Academic Writing- Personal Information

Personal information in academic writing review

Part One: Needs analysis interviews

Interview your partner about the topics below, making brief notes in the spaces given.

Name

Education/ Qualifications (present, past and future educational institutions, faculties, courses, etc)

Research (present, past and/ or future), including practical implications of that research, reasons for those research interests, personal information related to your research, etc.

Publications/ Academic writing (especially in English, including future)

Languages and language learning (present, past and future)

Influences/ Inspiration (books, people, theories, etc, including reasons for your interests)

Memberships, e.g. of professional or academic organisations such as international associations, committees

Attending and taking part in events, e.g. presenting at workshops or going to conferences (past and future, especially using English)

Teaching experience

Other work and volunteering (present, past and future)

Other achievements/ awards

Aims/ Ambitions/ Plans

Overseas experience/ Overseas travel (past and future)

Hobbies/ Free time activities (present and past)

 

Useful language for asking and answering the questions

• Bachelor’s degree (= undergraduate degree = first degree, e.g. BA or BSc)
• certificate/ diploma
• cram school
• exchange student
• faculty
• grad school
• language school
• lecturer/ professor/ tutor
• (professional) license
• major/ specialise in
• Master’s (= MA, MSc, MPhil, MBA)
• panel
• PhD (= doctorate)
• post-doc
• scholarship
• (dissertation) supervisor
• TA
• (final/ graduation) thesis/ dissertation
• (private) tutor

Part Two: Personal information in academic writing discussion

Take turns giving advice and responding to the other person’s advice on what information to include in situations chosen from below. You can talk about the information above and/ or things you haven’t discussed yet.

Personal information in applications

• A personal statement in support of your application for an academic course
• Your CV (to apply for academic positions or positions outside academia)
• A cover letter when sending your CV (= résumé) to apply for an academic position/ job
• An email accompanying an application for funding
• An email accompanying an application to give a conference talk

Personal information in other emails/ letters

• A letter to (hopefully) be included in the letters page of an academic journal
• An email asking about for permission, e.g. to use something that is under copyright
• An email asking for more information before writing for an academic journal
• An email contacting a potential collaborator, e.g. someone you could write a paper with
• An email contacting someone who you don’t know to ask for info about their research
• An email praising someone who you don’t know for their recently published paper, recently published book or academic presentation
• An email to a future teacher/ professor who you have yet to meet
• An email to your regular teacher/ professor/ supervisor
• An email to a group of people who you know, e.g. all the students in your class
• An email to a group of people who you don’t know, e.g. new PhD students

Personal information online

• Your publicly available CV (for example on LinkedIn.com)
• A comment on a blog related to your research/ studies/ area of interest
• A comment in an online community (Facebook group, LinkedIn.com group, etc) related to your research/ studies/ area of interest
• Your professional social networking profile (e.g. Google + profile)
• Your profile on your institution’s website
• On the “About” page of your blog (one at least partly connected to your research/ studies)

Personal information in academic bios

• An academic bio to accompany your paper when it is published in an academic journal
• With a description of a talk you are giving, e.g. in a conference brochure

 

If you haven’t already, discuss these ones emailing and/ or applications ones above (depending on what is most useful for you or following your teacher’s instructions)

Ask your teacher about any of the important situations for you which you aren’t sure about.

For homework, write at least one of the things above for homework and email it to your teacher. If you do one of the application tasks, include the job advertisement, application form etc that you were thinking about when you wrote it. If it is a reply, if possible include the original email (edited if it includes anything private/ confidential).