Curriculum Vitae (CV) Guide
A curriculum vitae (CV) provides a detailed overview of your academic credentials, scholarly identity, and professional achievements.
Unlike a resume, a CV can be multiple pages long. While both documents should be tailored to your audience, a CV provides a more complete record of your preparation and accomplishments in areas including:
- Research and Academics
- Teaching
- Publications
- Presentations and Conferences
- Leadership, Mentorship, and Service
- Professional Experience
- Awards and Recognition
A CV is often requested explicitly when applying for academic and research opportunities, including graduate and professional school, research or teaching positions, and funding, fellowships, and scholarship applications.
Note: Outside the United States, the term “CV” can be used to refer to a document resembling a U.S. resume, so be sure to research the hiring norms or contact hiring managers in such cases.
As an undergraduate, it is normal for your CV to be short (1-2 pages), since you are still building experience in areas like research, presentations, and/or teaching. To explore research opportunities at Dartmouth, refer to Scholars, Programs, Undergraduate Research, and Fellowships at Dartmouth (SURFD).
Your CV outlines your qualifications for reviewers that value depth of preparation and scholarly engagement. While a CV is more comprehensive than a resume, it should still be intentional, organized, and tailored to the opportunity. It should not be an unfiltered list of everything you have done.
A strong CV can serve several purposes:
- To present your credentials clearly: A CV organizes your experiences and achievements so reviewers can quickly understand your background and strengths.
- To demonstrate preparation for the field: It shows your engagement with research, scholarship, teaching, or related work relevant to the opportunity.
- To communicate your trajectory: A CV helps readers see how your interests are developing and how your experiences have set up your next step.
- To demonstrate your knowledge of professional conventions: A strong CV reflects your understanding of the norms and expectations of your field.
To support selection decisions: The goal of a CV is to help committees assess your readiness and fit for the opportunity.
The challenge of a CV is balancing specificity and accessibility. You want to retain the intellectual substance of your work while ensuring that readers – including those outside your immediate specialization – can quickly grasp what you studied, how you approached it, and why it matters.
Consider the following strategies for making your CV impactful:
- Research the scholarly environment: Study the institution or research center, including bios of current researchers or students, to identify shared priorities and values. Use this information to thoughtfully position your experiences, interests, and methods in your CV.
- Make the first page count: CV section order is flexible, so prioritize what matters most. Adjust sections to emphasize experiences most relevant to the opportunity (for example, research, teaching, wet-lab, clinical work, fieldwork, applied research, outreach, etc).
- Describe experiences with intention: Even when describing specialized research or academic work, highlight transferable skills, technical competencies, research methods, and core research areas relevant to the opportunity.
- Follow field-specific conventions: CV expectations around formatting and language vary by discipline, so consult faculty and review sample CVs from scholars in your field to guide decisions about style and content.
The Dartmouth Center for Career Design strongly recommends using our CV template to ensure clear, consistent formatting, appropriate font sizes, and other common best practices.
Most CVs include a set of common sections, outlined below. That said, section order should reflect what the reader will value most.
For example, if you are applying to research-intensive or academic pathways, research and academic achievements will typically appear first, and professional experiences may carry less prominence than they would on a resume.
On the other hand, you might consider elevating professional experiences when you are applying for roles that value applied research or practice, or your professional work meaningfully shapes your scholarly identity, such as when your research is closely connected to industry, policy, or practice.
