academic cover letter humanities

Academic Cover Letters

What is this handout about.

The long list of application materials required for many academic teaching jobs can be daunting. This handout will help you tackle one of the most important components: the cover letter or letter of interest. Here you will learn about writing and revising cover letters for academic teaching jobs in the United States of America.

What is an academic cover letter?

An academic cover letter describes your experiences and interest as a candidate for a specific position. It introduces you to the hiring committee and demonstrates how your academic background fits with the description of the position.

What do cover letters for academic teaching jobs typically contain?

At their most basic level, academic cover letters accomplish three things: one, they express your interest in the job; two, they provide a brief synopsis of your research and teaching; and three, they summarize your past experiences and achievements to illustrate your competence for the job. For early-career scholars, cover letters are typically no more than two pages (up to four pages for senior scholars). Occasionally, a third page may make sense for an early-career scholar if the application does not require a separate teaching statement and/or research statement. Digital versions of cover letters often contain hyperlinks to your CV or portfolio page. For some fields, cover letters may also include examples of your work, including music, popular articles, and other multimedia related to your research, service, or teaching available online. Typically, letters appear on departmental or university letterhead and include your signature. Above all, a strong cover letter presents your accomplishments and your familiarity with the institution and with the position.

How should I prepare to write my academic cover letter?

Like all writing, composing a cover letter is a process. The process may be as short as a few hours or as long as several weeks, but at the end the letter should present you as a strong candidate for the job. The following section has tips and questions for thinking through each stage of this writing process. You don’t need to answer all of these questions to write the letter; they are meant to help you brainstorm ideas.

Before you begin writing your cover letter, consider researching the institution, the department, and the student population. Incorporating all three aspects in your letter will help convey your interest in the position.

Get to know the institution. When crafting your cover letter, be aware of the type of institution to which you are applying. Knowing how the institution presents itself can help you tailor your letter and make it more specific.

• Where is the institution located?
• Is it on a quarter-system or semester-system?
• What type of institution is it? Is it an R1? Is it an R2? Is it a liberal arts college? Is it an HBCU? Is it a community college? A private high school?
• What is the institution’s culture? Is it teaching-focused or research-focused? Does it privilege experiential learning? Does it value faculty involvement outside the classroom? Is it affiliated with a specific religious tradition?
• Does it have any specific institutional commitments?
• How does the institution advocate for involvement in its local community?
• What are the professional development opportunities for new and junior faculty?

Learn about the department. Knowing the specific culture and needs of the department can help you reach your audience: the department members who will be reading your documents and vetting you as a candidate.

• Who is on the search committee? Who is the search committee chair?
• What is the official name of the department?
• Which different subfields make up the department?
• Is it a dual appointment or a position in a dual department?
• How does the department participate in specific types of student outreach?
• Does the department have graduate students? Does it offer a terminal Master’s degree, Ph.D., or both? How large are the cohorts? How are they funded?
• Does the department encourage or engage in interdisciplinary work?
• Does the majority of the department favor certain theoretical or methodological approaches?
• Does the department have partnerships with local institutions? If so, which ones?
• Is the department attempting to fill a specific vacancy, or is it an entirely new position?
• What are the typical course offerings in the department? Which courses might you be expected to teach? What courses might you be able to provide that are not currently available?

Consider the students. The search committee will often consider how you approach instructing and mentoring the student body. Sometimes committees will even reserve a position for a student or solicit student feedback on a candidate:

• What populations constitute the majority of the undergraduate population?
• Have there been any shifts in the student population recently?
• Do students largely come from in-state or out-of-state?
• Is there an international student population? If so, from which countries?
• Is the university recruiting students from traditionally underrepresented populations?
• Are students particularly active on campus? If so, how?

Many answers to these questions can be found both in the job description and on the institution’s website. If possible, consider contacting someone you know at the institution to ask about the culture directly. You can also use the institution’s course catalog, recruitment materials, alumni magazine, and other materials to get answers to these questions. The key is to understand the sort of institution to which you are applying, its immediate needs, and its future trajectory.

Remember, there is a resource that can help you with all three aspects—people. Reach out to your advisor, committee members, faculty mentors, and other contacts for insight into the prospective department’s culture and faculty. They might even help you revise your letter based on their expertise. Think of your job search as an opportunity to cultivate these relationships.

After you have done some initial research, think about how your experiences have prepared you for the job and identify the ones that seem the most relevant. Consider your previous research, internships, graduate teaching, and summer experiences. Here are some topics and questions to get you started thinking about what you might include.

Research Experiences. Consider how your research has prepared you for an academic career. Since the letter is a relatively short document, select examples of your research that really highlight who you are as a scholar, the direction you see your work going, and how your scholarship will contribute to the institution’s research community.

• What are your current research interests?
• What topics would you like to examine in the future?
• How have you pursued those research interests?
• Have you traveled for your research?
• Have you published any of your research? Have you presented it at a conference, symposium, or elsewhere?
• Have you worked or collaborated with scholars at different institutions on projects? If so, what did these collaborations produce?
• Have you made your research accessible to your local community?
• Have you received funding or merit-based fellowships for your research?
• What other research contributions have you made? This may include opinion articles, book chapters, or participating as a journal reviewer.
• How do your research interests relate to those of other faculty in the department or fill a gap?

Teaching Experience. Think about any teaching experience you may have. Perhaps you led recitations as a teaching assistant, taught your own course, or guest lectured. Pick a few experiences to discuss in your letter that demonstrate something about your teaching style or your interest in teaching.

• What courses are you interested in teaching for the department? What courses have you taught that discussed similar topics or themes?
• What new courses can you imagine offering the department that align with their aim and mission?
• Have you used specific strategies that were helpful in your instruction?
• What sort of resources do you typically use in the classroom?
• Do you have anecdotes that demonstrate your teaching style?
• What is your teaching philosophy?
• When have you successfully navigated a difficult concept or topic in the classroom, and what did you learn?
• What other opportunities could you provide to students?

Internships/Summer/Other Experiences. Brainstorm a list of any conferences, colloquiums, and workshops you have attended, as well as any ways you have served your department, university, or local community. This section will highlight how you participate in your university and scholarly community. Here are some examples of things you might discuss:

• Professional development opportunities you may have pursued over the summer or during your studies
• International travel for research or presentations
• Any research you’ve done in a non-academic setting
• Presentations at conferences
• Participation in symposia, reading groups, working groups, etc.
• Internships in which you may have implemented your research or practical skills related to your discipline
• Participation in community engagement projects
• Participation in or leadership of any scholarly and/or university organizations

In answering these questions, create a list of the experiences that you think best reflect you as a scholar and teacher. In choosing which experiences to highlight, consider your audience and what they would find valuable or relevant. Taking the time to really think about your reader will help you present yourself as an applicant well-qualified for the position.

Writing a draft

Remember that the job letter is an opportunity to introduce yourself and your accomplishments and to communicate why you would be a good fit for the position. Typically, search committees will want to know whether you are a capable job candidate, familiar with the institution, and a great future addition to the department’s faculty. As such, be aware of how the letter’s structure and content reflect your preparedness for the position.

The structure of your cover letter should reflect the typical standards for letter writing in the country in which the position is located (the list below reflects the standards for US letter writing). This usually includes a salutation, body, and closing, as well as proper contact information. If you are affiliated with a department, institution, or organization, the letter should be on letterhead.

• Use a simple, readable font in a standard size, such as 10-12pt. Some examples of fonts that may be conventional in your field include Arial, Garamond, Times New Roman, and Verdana, among other similar fonts.
• Do not indent paragraphs.
• Separate all paragraphs by a line and justify them to the left.
• Make sure that any included hyperlinks work.
• Include your signature in the closing.

