How to Build a Research CV

A research CV lists your education, research experience, publications, presentations, awards and relevant skills, with accurate labels for status and a clear statement of your own contribution. It should be easy to scan and honest enough that every line survives questioning.

Recommended sections

1. Contact and identifiers (ORCID).
2. Education.
3. Research experience: project, supervisor, dates, your role.
4. Publications: peer-reviewed, then preprints and submitted work, clearly labelled.
5. Presentations and abstracts.
6. Awards, grants and scholarships.
7. Teaching and leadership.
8. Skills: software, methods, languages.
9. References (with permission).

Writing entries

• Use verbs that describe your actual contribution: extracted, cleaned, analysed, drafted, presented.
• Include numbers where true (for example "screened 600 abstracts").
• Keep one citation style throughout.
• Show author position as it appears in the paper.

Illustrative example (invented)

Research assistant, retrospective cohort study of heart failure readmissions (Supervisor: Dr X), 2025. Extracted and cleaned data for 420 patients; drafted the Methods section; presented a poster at a regional meeting.

Status labels

Use: published, accepted/in press, under review, in preparation. Do not list "in preparation" work as a publication, and mark preprints as preprints. MRN offers a free academic CV template.

Choosing a format

Use a clean, single-column layout, a readable font and consistent spacing so the CV works when pasted into an application system. Two pages is usually enough for a student; add pages only when content is substantial and relevant. Save the file as a PDF with your name in the filename, and keep an editable version so you can tailor the order of sections for each application, for example putting research above volunteering when applying for a research post.

Keeping it verifiable

Every claim should be something you could document: a supervisor who can confirm your role, a DOI for a paper, a programme page for an award. If a line would be uncomfortable to explain in an interview, revise it. Ask your mentor to read the CV before you send it.

Common pitfalls

• Vague entries such as "involved in research".
• Inflating your authorship role.
• Inconsistent formatting.

Key takeaways

• Be specific, accurate and consistent.
• Describe your role, not only the project title.

This page is general educational information about research methods. It is not medical, legal or regulatory advice; follow your institution's ethics board and your target journal's instructions.