You can think of a research statement as having three distinct parts. The first part will focus on your past research, and can include the reasons you started your research, an explanation as to why the questions you originally asked are important in your field, and a summary some of the work you did to answer some of these early questions. The middle part of the research statement focuses on your current research.
How is this research different from previous work you have done, and what brought you to where you are today? You should still explain the questions you are trying to ask, and it is very important that you focus on some of the findings that you have and cite some of the publications associated with these findings.
In other words, do not talk about your research in abstract terms, make sure that you explain your actual results and findings even if these may not be entirely complete when you are applying for faculty positions , and mention why these results are significant.
The final part of your research statement should build on the first two parts. Yes, you have asked good questions, and used good methods to find some answers, but how will you now use this foundation to take you into your future?
Since you are hoping that your future will be at one of the institutions to which you are applying, you should provide some convincing reasons why your future research will be possible at each institution, and why it will be beneficial to that institution, or to the students at that institution. While you are focusing on the past, present, and future or your research, and tailoring it to each institution, you should also think about the length of your statement and how detailed or specific you make the descriptions of your research.
Think about who will be reading it. Will they all understand the jargon you are using? Are they experts in the subject, or experts in a range of related subjects? Can you go into very specific detail, or do you need to talk about your research in broader terms that make sense to people outside of your research field focusing on the common ground that might exist? Additionally, you should make sure that your future research plans differ from those of your PI or advisor, as you need to be seen as an independent researcher.
Identify specific aims that can be divided into short-term and long-term goals. You can give some idea of a 5-year research plan that includes the studies you want to perform, but also mention your long-term plans, so that the search committee knows that this is not a finite project. Another important consideration when writing about your research is realizing that you do not perform research in a vacuum.
For example, how do babies learn their native languages? How do we remember autobiographical information? Why do we favor people who are most similar to ourselves? How do we perceive depth? How does the stress we experience every day affect our long-term health? My problem is that I have been persecuted by an integer. For seven years this number has followed me around, has intruded in my most private data, and has assaulted me from the pages of our most public journals.
This number assumes a variety of disguises, being sometimes a little larger and sometimes a little smaller than usual, but never changing so much as to be unrecognizable. The persistence with which this number plagues me is far more than a random accident. There is, to quote a famous senator, a design behind it, some pattern governing its appearances. Either there really is something unusual about the number or else I am suffering from delusions of persecution.
I shall begin my case history by telling you about some experiments that tested how accurately people can assign numbers to the magnitudes of various aspects of a stimulus. Those opening paragraphs are from a Psych Review article, which has been cited nearly 16, times. Science can be personalized. Another example of using the Detective Story format, which opens with your broad research question and personalizes it, is the opening paragraph of a research statement from a chemist:.
I became interested in inorganic chemistry because of one element: Boron. The cage structures and complexity of boron hydrides have fascinated my fellow Boron chemists for more than 40 years — and me for more than a decade.
Boron is only one element away from carbon, yet its reactivity is dramatically different. I research why. Along the way, clues to the answer are provided, and false leads are ruled out, which keeps readers turning the pages. In the same way, writing your research statement in the Detective Story format will keep members of the hiring committee, the review committee, and the awards panel reading until the last paragraph.
Therefore, you need to convey the importance of your work and the contribution of your research without getting bogged down in jargon. Some details are important, but an intelligent reader outside your area of study should be able to understand every word of your research statement.
Job Applications. And those two or three people are unlikely to have carte blanche authority on hiring. In my experience -- which is centered at a math department at a state research university -- research statements are generally times longer than teaching statements. The only teaching statement I've ever seen that was approximately the same length as a research statement was my own.
Regular readers of this site will be shocked to learn that I can be seduced by the sound of my own written voice. Only over long years and after reading, writing and refereeing many technical papers have I come to a halfway decent appreciation of the virtues of brevity. To me, someone whose teaching statement is twice as long as their research statement is signalling in the strongest possible terms that they are more interested in teaching than research But again: please check on your local academic culture.
In other words, does disparity in length between the two documents outweigh the content of the documents? No, the content is most important. If in your one page research statement you give a clear description of very strong research, people who were expecting a much longer document will think "What a short research statement. That's weird. Added : I'm finding some evidence online pointing to the possibility that research statements in mathematics may be longer than in many other academic fields:.
Anyway, you should definitely not choose the length of your research statement by what some internet academic tells you! You should do so by i talking to your thesis advisor about it and ii comparing notes with others who are or recently were on the job market. Getting a look at application materials of those who recently got the type of job that you want is ideal. That's what friends are for. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. I have collected sample statements from 5 successful candidates and they are all in the page range, closer to what the sociologist above describes.
I have not seen a single statement at one page. When proposing future research, do you still recommend we avoid stating what others have NOT done? Can the self-righteousness and just describe your work and its contribution. In my case, my book will be comprised of about half new material and half dissertation research. So is this the wrong way to describe the relationship between book and diss even if it seems accurate? This question actually requires a blog post on its own.