Before you send in your letter, make sure you proofread and look for formatting mistakes. You’ll read more about proofreading and revising later in this handout!

The second most important aspect of your letter is its content. Since the letter is the first chance to provide an in-depth introduction, it should expand on who you are as a scholar and possible faculty member. Below are some elements to consider including when composing your letter.

Identify the position you are applying to and introduce yourself. Traditionally, the first sentence of a job letter includes the full name of the position and where you discovered the job posting. This is also the place to introduce yourself and describe why you are applying for this position. Since the goal of a job letter is to persuade the search committee to include you on the list of candidates for further review, you may want to include an initial claim as to why you are a strong candidate for the position. Some questions you might consider:

• What is your current status (ABD, assistant professor, post-doc, etc.)?
• If you are ABD, have you defended your dissertation? If not, when will you defend?
• Why are you interested in this position?
• Why are you a strong candidate for this position?

Describe your research experience and interests. For research-centered positions, such as positions at R1 or other types of research-centered universities, include information about your research experience and current work early in the letter. For many applicants, current work will be the dissertation project. If this is the case, some suggest calling your “dissertation research” your “current project” or “work,” as this may help you present yourself as an emerging scholar rather than a graduate student. Some questions about your research that you might consider:

• What research experiences have you had?
• What does your current project investigate?
• What are some of the important methods you applied?
• Have you collaborated with others in your research?
• Have you acquired specific skills that will be useful for the future?
• Have you received special funding? If so, what kind?
• Has your research received any accolades or rewards?
• What does your current project contribute to the field?
• Where have you presented your research?
• Have you published your research? If so, where? Or are you working on publishing your work?
• How does your current project fit the job description?

Present your plans for future research. This section presents your research agenda and usually includes a description of your plans for future projects and research publications. Detailing your future research demonstrates to the search committee that you’ve thought about a research trajectory and can work independently. If you are applying to a teaching-intensive position, you may want to minimize this section and/or consider including a sentence or two on how this research connects to undergraduate and/or graduate research opportunities. Some questions to get you started:

• What is your next research project/s?
• How does this connect to your current and past work?
• What major theories/methods will you use?
• How will this project contribute to the field?
• Where do you see your specialty area or subfield going in the next ten years and how does your research contribute to or reflect this?
• Will you be collaborating with anyone? If so, with whom?
• How will this future project encourage academic discourse?
• Do you already have funding? If so, from whom? If not, what plans do you have for obtaining funding?
• How does your future research expand upon the department’s strengths while simultaneously diversifying the university’s research portfolio? (For example, does your future research involve emerging research fields, state-of-the-art technologies, or novel applications?)

Describe your teaching experience and highlight teaching strategies. This section allows you to describe your teaching philosophy and how you apply this philosophy in your classroom. Start by briefly addressing your teaching goals and values. Here, you can provide specific examples of your teaching methods by describing activities and projects you assign students. Try to link your teaching and research together. For example, if you research the rise of feminism in the 19th century, consider how you bring either the methodology or the content of your research into the classroom. For a teaching-centered institution, such as a small liberal arts college or community college, you may want to emphasize your teaching more than your research. If you do not have any teaching experience, you could describe a training, mentoring, or coaching situation that was similar to teaching and how you would apply what you learned in a classroom.

• What is your teaching philosophy? How is your philosophy a good fit for the department in which you are applying to work?
• What sort of teaching strategies do you use in the classroom?
• What is your teaching style? Do you lecture? Do you emphasize discussion? Do you use specific forms of interactive learning?
• What courses have you taught?
• What departmental courses are you prepared to teach?
• Will you be able to fill in any gaps in the departmental course offerings?
• What important teaching and/or mentoring experiences have you had?
• How would you describe yourself in the classroom?
• What type of feedback have you gotten from students?
• Have you received any awards or recognition for your teaching?

Talk about your service work. Service is often an important component of an academic job description. This can include things like serving on committees or funding panels, providing reviews, and doing community outreach. The cover letter gives you an opportunity to explain how you have involved yourself in university life outside the classroom. For instance, you could include descriptions of volunteer work, participation in initiatives, or your role in professional organizations. This section should demonstrate ways in which you have served your department, university, and/or scholarly community. Here are some additional examples you could discuss:

• Participating in graduate student or junior faculty governance
• Sitting on committees, departmental or university-wide
• Partnerships with other university offices or departments
• Participating in community-partnerships
• Participating in public scholarship initiatives
• Founding or participating in any university initiatives or programs
• Creating extra-curricular resources or presentations

Present yourself as a future faculty member. This section demonstrates who you will be as a colleague. It gives you the opportunity to explain how you will collaborate with faculty members with similar interests; take part in departmental and/or institution wide initiatives or centers; and participate in departmental service. This shows your familiarity with the role of faculty outside the classroom and your ability to add to the departmental and/or institutional strengths or fill in any gaps.

• What excites you about this job?
• What faculty would you like to collaborate with and why? (This answer may be slightly tricky. See the section on name dropping below.)
• Are there any partnerships in the university or outside of it that you wish to participate in?
• Are there any centers associated with the university or in the community that you want to be involved in?
• Are there faculty initiatives that you are passionate about?
• Do you have experience collaborating across various departments or within your own department?
• In what areas will you be able to contribute?
• Why would you make an excellent addition to the faculty at this institution?

Compose a strong closing. This short section should acknowledge that you have sent in all other application documents and include a brief thank you for the reader’s time and/or consideration. It should also state your willingness to forward additional materials and indicate what you would like to see as next steps (e.g., a statement that you look forward to speaking with the search committee). End with a professional closing such as “Sincerely” or “Kind Regards” followed by your full name.

If you are finding it difficult to write the different sections of your cover letter, consider composing the other academic job application documents (the research statement, teaching philosophy, and diversity statement) first and then summarizing them in your job letter.

Different kinds of letters may be required for different types of jobs. For example, some jobs may focus on research. In this case, emphasize your research experiences and current project/s. Other jobs may be more focused on teaching. In this case, highlight your teaching background and skills. Below are two models for how you could change your letter’s organization based on the job description and the institution. The models offer a guide for you to consider how changing the order of information and the amount of space dedicated to a particular topic changes the emphasis of the letter.

Research-Based Position Job Letter Example:

Teaching-based position job letter example:.

Remember your first draft does not have to be your last. Try to get feedback from different readers, especially if it is one of your first applications. It is not uncommon to go through several stages of revisions. Check out the Writing Center’s handout on editing and proofreading and video on proofreading to help with this last stage of writing.

Potential pitfalls

Using the word dissertation. Some search committee members may see the word “dissertation” as a red flag that an applicant is too focused on their role as a graduate student rather than as a prospective faculty member. It may be advantageous, then, to describe your dissertation as current research, a current research project, current work, or some other phrase that demonstrates you are aware that your dissertation is the beginning of a larger scholarly career.

Too much jargon. While you may be writing to a specific department, people on the search committee might be unfamiliar with the details of your subfield. In fact, many committees have at least one member from outside their department. Use terminology that can easily be understood by non-experts. If you want to use a specific term that is crucial to your research, then you should define it. Aim for clarity for your reader, which may mean simplification in lieu of complete precision.

Overselling yourself. While your job letter should sell you as a great candidate, saying so (e.g., “I’m the ideal candidate”) in your letter may come off to some search committee members as presumptuous. Remember that although you have an idea about the type of colleague a department is searching for, ultimately you do not know exactly what they want. Try to avoid phrases or sentences where you state you are the ideal or the only candidate right for the position.