Common CV sections include:
| Section Title | What to Include |
| Contact Information | Name, email, phone, LinkedIn/website/portfolio |
| Education | Degrees, institutions, major, graduation date, thesis and advisor, relevant coursework, study abroad or other higher education experiences |
| Research Interests / Teaching Interests | For Research: 3-6 concise research areas/themes/methods that show focus within field For Teaching: 3-6 concise area of teaching interest or specific courses you could teach |
| Research Experience | Departments/labs/institutions, location, project title and focus, your roles, dates, description of methods, responsibilities and outcomes |
| Teaching Experience | Courses, institution, location, your title, dates, description of role |
| Publications* | Author(s), Journal articles/book chapters/other articles, name of publication, dates, publication status (i.e. under review, forthcoming) *Write out a full citation, in the style most used in your discipline. For help determining this style, consult faculty or see the Dartmouth Library Citation Resources guide. |
Presentations & Conferences* | Title of talk or poster, conference or symposium name, location, date, format of presentation, other invited talks or guest lectures *Write out a full citation, in the style most used in your discipline. For help determining this style, consult faculty or see the Dartmouth Library Citation Resources guide. |
| Honors, Awards & Grants | Name of award, granting institution, year received, brief description of award if not evident from name alone |
| Leadership & Service | Organization, role, dates, location, brief description of responsibilities or initiatives |
| Additional Professional Experience | Relevant professional experience only (can use alternative titles to tailor this section); organization name, location, position title, dates, description of roles and responsibilities |
| Skills & Certifications* | Technical skills, languages, certifications, lab skills, other relevant credentials in your field *For technical or data-driven roles, you may choose to separate technical competencies from more general skills and position this section higher on your CV to ensure reviews can quickly assess your qualifications. |
| Professional Memberships | Organization name, dates, if applicable positions held or other participation details |
| Media Appearances | Title of the piece or appearance, outlet or platform, date, role/contribution, optional context |
| References | Three relevant references; include name, title, institution, email or other contact information. |
Check out our guide with step-by-step instructions on how to assemble your CV.
Naming your CV file:
The way you name your CV matters, since it will likely be viewed by anyone looking at your document. The name of your document should be professional, clear, and easy for reviewers to identify.
If an application does not provide instructions for naming your document, a safe method for naming includes your full name, document type, year, receiving institution, and optionally uses underscores instead of spaces.
Example: Jane_Doe_CV_2026_ReceivingInstitution.pdf
Page Numbers:
Including your name, document type, page number on each page ensures that multi-page CVs remain organized by preventing pages from being misplaced and making it easier for reviewers to track your materials, especially since you are likely submitting additional documents along with the CV.
Example: Jane Doe, CV – Page 2
Q: What do I do if I don’t have a lot of research experience?
A: This is completely normal for undergraduates. It can feel intimidating to see examples of faculty CVs that are 15+ pages long, but those reflect years of advanced study and are not expected at the undergraduate level.
You can still highlight relevant skills and preparation by including course projects, independent studies, internships, or other experiences that involve analysis, writing, problem-solving, or data collection. For example, here’s how a course project can be formatted for your Research Experience section:
Department of Psychology, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
- Authored a 20-page paper exploring how location and part-time employment status affected students’ working memory in order to examine potential inequalities in remote learning.
- Collaborated in a three-person group to conduct primary and secondary research, collect data, and perform statistical analysis.
- Produced an APA style paper earning an A on both the content and presentation of work.
Additionally, you can pursue future opportunities for research at Dartmouth through the Scholars, Programs, Undergraduate Research, and Fellowships at Dartmouth (SURFD).
Q: How can I get publications if I don’t have any yet?
A: It’s completely normal for undergraduates to have limited or no peer-reviewed publications. However, you can still build a record of scholarly or professional writing that demonstrates your engagement in the field. These can include undergraduate journals, conference presentations and posters, and other other public-facing writing.
You can start by exploring Dartmouth’s Active Publications. You can also meet with faculty mentors to discuss ways to turn coursework, independent projects, or research experiences into work suitable for publication or presentation. Even small projects can be developed into abstracts, posters, or co-authored papers with guidance from a faculty advisor.
Q: Should I include high school experiences on my CV?
A: Yes, especially early in your college career. First-year students and sophomores often include high school experiences if they demonstrate relevant skills, leadership, or sustained interests that continue into college. As you gain more experience at Dartmouth, you will typically replace high school activities with college-level research, coursework, leadership, or relevant professional experience. Including your high school can also be strategic if you are applying to opportunities in or near your hometown, where local affiliation may be meaningful.
Q: How do I decide whether to put research or professional experience first on my CV?
A: Start by considering what the reader will prioritize. For academic or research-focused roles, your research and scholarly work should lead. For industry roles, applied settings, or opportunities where your work experience is central to your preparation, professional experience can be more effective at the top. The goal is to foreground the experiences that most clearly demonstrate your fit for the role.