Of course books or second projects will typically have some organic connection to the diss. But on the job market and in your career, the diss must NOT be primary. The diss is something a grad student writes.
You are not applying to be a grad student. You are applying to be professor. Who wants that? That makes sense. How would you recommend shifting the focus of the paragraphs for those of us going on the market as postdocs?
However, except for a few conference proceedings, I have no publications on my postdoc research yet. Do hiring committees look down upon this? Does anyone here know if this is an effective format for British Oxbridge postdocs as well? I know my research is good, but the eternal question of how to make anything in the humanities sound important to other people, you know?
Often they a long CV, RS, and list of publications to tick all the boxes and cover their backs. If I consider teaching and curriculum development part of my research, is it okay to mention this in the RS—specifically if written for a university more focused on teaching than research? My assumption is that R1 schools would look down on this…? Does the rule of no more than one future project description apply to the field of developmental psychology?
You would need to investigate that among your profs and colleagues. I wrote a research statement and asked a friend in my department look at it. I do not want to frame myself as a graduate student, but I also see the value in highlighting my ability to produce scholarship with other people. Any thoughts on this, Karen or others? Many thanks! I searched through a tone of sites for samples and examples, but yours is the most helpful.
The work is your own. If you co-authored a piece, do not use the name of the co-author. How specific do you need to get with that information? Thanks for the advice! Your blog has been so valuable as I am preparing my application package. Is there anyway I can communicate to the admissions committee about my situation within the scope of my application?
Hello, Karen, I am an old follower returning. In a research statement, do you give considerably less space to what is already published, books and articles, and much more space and detail to describe projects s in progress or about to be launched as research proposal applications?
They are, in fact, wanting to know what my future research projects are, to ascertain if i am a good prospect, correct? Hi, I am applying to graduate school, and some programs ask for a research statement. I have not done any independent research, but have worked in a lab under a postdoc for three years.
As a undergrad, is it okay to refer to the postdoc by name and say that I was assisting? Should this be structured any differently than the model you gave above? Is there any different format for a PhD student to be or just follow the same as per above? Hi, Could you please let me know if it is proper to mention some of projects in a certain master course that one took? Thank you in advance. If some of your research background was for a government agency and your results went to government documents and forms, are you allowed to include it in your research statement.
For example, I am applying for a job that calls for a research statement in which I would be designing stream sampling plans and in the past I worked for state government designing and implementing SOPs for stream sampling and EPA reports. This experience is much more applicable to the job than my dissertation research is. In other words, is the RS more to show I can do research and think like a researcher or that I have done similar research in the past?
Hi, This post has been really helpful to me. I have a question about citations in a research statement. Should I cite relevant or seminal studies? Or is a research statement assumed to be written out of the authors own confidence, experience, and general knowledge of their field of study? If yes to citations, is there an optimal amount? Thank you! I dont understand why I cannot name who I collaborated with, or worked with and claim complete ownership.
Most of all disseration ideas comes out of a collaborative effort. Seems kinda lame to suddenly act like every idea is all mine without giving due credit. I disagree. All of your recommendations are valid except for this one. Including names of other people would actually be a good thing as it shows a willingness to interact and collaborate with a diverse set of people, picking up new skills and perspectives; this is how science is done these days. Of course the research thrust should be from the individual, but that is like a given.
I am also in a STEM field, and all of my research has been collaborative to one degree or another. In fact, it may be even more important for those of us with highly collaborative research to discuss our own contributions and leave our colleagues out of our research statements.
The difficulty is to demonstrate what I actually did as author 13 in alphabetical order that makes me actually worth hiring. Additionally, should I include in the teaching philosophy an experience in my undergraduate that has shaped my teaching philosophy? Finally, should my TP include any courses ever taught or course proposals? Your candid response will be appreciated.
Please read all my posts on the Teaching Statement for more on that—do NOT include your undergrad experiences. This messes up the usual structure I have in mind. What do you suggest? Two different files or a hybrid between them in one file? Any insights? What do you think about this? I am a young scholar in Communication. I have been told this is not enough and I need more projects in my proposal.
Only 2 pages for so many projects including a detailed timeline does not seem feasible. Dear Dr. Karen, First, let me thank you for your website. I have been in my current position, teaching at a community college, since During this time, I completed my doctorate awarded in I taught abroad on a Fulbright scholarship in , and during that time revised and expanded my dissertation for publication this included contextual updates and one complete new chapter.
I was fortunate enough to get a contract, and the book appeared in ; the paperback is coming out this month. Given my experiences, I want to make the move to a 4-year institution, if possible I realize the odds are slim.
So, how do I best handle my circumstance in the RS? The dissertation and book are largely the same. How can I avoid redundancies? Your advice is appreciated. I have read parts of your blog with great interest.. I need some advice.. At the moment mine RS is nearly 4 pages I have a short 3 page version of this.
I am applying for my first post-doc fresh out of my PhD. I planned on putting it just above my PhD research. Normally I would put that in a cover letter, but it seems that cover letters are a thing of the past. No, that is not the place for that. Really, no part of the academic job application is the place for that. Thank you for this useful post.
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