Paying too much attention to the job description. Job descriptions are the result of a lot of debate and compromise. If you have skills or research interests outside the job description, consider including them in your letter. It may be that your extra research interests; your outside skills; and/or your extracurricular involvements make you an attractive candidate. For example, if you are a Latin Americanist who also happens to be well-versed in the Spanish Revolution, it could be worth mentioning the expanse of your research interests because a department might find you could fill in other gaps in the curriculum or add an additional or complementary perspective to the department.

Improper sendoff. The closing of your letter is just as important as the beginning. The end of the letter should reflect the professionalism of the document. There should be a thank-you and the word sincerely or a formal equivalent. Remember, it is the very last place in your letter where you present yourself as a capable future colleague.

Small oversights. Make sure to proofread your letter not just for grammar but also for content. For example, if you use material from another letter, make sure you do not include the names of another school, department, or unassociated faculty! Or, if the school is in Chicago, make sure you do not accidentally reference it as located in the Twin Cities.

Name dropping. You rarely know the internal politics of the department or institution to which you are applying. So be cautious about the names you insert in your cover letters. You do not want to unintentionally insert yourself into a departmental squabble or add fire to an interdepartmental conflict. Instead, focus on the actions you will undertake and the initiatives you are passionate about.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Ball, Cheryl E. 2013. “Understanding Cover Letters.” Inside Higher Ed , November 3, 2013. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/11/04/essay-cover-letter-academic-jobs .

Borchardt, John. 2014. “Writing a Winning Cover Letter.” Science Magazine , August 6, 2014. https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2014/08/writing-winning-cover-letter# .

Helmreich, William. 2013. “Your First Academic Job.” Inside Higher Ed , June 17, 2013. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/06/17/essay-how-land-first-academic-job .

Kelsky, Karen. 2013. “How To Write a Journal Article Submission Cover Letter.” The Professor Is In (blog), April 26, 2013. https://theprofessorisin.com/2013/04/26/how-to-write-a-journal-article-submission-cover-letter/ .

Tomaska, Lubomir, and Josef Nosek. 2008. “Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Cover Letter to Accompany a Job Application for an Academic Position.” PLoS Computational Biology 14(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006132 .

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Writing academic cover letters.

The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself and demonstrate the fit between your background and the advertised position. A cover letter must accompany and be tailored to any application you submit.

Take this opportunity to:

• Briefly tell your story, explaining why you are applying for this position and will be a good fit.
• Guide the reader’s attention to the most significant portions of your CV.
• Explain how your particular experiences and education have provided you with the skills and experiences you need to be successful in the position.
• Convey enthusiasm for the position for which you are applying.
• Focus on your potential contributions to this institution—not just on why you need or want the job.
• Answer any questions they might have. For example, “When will you complete your degree?” or “When are you available?”

What to Write About

Although most cover letters follow a similar structure, you should tailor each one for the job to which you are applying. STEM letters should typically be one page, and letters for the humanities and social sciences should not exceed two pages. Sample academic cover letter can demonstrate the basic structure.

Research each institution to which you are applying, especially its philosophy, mission statement, size, and internal structure. The Carnegie Classifications website is a great tool to assist your research. Identify the areas you find most interesting and think about ways in which you could make a contribution to the department and/or institution as a whole. Work this information into your letter. This research personalizes your letter and demonstrates your sincere interest and potential fit.

• Address the letter to the person named in the job description, or with “Dear Members of the Search Committee.”
• Proofread and spell check!
• Your cover letter is a writing sample. Write concisely and effectively.
• Single-space text with a line of space between paragraphs.

Opening paragraph

• Introduce yourself: Mention the university you attend, your degree program, and when you expect to graduate.
• Refer to the specific position for which you are applying.
• Briefly, but specifically, describe what attracted you to the position and institution to which you are applying.
• Demonstrate your enthusiasm and include a thesis statement outlining the reasons why you are a good fit for this position.

Body paragraphs

• Use these paragraphs to paint a picture of yourself in this position.
• Highlight your achievements and qualifications, your interest in the position, and match your skills, experiences, and philosophy to the position. Support your statements with specific examples of your skills.
• Tailor to each application. For instance, if you are applying to a teaching-focused institution, lead with one or more paragraphs about your teaching experience and commitment. (In a letter to a more research-focused institution, these paragraphs may instead come at the end of your letter.)
• Indicate your knowledge of the institution and perhaps give examples of how you could fit in there. For example, if there are faculty or research centers that are potential collaborators, mention these.

Concluding paragraph

• Reinforce your interest in the position and enthusiasm for the institution.
• Take care of any final business matters, such as indicating that letters of recommendation are being sent under separate cover (and from whom).
• Offer to provide extra materials or additional information if necessary.
• Indicate what you would like to see as next steps. For example, you look forward to speaking with the search committee.
• Thank them for their time and consideration.
• End with a professional closing, such as “Sincerely” or “Kind Regards” and your full name.

Emailing Application Materials

• If email application is encouraged, send documents as attachments.
• Use a short email message to indicate your application materials are attached. Then attach your cover letter and other materials as PDF document(s).

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Cover letters for faculty job applications

The cover letter serves as an introduction to your application package and answers the following questions: Who are you? When will you defend your dissertation (if you’re currently ABD)? Why are you interested in applying for this assistant professor position? Why are you interested in this institution? What is your dissertation research about? What are your research plans? What kind of teaching experience do you have? How will you contribute to our department and institution? Why is the school a good fit for you and vice versa? A strong cover letter will be tailored to the institution to which you’re applying. For the humanities and social sciences, it is typically two to three pages long, and for STEM fields, it is typically one to two pages but will vary depending on the specific discipline.

The purpose of a cover letter

Sometimes called a “ letter of intent ” or “ letter of interest “, a cover letter is an introduction to the rest of your job application materials. The purpose of a cover letter is to quickly summarize why you are applying to an organization or for a particular position, and what skills and knowledge you bring that make you the most suitable candidate for that position. The cover letter is often the first impression that a prospective employer will have of you, especially if they do not know you, or have not heard about you from their network of contacts. First impressions count, and so getting your cover letter right is a critical step in your job application process. Like all your job application materials, it may take time and focus to write your cover letters well. You will likely have several drafts before you come up with a final version that clearly articulates your skills and your understanding of the employer and the job requirements.

While your CV briefly states your skills, knowledge, experience, and (most importantly) what you have achieved using your abilities, the cover letter gives you an opportunity to create a narrative that shows the path you have taken in your career or education, emphasizing the skills you’ve used along the way, and explaining why the position you are applying to is the next desirable step on this path.

Timeline: Getting Started with your Cover Letter

Step 1: The first step to writing a good cover letter is to first have a good CV. Your cover letter expands upon some of the information you include within these documents, and describes the role you have played in achieving your academic  goals (i.e., showing how your experiences have made you the best candidate for the position).

Step 2: The next step is to find an open position that interests you. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all cover letter, as each should be tailored to each job you apply to, but there will certainly be parts of the letter that will stay much the same, and be appropriate for multiple jobs. A 1-3 page cover letter might be the norm when applying for a tenure-track, faculty position, but you need to check with your own department to find out what the norms are in your field.

Step 3: Go through the job ad and carefully note all of the requirements and skills the employer is looking for. Based on your background research of the employer and the people you have spoken to who know about this employer (whether a business or a university department), try to identify the two or three most important skills that the employer is looking for. You should then try to create a cover letter that illustrates that you have these skills and have used them effectively.

