funder, or department template overrides this skill on order, sections, length, and personal details, in that order of trust.
4. Tailoring changes order and emphasis only. It never changes facts, dates, roles, or status, and a selective list must be labelled as selected.
5. Keep the master CV complete and current. Add new work when it happens, update publication status when it changes, and never tailor by deleting from the master.
6. Format stays plain and consistent: one font, one citation style, one date style, reverse chronological inside sections. Readability for a committee scanning many files is the design goal.
7. Style: plain record language, no promotional adjectives about the candidate, no em dashes. Achievements are stated as entries with dates and venues, not praised in prose.