1. Use this section if you are able to state something unique about what you want to accomplish in the program
2. Do not focus on your career objective (save that for your résumé)
3. 1 point is sufficient

1. For a research-based graduate program:
   1. Provide a brief summary of research interests and areas of expertise (if any) and ensure these align with potential supervisor/group
   2. Identify your research contribution expectations
2. For a professional program such as teaching or clinical psychology:
   1. Provide a brief summary of interests (e.g., experiences in teaching, research, clinics) and areas of expertise if they align with the professional program
3. More details on research interests can be included in your personal statement/letter of intent or research statement
4. Professional interests could include teaching/research/projects if relevant to program (e.g., BEd, MEd, Public Health, Public Service)
5. List in point form, beginning with a general or broad statement and ending with more specific areas
6. 3 to 5 points

1. Use as abstract for CV
2. Summarize strongest points of your candidacy as favour to reader to show your competitive advantage
3. Grab reader’s attention to compel them to read further
4. All points should be targeted to field/program, reflect your background, and be elaborated on in CV
5. Provide a concise overview of qualifications
6. Qualifications may be drawn from any area of life (e.g., research, teaching, jobs in industry, volunteering, education, or other professional/community activities)
7. Include key words (competencies) commonly used in field/program to which you are applying
8. When you make a claim, prove it. Everyone says they are good with Excel, but it means different things for different people. Prove your skills with some high-value examples. You might use the duration of time, a complex or difficult task, or a numerical outcome
9. Provide a general reference to where you developed the skill (e.g., “Proven leadership skills developed through team lead experiences”). Include this level of detail only once or twice so that points do not become too lengthy
10. Include 4 to 6 points (typically) outlining relevant strengths, beginning with most relevant to program
11. Points may begin with nouns or adjectives

1. Include all information on Bachelor, Master, or other relevant studies, in reverse chronological order, i.e., most recent first
2. Include degree awarded or anticipated, name of institution, location, date
3. List a qualifying year for a program of study as a separate entry, in the same format as your other degrees, e.g., Master of Arts (Qualifying Year), 20xx
4. List certification or licence status, with dates issued (if relevant) (e.g., “P.Eng. (ON) licence, Professional Engineers Ontario (20xx)”
5. Create separate sections (i.e., Education, Professional Training, Certifications) to highlight details, if beneficial
6. Create separate sections for relevant experiences that demonstrate skills/competencies that will be helpful in program and put in order of importance (e.g., Relevant Courses, Thesis, Thesis Supervisor, Relevant Projects)

Create separate sections if accomplishments are lengthy (this is not relevant to all applications)

1. Include all, most recent first, in correct bibliographic format. Include relevant information such as author(s), title, publisher, place of publication, name of periodical, volume, issue number, date, page(s)
2. Create separate sections with headings for a lengthy publications list, placing sections in appropriate order:
   1. refereed or peer reviewed journals, full papers or letters
   2. authored or co-authored books, book chapters, monographs
   3. invited and/or non-refereed research contributions
   4. book reviews
   5. “Research in Progress” or “Manuscripts in Progress” and indicate the status of work (e.g., data collection, data analysis, under review, revise and resubmit, etc.)
   6. creative writing outside of one's professional field (if relevant)
3. List inventions and patents; when listing a patent, it is mandatory to include the country and year of issue

1. List the type of presentation (e.g., divisional paper presentation vs. a poster presentation)
2. State if your presentation(s) were peer-reviewed and what type of presentation (e.g., “Peer-reviewed Conference Presentations” vs. “Non-peer reviewed Conference Presentations”). If you don’t have many to separate into different sections, then simply denote these differences when you list presentations and conference papers
3. Create an “Invited Presentations” section if appropriate
4. Follow the reference style conventions for your field
5. If you attended a conference, but were not part of a paper that was presented please go to the Professional Affiliations/Professional Associations/Professional Development section to learn more about how to denote that on your CV

1. Describe your experiences relating to the program you are seeking
2. Create separate sections to highlight details and include relevant paid and unpaid experiences:
   1. Research:
      1. Include any type of research completed to demonstrate the skills/competencies gained
      2. The research topic does not have to be relevant to the program you are applying to as the goal is to demonstrate your understanding of conducting research
   2. Teaching:
      1. List all teaching positions and experiences: TA, lecturer, trainer, tutor
      2. Mention class size, undergrad/grad levels, course preparation, marking
   3. Industry (co-op)/government/non-profit experiences
      1. Use action verbs to list accomplishments in order to display competencies/skills required for program
   4. Health-related applications
      1. Include any type of health-related experience to demonstrate the skills/competencies gained or interaction with unique populations
3. Create an “Academic Experience” section to include both research and teaching experiences if you do not have enough experience for separate sections
4. Organize experiences in reverse chronological order within each section, i.e., most recent first. Include experience title, name of company/organization, location, beginning and terminating dates
5. 3 to 5 points beginning with action verbs (use proper tense)

Include volunteer experience in one of these three ways depending on the significance of the experience relative to your goal

1. If your volunteer activities are as impressive as other experiences, add information on volunteering to your Experience section, with a notation (e.g., Assistant to Director—volunteer)
2. If you wish to highlight your volunteer activities separately from your work experience, create a separate heading (e.g., Volunteer Activities, Volunteer Experience, or Community Service)
3. Put your Volunteer Experience before other Experiences if they are more relevant
4. If your volunteer activities are not directly related to the field/program you are applying to, add them to the Activities and Interests section
5. Regardless of the heading you list your volunteer experience under, list the organizations for which you volunteered and, if relevant, add detail about your contributions, beginning each point with an action verb
6. 3 to 5 points for each experience

1. Include both academic and professional in reverse chronological order
2. State the name of the award, the name of the institution from which the award was received, and the date it was received
3. Explain the significance of the award if it is not clear in the award’s title
4. Explain acronyms; the meaning of the recognition may not be clear
5. These sections could be subsections under the Education section (e.g., Dean’s Honours List, Faculty of Science, University of Waterloo, >80% received, 20xx-20xx)
6. Include no more than six entries; include monetary value, if significant

1. Consider joining a relevant professional association as a student to show interest in a particular field and to build a network
2. Include current memberships, with dates to demonstrate length of membership
3. List conference seminars, professional workshops, and presentations attended particularly if relevant to the program/profession (e.g., “Attended Ontario Public Health Association 2-day Conference, November 20XX”, “Attended Department of Psychology Colloquium Series, University of Waterloo, September 20xx-April 20xx)

If you are proficient in several languages and this skill is relevant, create a “Languages” section.

1. List languages in which you are fluent (other than English)
2. Specify your verbal and/or written competency level (e.g., Written and verbal proficiency in English and Spanish)

1. Show those with relevance to academic life (e.g., photographer with expertise to use as a teaching tool), or include a broader range of activities, such as athletic, social, intellectual, cultural

Computer Proficiency, Laboratory Skills, Technical Skills, Scientific Instrumentation, Certifications

1. Present an overview of qualifications relating to your objective
2. List similar proficiencies together (e.g., for computer proficiency: hardware, software, languages,) in columns or as bullet points
3. Be sure to accurately describe level of proficiency (e.g., “familiar with” does not equal “proficient in” or “working knowledge”)
4. If including dates (e.g., for Certifications), list them in reverse chronological order
5. Include these points under Summary of Qualifications if there is not enough information to include in a separate section