When applying for faculty positions, especially those that involve both teaching and research, you will be expected to spend some time in your cover letter talking about your research and goals, as well as your teaching – even though you may have covered these in more detail in your research statement and teaching philosophy documents. How much time you need to spend talking about teaching and research will depend on the nature of the position and your field of study. For some humanities and social sciences applications, you will not be asked for a separate research statement, and this information will need to be integrated into the cover letter. Cover letters for scientific positions will generally be shorter as more (but not all) of the information about research will be covered in the research statement. Academic letters also need to cover everything that non-academic cover letters address, however, because you need to show that you are not only a good academic, but that you are a good person to work with who is committed to working at that particular institution. Make sure that you address the requirements of the position as stated in the job ad. Speak to faculty in your department to get a sense of what is expected in cover letters used in faculty job applications for your discipline. See if any faculty you know have been involved in search committees, and find out what they looked for in cover letters.

Explore other application documents:

RESOURCES FOR:    Job Seekers Faculty Employers

RESOURCES FOR:

Job Seekers Faculty Employers

Academic Cover Letters

Writing a cover letter.

Every application you submit should be accompanied by a cover letter that introduces yourself and explains why your background makes you a strong candidate. This is also sometimes referred to as a “letter of intent.” The goal of your CV is to show your readers what you have achieved up to this point; the goal of your cover letter is to show your readers how you’ll do (and excel at) the job to which you’re applying. A cover letter has to “sell” you to a certain extent, so you must speak highly of your own potential as a scholar in your cover letter (even if it feels like bragging).

Writing good cover letters is time consuming. Ideally, a cover letter should be tailored specifically to both the job advertised and the type of institution to which you are applying. This can be challenging when you are applying to many positions over a short period of time. In that case, you might draft some language about your teaching and research that can be easily tailored to individual positions.

The first paragraph of your letter should state which position you are applying for and how you heard about the job. It should also set up the rest of the letter by outlining why your background makes you a good fit. The bulk of the letter should detail your qualifications and achievements, while the final paragraph should again emphasize your interest and enthusiasm. Again, think carefully about your audience. If you are applying to a position at a community college, your letter should focus on your teaching instead of your research.

Formatting Your Cover Letter

Letters in the STEM fields are typically a page, while letters in the humanities and social sciences can be as long as two pages (and sometimes a bit longer). You may address the letter to the person named in the job listing or begin with “Dear Members of the Search Committee.” Whenever possible, use letterhead from the department with which you are affiliated. Finally, be absolutely sure that your letter has no errors! Have someone read it closely—not just for content, but also for typos, spelling errors, and other mistakes that are easy to make and easy to miss.

Additional Resources

Sample cover letters.

• Two samples from a GC alum who did a postdoc before securing a tenure-track position at a liberal arts college: cover letters for a  liberal arts college position  and an  R1 university position
• University of Illinois Career Center  sample cover letters for academic positions
• Penn Career Services  sample cover letters for graduate students and postdocs
• Harvard’s Graduate School for Arts and Science’s Office of Career Services  sample CVs and cover letters
• “Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it)”  from  The Professor is In
• “The Basics of Cover Letter Writing”  by Richard M. Reis in  The Chronicle of Higher Education
• “Writing a Good Letter”  by Julie Vick and Jennifer Furlong in  The Chronicle of Higher Education
• “Writing a Job Letter”  by Chad Black (a GC alum), who breaks down the elements of a sample cover letter
• Cover letter advice  from the Purdue Online Writing Lab
• “Understanding Cover Letters”  by Cheryl E. Ball in  Inside Higher Ed
• “Dream a Little Dream of Me: Six Easy Steps to Writing a Great Job Letter”  by Claire Potter in  The Chronicle of Higher Education

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The Art of the Academic Cover Letter

By maria lamonaca wisdom director of graduate student advising and engagement for the humanities.

Last week, Versatile Humanists at Duke co-sponsored a workshop on the art of the academic cover letter for humanities and social science Ph.D. students. Although the workshop was formally facilitated by the TWP Writing studio, the event was supported by no fewer than eight staff and faculty members across three units at Duke: the Career Center, the TWP Writing Studio, and VH@Duke.

The abundance of experts in the room may sound like overkill, but as we launched into an informal group discussion of the perplexing genre known as the academic cover letter, it felt like exactly the right approach. In addition to the Duke staff and faculty—hailing from different academic disciplines, with varied job-search histories—the grad students also contributed their own perspectives and insights.

Having so many diverse perspectives in the room highlighted some core truths about the academic job letter. Your discipline has a set of conventions with which you, as an applicant, should be familiar, and each letter needs to be tailored to the job description. But beyond these important considerations, no one can present you with a bunch of hard and fast guidelines about how best to represent yourself to a hiring committee.

Indeed, the more rigidly a letter adheres to a set of rules, the less likely it is to convey an accurate and engaging sense of who you are as a scholar, a teacher, and a future colleague.

Seek Out Multiple Perspectives

The hard truth is that hiring committees vary tremendously. Each one also consists of people with different experiences and points of view (which is why they use committees for hiring in the first place). Even with the information provided by online job bulletin boards, you won’t have much insight about the potentially conflicting priorities and perspectives of committee members.

Whatever the tack you take in a job letter, accept that it probably won’t bowl over everyone who reads it. Maybe someone doesn’t like your dissertation director’s most recent book. Or dislikes your approach to feminist literary analysis. Or has a bias against everything Duke–on top of some bad sushi for lunch.

The point is, you will write a much better letter if you focus on crafting something that effectively conveys who you are, what you care about, and what you would bring to a college or university. Do this in terms that are accessible to scholars not familiar with your research specialty.

Writing a cogent, engaging and widely accessible letter almost always depends on good feedback. Consider putting together an informal “committee” to review your cover letters (or at least a couple versions of one) before you send them out. Most obviously, this group should include your dissertation director, your director of graduate studies, and peers (especially those who have already gone on the market). But you should also consider including

• a favorite professor outside of your program,
• me (shameless plug for VH@Duke), and
• a close friend or relative who isn’t an academic.

Don’t fall into the mistake of assuming that everyone on the hiring committee is going to be an expert in your field. Even when large departments in research universities set up search committees, they almost always include individuals outside the specified area. Depending on the institution and the needs of the program, committees may include people who are not even in the hiring unit or in your discipline.

What You Must Leave Behind

For those (most) of us who learned the rules of academic success by figuring out what individual professors expected on papers and then writing each accordingly, the invisible, unknowable Hiring Committee poses a real conundrum. In the face of such uncertainty, there may be an instinct to cast about for absolutes: the one authoritative job-search handbook, the perfect cover letter sample that you can follow almost verbatim, or perhaps the preferences of your dissertation adviser—whose confidence on the right way to structure chapter four of your thesis implies a similarly vast knowledge of job-search practices across academe.

Seeking out multiple perspectives is hard work, for you will inevitably confront the challenge of how to respond to different and likely conflicting pieces of feedback. At the end of the day, you will have to arbitrate such differences. That process can help clarify what sort of scholar-teacher you are becoming, and what sorts of academic positions may be the best fit for you.

As you emerge from five to seven years of graduate study, you may need to remind yourself of certain competencies that may have been underused for a while

There’s a popular book by Marshall Goldsmith entitled What Got You Here Won’t Get You There . This book is addressed to successful corporate executives, who rise through the ranks only to be stalled by certain habits or dispositions that no longer serve them. The larger point, as Goldsmith demonstrates, is that we can arrive at certain points in our careers where we can no longer rely on the strategies that initially made us successful. To move forward, we must abandon longstanding habits and develop new skills and competencies.

Ph.D. training in a humanities discipline hones many skills, but it doesn’t necessarily leave students in the best frame of mind for navigating an academic job search. As you emerge from five to seven years of graduate study, you may need to remind yourself of certain competencies that may have been underused for a while: confidence in facing uncertain situations, working (writing) in a collaborative environment, and (most significantly) trusting your intuition about who you are and what sort of academic career you wish to pursue. All of these competencies will serve you well as you write engaging and memorable cover letters, show up confidently in interviews, and make wise decisions about the future that stretches before you.

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Humanities Student Cover Letter Samples & Examples That Worked in 2024

Are you struggling to write the perfect humanities student cover letter ? You've come to the right place! We've gathered all the best tips, examples and templates that will guide you through the whole process step by step. Without further ado, let's begin! 

Keep reading to learn all about:

• Creating your cover letter header as a humanities student
• Writing a personalized greeting for your humanities student cover letter
• Crafting an impressive introduction on your humanities student cover letter
• Showing off your top skills and accomplishments as a humanities student
• Concluding your humanities student cover letter concisely
• Accessing top resources for job-seeking humanities students

1. How to create an effective cover letter header as a humanities student

A cover letter header is the first key element to focus on creating for your humanities student cover letter . Headers include vital information about who you are and how to get in touch with you, such as:

• Your name and professional title (for students, you can either list your ideal entry-level career title or simply write “humanities student” to let the employer know you are still in school)
• Your contact information (phone number, email address, etc.)
• The name of the company, internship, or program you are applying to

Here is an example of a well-formatted humanities student cover letter

Angel Marie , Humanities Student (123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/angel-marie

To: Baylor University Humanities Department 1234 Street Address Waco, Texas

Let your cover letter write itself — with AI!

2. how to write a personalized greeting for your humanities student cover letter.

With your header completed, your next task is to write a greeting for your cover letter.

To impress employers and other professionals who may read your letter, the key is to personalize the greeting and content as much as possible . This means tailoring your letter with information you have found via researching the company before applying.

For the greeting of your cover letter, you should ideally address a specific person who is most likely to read your letter. This may be a company owner, a hiring manager, or a departmental head.

Here are 3 examples of personalized humanities student cover letter greetings

• Dear Humanities Department Head John Smith,

Dear Dr. John Smith,

• Dear Mr. John Smith,

Pro Tip: If a person has a title such as “Dr.”, this is generally what you want to use if addressing them within an academic setting.

3. How to craft an impressive introduction on your humanities student cover letter

As a humanities student, you know how crucial it is to make a great first impression.

On a cover letter, that first impression is achieved through an introductory paragraph . This introduction should include all of the most relevant and notable details about yourself, including:

• A brief overview of your academic and professional history (years of experience, job responsibilities, etc.)
• A statement on why you are enthusiastic about applying
• Any relevant accomplishments or awards that make you stand out as an applicant (as a student, you may not have an extensive work history. Showing your potential via accomplishments is a great way to showcase your skills to an employer from the very beginning of your letter.)

Here is an example of a strong introduction from a humanities student cover letter

I write to you today with great excitement for the opportunity to be considered for a professor’s assistantship. Having studied humanities within the Honors Program at the university for three years, I have built strong professional and academic relationships with many faculty within the humanities department. If given the role of professor’s assistant, I am certain I can provide the department with the support needed for an exceptional semester.

Find out your resume score!

4. How to show off your top skills and accomplishments as a humanities student

Once you have hooked the employer’s attention with your introduction, you can begin writing a more in-depth overview of your skills, accomplishments, and other qualifications.

As you write this portion of your cover letter, it is important to ensure the details you include are:

• Accurate: Whenever you describe skills or accomplishments in a cover letter, don’t over-embellish or exaggerate the details. While this may help get you in the door for an interview, it will ultimately come back to haunt you should the employer ask further questions.
• Relevant: As a humanities student, you likely study many different aspects of the field and possess a wide range of skills. When writing a cover letter, you want to make sure to keep things concise. Thus, you should focus only on the most relevant skills and accomplishments you have.
• Quantifiable: If possible, try to include information that is quantifiable, such as statistics to go along with specific accomplishments. For instance, if you previously worked as a lab assistant, you could include a quantifiable figure about how you improved lab efficiency for other students.

Here are 6 examples of humanities student skills to include in a cover letter

• Research and research analysis
• Writing and communication
• Leadership skills (describe your exact style of leadership)
• Critical thinking
• Developing presentations

Here is an example of how to describe an accomplishment in a humanities student cover letter

As a humanities student at Monroe University, I have maintained a 4.0 GPA and have met the academic standards of the Honors Program for three consecutive years. Resulting from my dedication to my school work, I earned a Humanities Department Award for student academics.

5. Concluding your humanities student cover letter concisely

The final component of your humanities student cover letter is a well-written conclusion .

Your conclusion should be short and to the point, while still working to further persuade the employer to get in contact with you. Key information to state in your conclusion includes:

• When and how an employer can best contact you
• When you hope to hear from the employer
• When you plan to follow up with the employer
• A formal sign-off

Here is an example of a concise conclusion from a humanities student cover letter

I am deeply appreciative of the time you have taken to review my cover letter and application. You may best reach me Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at [email protected] or at (123) 456-7890. I hope to hear from you by next Tuesday and plan to follow up that afternoon regarding the status of my application.

Sincerely Yours,

[Applicant Name]

6. Top resources for job-seeking humanities students

Looking for a job when you don't have a lot of practical work experience yet can be intimidating. But you need to start somewhere! And the sooner you start looking, the sooner you'll actually succeed. You can start with the following resources: 

• Industry-specific job boards : Explore platforms like EuroBrussels , Academic Jobs EU , HigherEdJobs or jobs.chronicle.com that offer job listings, career advice, and professional development resources for academics and humanities professionals.
• Career Development Centers: Utilize your university's career services center for resume critiques, mock interviews, and job search support specific to humanities fields.
• Professional Associations: Depending on your field, you can join organizations like the Modern Language Association (MLA), the Royal Historical Society (RHS), the Association of Art Historians (AAH) or the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) to access further resources, networking events and industry publications.
• Alumni Networks: Connect with alumni working in humanities-related fields through LinkedIn or university alumni associations for advice, mentorship, and job leads.
• Continuing Education: Platforms like Coursera , edX , Udemy and FutureLearn offer online courses in humanities, some of which are provided by universities worldwide.
• Internships: If you're a student looking for internships, visit websites such as the United Nations Internship Programme , the European Union Internship Programme or the British Council to find one that interests you. 

Searching for the right job is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes, it can take months until you receive an invitation to a job interview. The best thing you can do to prepare yourself for this, is to have your resume and cover letter ready!

Humanities Student Cover Letter FAQ

Focus on highlighting relevant academic achievements, projects, internships, and extracurricular activities that demonstrate your critical thinking, research, writing, and communication skills.

Aim for a concise cover letter that is no longer than one page. Focus on providing a brief introduction, highlighting your most relevant experiences and skills, and explaining why you're interested in the position and organization.

It's not necessary to include recommendations in your cover letter. Instead, focus on showcasing your own strengths and qualifications. You can mention references are available upon request.

Focus on transferable skills gained from coursework, projects, internships, volunteer work, or extracurricular activities that are applicable to the job. Emphasize your ability to adapt, learn quickly, and apply your academic knowledge to practical situations.

It's a good practice to follow up after submitting your application, especially if you haven't heard back within a reasonable timeframe. A polite email or phone call can demonstrate your interest and proactive approach to the job opportunity.

Nikoleta Kuhejda

A journalist by trade, a writer by fate. Nikoleta went from writing for media outlets to exploring the world of content creation with Kickresume and helping people get closer to the job of their dreams. Her insights and career guides have been published by The Female Lead , College Recruiter , and ISIC, among others. When she’s not writing or (enthusiastically) pestering people with questions, you can find her traveling or sipping on a cup of coffee.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Academic Cover Letter Sample

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

November 2, 1998

Dr. Naomi Sellers Chair, English Search Committee Box 58 Baxter College Arcadia, WV 24803

Dear Dr. Sellers:

I am writing to apply for the position as assistant professor of English with an emphasis in rhetoric and composition that you advertised in the October MLA Job Information List. I am a graduate student at Prestigious University working on a dissertation under the direction of Professor Prominent Figure. Currently revising the third of five chapters, I expect to complete all work for the Ph.D. by May of 1999. I believe that my teaching and tutoring experience combined with my course work and research background in rhetoric and composition theory make me a strong candidate for the position outlined in your notice.

As my curriculum vitae shows, I have had excellent opportunities to teach a variety of writing courses during my graduate studies, including developmental writing, first-year writing for both native speakers and second language students, advanced writing, and business writing. I have also worked as a teaching mentor for new graduate students, a position that involved instruction in methods of composition teaching, development of course materials, and evaluation of new graduate instructors. Among the most satisfying experiences for me as a teacher has been instructing students on an individual basis as a tutor in our university Writing Lab. Even as a classroom instructor, I find that I always look forward to the individual conferences that I hold with my students several times during the semester because I believe this kind of one-on-one interaction to be essential to their development as writers.

My work in the composition classroom has provided me with the inspiration as well as a kind of laboratory for my dissertation research. My project, The I Has It: Applications of Recent Models of Subjectivity in Composition Theory, examines the shift since the 1960s from expressive models of writing toward now-dominant postmodern conceptions of decentered subjectivity and self-construction through writing. I argue that these more recent theoretical models, while promising, cannot have the liberating effects that are claimed for them without a concomitant reconception of writing pedagogy and the dynamics of the writing classroom. I relate critical readings of theoretical texts to my own pedagogical experiments as a writing teacher, using narratives of classroom successes and failures as the bases for critical reflection on postmodern composition theory. After developing my dissertation into a book manuscript, I plan to continue my work in current composition theory through a critical examination of the rhetoric of technological advancement in the computer-mediated writing classroom.

My interest in the computer classroom has grown out of recent experience teaching composition in that environment. In these courses my students have used computers for writing and turning in notes and essays, communicating with one another and with me, conducting library catalogue research and web research, and creating websites. I have encouraged my students to think and write critically about their experiences with technology, both in my class and elsewhere, even as we have used technology to facilitate our work in the course. Syllabi and other materials for my writing courses can be viewed at my website: http://machine.prestigious.edu/~name. In all of my writing courses I encourage students to become critical readers, thinkers, and writers; my goal is always not only to promote their intellectual engagement with cultural texts of all kinds but also to help them become more discerning readers of and forceful writers about the world around them.

I have included my curriculum vitae and would be happy to send you additional materials such as a dossier of letters of reference, writing samples, teaching evaluations, and past and proposed course syllabi. I will be available to meet with you for an interview at either the MLA or the CCCC convention, or elsewhere at your convenience. I can be reached at my home phone number before December 19; between then and the start of the MLA convention, you can reach me at (123) 456-7890. I thank you for your consideration and look forward to hearing from you.

First Lastname

Points to Remember

• Use the form of address and title of the contact person as they appear in the job notice.
• Refer to the job title as it appears in the notice, and state where you learned of the position.
• Mention your major professor by name, especially if he or she is well known in your field. Also, mention your expected completion date.
• Make a claim for your candidacy that you will support in the body of the letter.
• For a position at a small undergraduate college, emphasize teaching experience and philosophy early in the letter.
• Describe your dissertation and plans for future research. Emphasize links between your teaching and research interests.
• Mention specific teaching experience that is relevant to the job notice or is otherwise noteworthy.
• Refer to relevant materials available on the web.
• State your willingness to forward additional materials and to meet for an interview.
• Mention any temporary changes in contact information.

How to Write an Academic Cover Letter With Examples

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Requred Job Application Materials

Submitting your application.

When you are applying for a faculty position at a college or university, your  cover letter  will differ significantly from the standard business cover letter.

Your cover letter may be reviewed by Human Resources department staff to determine if you meet the basic qualifications for the job. If it does, it will be forwarded to a search committee comprised mostly of faculty members and academic deans. 

These individuals will be accustomed to reading more lengthy academic cover letters and  resumes  or curriculum vitae (CV) than would be customary in the business world. They will also often be more interested in the philosophical foundations for your work than the typical business recruiter.

Kelly Miller / The Balance

Tips for Writing an Academic Cover Letter

Your initial challenge will be to pass through the Human Resources screening. Review each of the required qualifications included in the job announcement and compose statements containing evidence that you possess as many of the skills, credentials, knowledge, and experiences listed as possible. 

Address as many of the preferred qualifications as possible. 

Give concrete examples to support your assertions about your strengths. 

Your faculty reviewers will typically have an interest in your philosophy and approach to teaching and research within your discipline. They will also be evaluating how your background fits with the type of institution where they work.

Research the faculty in your target department to assess their orientation and expertise. Emphasize points of intersection between your philosophy and the prevalent departmental philosophy.

If you possess traditionally valued areas of expertise that are not already represented by the current faculty, make sure to point those strengths out in your cover letter. It's important to tailor your letter to the orientation of the college and adjust the mix of emphasis on teaching and research based on the expectations in that setting. 

Colleges will typically want to hire new faculty who are passionate about their current research and not resting on past research credits.

Describe a current project with some detail and express enthusiasm for continuing such work. 

Try to do the same with any evolving teaching interests. 

Highlight any grants and funding you have received to undertake your research activities. Incorporate any awards or recognition which you have received for your teaching or research activities. Some text should also be devoted to other contributions to the college communities where you worked, such as committee work, advising, and collaborations with other departments.

Your cover letter should be written in the same basic format as a business cover letter. An academic cover letter is typically two pages compared to a single page for non-academic letters.

Here’s an example of the appropriate format for a cover letter and guidelines for formatting your letters.

Academic Cover Letter Example

You can use this sample as a model to write an academic cover letter. Download the template (compatible with Google Docs and Word Online), or read the text version below.

Academic Cover Letter Example #1 (Text Version)

Robin Applicant 123 Main Street, Anytown, CA 12345 555-555.5555 robin.applicant@email.com

April 5, 2021

Dr. Sylvia Lee Chair, English Department Search Committee Acme College 123 Business Rd. Charlotte, NC 28213

Dear Dr. Sylvia Lee,

I am writing to apply for the position of assistant professor of English with an emphasis in nineteenth-century American literature that you advertised in the MLA Job Information List. I am a Dean’s Fellow and Ph.D. candidate at XYZ University, currently revising the final chapter of my dissertation, and expecting to graduate in May I am confident that my teaching experience and my research interests make me an ideal candidate for your open position.

Over the past five years, I have taught a variety of English courses. I have taught a number of American literature survey courses, as well as writing courses, including technical writing and first-year writing. I have extensive experience working with ESL students, as well as students with a variety of learning disabilities, including dyslexia and dysgraphia, and disabilities like ADD and ADHD. I pride myself on creating a classroom environment that accommodates the needs of my students while still promoting a high level of critical thought and writing skills. Some of my most satisfying experiences as a teacher have come from helping struggling students to grasp difficult concepts, through a combination of individual conferences, class activities, and group discussion. I know I would thrive as a teacher in your college, due to your belief in small classroom size and individualized support for students.

Not only does my teaching experience suit the needs of your school and department, but my research interests also fit perfectly with your description of the ideal candidate. My dissertation project, “Ferns and Leaves: Nineteenth-Century Female Authorial Space,” examines the rise and development of American female authors in the 1840s and 1850s, with a particular focus on patterns of magazine publication. I argue that, rather than being submissive to the requirements of the editor or publisher, female authors, in fact, developed a more transparently reciprocal relationship between themselves and their readers than previously has been assumed. I apply recent print-culture and book-history theory to my readings of novels, magazine articles, letters, and diary entries by various female authors, with a particular focus on Sara Willis (known by her pseudonym Fanny Fern). I plan to develop my dissertation into a book manuscript and continue to research the role of female writers in antebellum magazine culture, with a particular focus on the rise and influence of female magazine editors on literary culture.

My research interests have both shaped and been shaped by my recent teaching experiences. Last spring, I developed and taught a course on the history of print culture in America. I combined readings on theory and literature that addressed issues of print with visits to local historical museums and archives. My students conducted in-depth studies on particular texts (magazines, newspapers, novels) for their final papers. I believe my interdisciplinary teaching style, particularly my emphasis on material culture, would fit in well with the interdisciplinary nature of your English department.

I am therefore confident that my teaching experience, my skill in working with ESL and LD students, and my research interests all make me an excellent candidate for the assistant professor of English position at ABC College. I have attached my curriculum vitae and the two requested sample publications. I would be happy to send you any additional materials such as letters of reference, teaching evaluations, and past and proposed course syllabi. I will be available to meet with you at either the MLA or C19 conference, or anywhere else at your convenience. Thank you so much for your consideration; I look forward to hearing from you.

Robin Applicant (hard copy letter)

Robin Applicant

Academic Cover Letter Example #2 (Text Version)

Betty Applicant 567 North Street, Boston, MA 02108 555-555.555 betty.applicant@email.com

Dr. Robert Smith Chair, Department of Biology Acme University 123 Business Rd. Business City, NY 54321

Dear Dr. Smith,

I am writing to apply for the position of Assistant Professor of Biology with a focus on molecular biology at XYZ University, as advertised in the March issue of Science. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of XYZ in the Department of Molecular Biology, working under the advisement of Professor Linda Smith. I am confident that my research interests and teaching experience make me an ideal candidate for your open position.

My current research project, which is an expansion on my dissertation, “[insert title here],” involves [insert research project here]. I have published my dissertation findings in Science Journal and am in the processing of doing the same with my findings from my current research. The laboratory resources at XYZ University would enable me to expand my research to include [insert further research plans here] and seek further publication.

Beyond my successes as a researcher (including five published papers and my current paper in process), I have had extensive experience teaching a variety of biology courses. As a graduate student at Science University, I served as a teaching assistant and guest lecturer for both biology and chemistry introductory courses and won the university award for outstanding teacher’s assistant. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of ABC, I have had the opportunity to teach Introduction to Biology as well as a graduate-level course, Historicizing Molecular Biology. In every class, I strive to include a blend of readings, media, lab work, and discussion to actively engage students with the material. I would love the opportunity to bring my award-winning lesson planning and teaching skills to your biology department.

I am confident that my research interests and experience combined with my teaching skills make me an excellent candidate for the Assistant Professor of Biology position at XYZ University. I have attached my curriculum vitae, three recommendations, and the two requested sample publications. I would be happy to send you any additional materials such as teaching evaluations or past and proposed course syllabi. I will be available to meet with you at the ASBMB conference or anywhere else at your convenience. Thank you so much for your consideration; I look forward to hearing from you.

Betty Applicant (hard copy letter)

Betty Applicant

It’s important to submit all your application materials in the format requested by the college or university. You may be asked to email, mail, or apply online via the institution’s applicant tracking system.

You may be required to provide references with your application, so be prepared to submit a list of references. The institution may also request transcripts, teaching evaluations, and writing samples.

Send only what is requested. There's no need to include information that the institution hasn't ask for.

However, you can offer to provide additional materials like writing samples, syllabi, and  letters of recommendation  in the last paragraph of your letter.

Follow the instructions in the job posting for submitting your application. It should specify what format the college wants to receive.

Here are some examples of what you may be asked to include with your cover letter and resume or CV:

• A cover letter, CV/resume, and contact information for three references.
• A cover letter (PDF format) of interest indicating your qualifications and reason for application, Curriculum Vitae (PDF format), and a minimum of three professional references, including phone and email contact information.
• A letter of interest, a Curriculum Vitae, a teaching vision statement, a research vision statement that specifically indicates how you would interact with or collaborate with other department faculty, and three references.
• A cover letter, CV/resume, and contact information for three references. Please upload these as ONE document in RTF, DOC or PDF format.

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Doctoral Resume Example – Humanities and Social Sciences

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The Humanities PhD Project

Category: CV to Resume

Um career center resume and cover letter tips for phd students.

A new resource for PhDs from UM’s Career Center includes worksheets that can help identify transferable skills and construct narratives that make the skills developed during a doctorate legible to employers. The packet also provides “brief introductions that explain various application materials, reflection tools that can help … articulate your experience, examples of application materials, and, core…

Resumes and Cover Letters for PhD Students

This resource for creating cover letters and resumes developed by Harvard’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences Office of Career Services includes answers to FAQs about preparing resumes and cover letters, a useful word bank for describing various career experiences, nine examples of resumes tailored to particular interests or career trajectories, and sample cover letters.

Converting a Curriculum Vitae to a Resume

This resource from the UC Davis Internship and Career Center provides a helpful breakdown of the different purposes served by resumes and CVs. It gives tips for structuring your resume’s content based on how employers use the information on resumes, as well as practical advice on formatting. It even links to examples that show side-by-side…

Intro to Resumes for CV-Minded Academics

Crafting a resume when you are used to the academic CV format can be challenging. This article from the Gradhacker blog on Inside Higher Ed gives concrete suggestions for how to organize the information on your resume, how to mobilize keywords from job descriptions, and includes links to sample resumes.

Beyond Academia

Hosted by a group of graduate students at Berkeley, Beyond Academia provides “news and information to go beyond the ivory tower.” Articles discuss a variety of topics of interest to PhD professionalization, including interviews with PhD-holders working in a variety of careers, as well as resources for developing your resume and professional profile.

Translating Your Skills Into a Strong Resume

The Modern Language Association has prepared two helpful resources to help PhDs think about articulating the diverse skill sets they learn during their doctoral training. Learning to describe these academic skills in workplace language takes practice, and these documents are designed to help you translate your skills in language you can use to build a…

10 Things Smart PhDs Do NOT Put On Their Industry Resumes

This is a helpful list of dos and don’ts to use when making the transition from an academic CV to a professional resume. The author discusses some early mistakes he made when first applying to non-academic jobs, and offers a few simple ways to avoid common mistakes academics make during this process.  

University of California Humanities Research Institute Resume Workshop

The 2014 UCHRI Humanists at Work conference featured a resume workshop that guided PhD candidates in tailoring their resumes to positions beyond the academy. At the 9-minute mark, there is a useful discussion of the important differences between a CV and a resume.

Handbook for a Non-Academic Job Search

University of California Irvine has a handbook with advice on non-academic career exploration, cover letters, and sample resumes from PhDs in various disciplines. The handbook—a downloadable PDF—contains worksheets that help students articulate their goals and skills and move towards finding a career that best suits their interests and strengths.  

Society of Fellows in the Humanities

• Current Fellows
• Join the Faculty Fellows
• Eligibility
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Application Materials

Applicants will be evaluated on their academic accomplishments, the significance and intellectual merit of their research project, and their potential to contribute to the intellectual life of the society of fellows, their affiliated department, and the community of scholars at usc..

The application for the 2024–2026 cycle is closed. Check back in fall 2024 for information on the next cycle.

Applicants should submit:

• A complete application form.
• A cover letter (up to three pages single-spaced). The letter should indicate the applicant’s primary field of research and desired departmental affiliation. It should also outline in brief the research the applicant intends to complete at USC. Scholars working across disciplines may indicate the various fields their research addresses and, if desired, additional possible departmental affiliations. In addition to the Society of Fellows in the Humanities, the University of Southern California is home to multiple institutes, centers, and programs in the humanities (see https://dornsife.usc.edu/levan-institute/humanities-at-usc/ ). If an applicant’s research interests align with those of any of these programs, please indicate this in the cover letter. If the dissertation has not been completed, the letter should detail its progress, timeline to completion, and scheduled or proposed defense date should the fellowship be awarded.
• A writing sample from the dissertation/book project, such as a chapter or article, published or unpublished The writing sample should be in English, double spaced, and between 20–40 pages excluding notes and bibliography. Please do not submit more than 40 pages. 
• Evidence of completed Ph.D. or progress-to-degree letter signed by an appropriate supervisor at same institution. This should be separate from any letters of recommendation. It can be signed by the dissertation advisor, department chair, or director of graduate studies. 
• The names of two recommenders. The recommenders will receive links inviting them to upload their letters, which are due at the same time as the application. Recommendation request links can be sent before the application is submitted.

Please submit PDF files. Candidates are responsible for ensuring that all accompanying documents are properly uploaded. Once submitted, applications and documents cannot be changed or updated. If a candidate changes their mind or accepts an  offer elsewhere after applying, they should contact the Society of Fellows over email to withdraw their application as soon as possible.

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The cover letter serves as an introduction to your resume. It helps introduce yourself during the job application process. While your resume lays out the fact, a well crafted cover letter expands that information in a way that is memorable and personal.

Name Street Address City, State, Zip Phone Number Email Address

Call the company and ask who your cover letter should be directed to. Address that person by name.

Introduction

Explain why you are writing the letter, including the job position for which you are applying. You should also mention how you learned about the open position.

Examples of Work

Outline your strengths and tell them why you are the best candidate for the position. Emphasize your skills, abilities and accomplishments as related to the job. Give examples and be concise but don't reiterate your entire resume.

Refer the reader to your resume for more details and information about your education and experience. Ask about the interview process or request to schedule an interview. In some cases, it may be appropriate to say that you will call them on a certain date to follow up. Thank them for considering you for the position.

• Only include relevant information
• Keep paragraphs short and concise
• Stress accomplishments, responsibilities, marketable skills
• Demonstrate your knowledge about the company
• Suggest how your skills and abilities fit the employer's needs
• Address it to an individual person in the company
• Tailor your letter to the job position
• Use standard-size paper (8 1/2 x 11")
• Sign your name in black ink
• Sending a resume without a cover letter
• Using salutations like "Dear Sir" or "To Whom it Concerns"
• Clichés like "Please find my resume enclosed"
• Entire resume included in the cover letter

Suggestions or feedback?

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Three from MIT named 2024-25 Goldwater Scholars

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MIT students Ben Lou, Srinath Mahankali, and Kenta Suzuki have been selected to receive Barry Goldwater Scholarships for the 2024-25 academic year. They are among just 438 recipients from across the country selected based on academic merit from an estimated pool of more than 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, approximately 1,350 of whom were nominated by their academic institution to compete for the scholarship.

Since 1989, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation has awarded nearly 11,000 Goldwater scholarships to support undergraduates who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering and have the potential to become leaders in their respective fields. Past scholars have gone on to win an impressive array of prestigious postgraduate fellowships. Almost all, including the three MIT recipients, intend to obtain doctorates in their area of research.

Ben Lou is a third-year student originally from San Diego, California, majoring in physics and math with a minor in philosophy.

“My research interests are scattered across different disciplines,” says Lou. “I want to draw from a wide range of topics in math and physics, finding novel connections between them, to push forward the frontier of knowledge.”

Since January 2022, he has worked with Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the School of Science, and Hudson Loughlin, a graduate student in the LIGO group, which studies the detection of gravitational waves. Lou is working with them to advance the field of quantum measurement and better understand quantum gravity.

“Ben has enormous intellectual horsepower and works with remarkable independence,” writes Mavalvala in her recommendation letter. “I have no doubt he has an outstanding career in physics ahead of him.”

Lou, for his part, is grateful to Mavalvala and Loughlin, as well as all of his scientific mentors that have supported him along his research path. That includes MIT professors Alan Guth and Barton Zwiebach, who introduced him to quantum physics, as well as his first-year advisor, Richard Price; current advisor, Janet Conrad; Elijah Bodish and Roman Bezrukavnikov in the Department of Mathematics; and David W. Brown of the San Diego Math Circle.

In terms of his future career goals, Lou wants to be a professor of theoretical physics and study, as he says, the “fundamental aspects of reality” while also inspiring students to love math and physics.

In addition to his research, Lou is currently the vice president of the Assistive Technology Club at MIT and actively engaged in raising money for Spinal Muscular Atrophy research. In the future, he’d like to continue his philanthropy work and use his personal experience to advise an assistive technology company.

Srinath Mahankali

Srinath Mahankali is a third-year student from New York City majoring in computer science.

Since June 2022, Mahankali has been an undergraduate researcher in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Working with Pulkit Agrawal, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and head of the Improbable AI Lab, Mahankali’s research is on training robots. Currently, his focus is on training quadruped robots to move in an energy-efficient manner and training agents to interact in environments with minimal feedback. But in the future, he’d like to develop robots that can complete athletic tasks like gymnastics.

“The experience of discussing research with Srinath is similar to discussions with the best PhD students in my group,” writes Agrawal in his recommendation letter. “He is fearless, willing to take risks, persistent, creative, and gets things done.”

Before coming to MIT, Mahankali was a 2021 Regeneron STS scholar, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious awards for math and science students. In 2020, he was also a participant in the MIT PRIMES program, studying objective functions in optimization problems with Yunan Yang, an assistant professor of math at Cornell University.

“I’m deeply grateful to all my research advisors for their invaluable mentorship and guidance,” says Mahankali, extending his thanks to PhD students Zhang-Wei Hong and Gabe Margolis, as well as assistant professor of math at Brandeis, Promit Ghosal, and all of the organizers of the PRIMES program. “I’m also very grateful to all the members of the Improbable AI Lab for their support, encouragement, and willingness to help and discuss any questions I have,”

In the future, Mahankali wants to obtain a PhD and one day lead his own lab in robotics and artificial intelligence.

Kenta Suzuki

Kenta Suzuki is a third-year student majoring in mathematics from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Tokyo, Japan.

Currently, Suzuki works with professor of mathematics Roman Bezrukavnikov on research at the intersection of number and representation theory, using geometric methods to represent p-adic groups. Suzuki has also previously worked with math professors Wei Zhang and Zhiwei Yun, crediting the latter with inspiring him to pursue research in representation theory.

In his recommendation letter, Yun writes, “Kenta is the best undergraduate student that I have worked with in terms of the combination of raw talent, mathematical maturity, and research abilities.”

Before coming to MIT, Suzuki was a Yau Science Award USA finalist in 2020, receiving a gold in math, and he received honorable mention from the Davidson Institute Fellows program in 2021. He also participated in the MIT PRIMES program in 2020. Suzuki credits his PRIMES mentor, Michael Zieve at the University of Michigan, with giving him his first taste of mathematical research. In addition, he extended his thanks to all of his math mentors, including the organizers of MIT Summer Program in Undergraduate Research.

After MIT, Suzuki intends to obtain a PhD in pure math, continuing his research in representation theory and number theory and, one day, teaching at a research-oriented institution.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by U.S. Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, a soldier and national leader who served the country for 56 years. Awardees receive scholarships of up to $7,500 a year to cover costs related to tuition, room and board, fees, and books.

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