ENGLISH WRITINGThiu nng

ENGLISH WRITINGThiu nngSession 7Module IV

Instructor: H L V

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OVERVIEW Warm-up Self-assessment questionnaire Application components Resume/CV preparation (part 1)

Warm-up Self-assessment questionnaire Application components Resume/CV preparation (part 1)

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WARM-UP Food for thought (taken from actual CVs)

Objective: Student today. Vice president tomorrow. Desired salary: The higher the better. Marital status: Single. Unmarried. Unengaged. Uninvolved. No

commitments. Sex: Occasionally Education: A bachelorette degree in computers. Other qualifications: Twin sister has accounting degree. Working experiences: Wholly responsible for two failed financial

institutions.

Food for thought (taken from actual CVs) Objective: Student today. Vice president tomorrow. Desired salary: The higher the better. Marital status: Single. Unmarried. Unengaged. Uninvolved. No

commitments. Sex: Occasionally Education: A bachelorette degree in computers. Other qualifications: Twin sister has accounting degree. Working experiences: Wholly responsible for two failed financial

institutions.

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WARM-UP Food for thought (cont.)

Language skills: Exposure to German for two years, but many words arenot appropriate for academic use.

Language skills: being bi-lingual in three languages Special skills: can stand on my head for a few minutes Personal interests: Donating blood. Fourteen liters so far Other interests: Playing with my two dogs (they actually belong to my

wife but I love the dogs more than my wife) Emergency Contact Number: 911

Food for thought (cont.) Language skills: Exposure to German for two years, but many words are

not appropriate for academic use. Language skills: being bi-lingual in three languages Special skills: can stand on my head for a few minutes Personal interests: Donating blood. Fourteen liters so far Other interests: Playing with my two dogs (they actually belong to my

wife but I love the dogs more than my wife) Emergency Contact Number: 911

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SELF-ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE

Food for thought Why is it helpful? What if you havent yet had any specific plans for graduate

study? start working on filling up your CV NOW!

Food for thought Why is it helpful? What if you havent yet had any specific plans for graduate

study? start working on filling up your CV NOW!

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SELF-ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE

Discuss the handout: think about a specific scenario Major Degree level University References Potential issues

Major switching Low GPA Low test scores

Review school guides or check with school admission officers for classprofile

Important: check if cut-off scores/GPAs are used Lack of relevant experiences Resume gaps

Discuss the handout: think about a specific scenario Major Degree level University References Potential issues

Major switching Low GPA Low test scores

Review school guides or check with school admission officers for classprofile

Important: check if cut-off scores/GPAs are used Lack of relevant experiences Resume gaps

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SELF-ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE

A sample question Q: Em c nn hc thc s trong nc ri ra nc ngoi hc MBA ko? V d

nh e lm v tc th ngoi kn 2 nm ra th ci chng trnh thc s mnhhc trong nc c cn hon thnh ko ? V c cn hc thc s theong chuyn ngnh ti chnh ko ?

A: nu im i hc ca em ko c tt im hc thc s t i thnh tch

thiu thuyt phc thi i hc nn va i lm va hc ti chc mt bng thc s (d l thc s ngnh g)

bng chng r rng em c kh nng hc graduate study kinh nghim lm vic 2 nm quan trng hn

c th apply khi cha hon thnh ct thc s trong nc (nhng phi chngminh cho ad com thy l ti thi im em i hc, ct kia hon thnh ri)

Nu em lm v tc nhng ct thc s trong nc l chuyn ngnh khc th emcn gii thch ti sao (career goal & education goal relevancy)

A sample question Q: Em c nn hc thc s trong nc ri ra nc ngoi hc MBA ko? V d

nh e lm v tc th ngoi kn 2 nm ra th ci chng trnh thc s mnhhc trong nc c cn hon thnh ko ? V c cn hc thc s theong chuyn ngnh ti chnh ko ?

A: nu im i hc ca em ko c tt im hc thc s t i thnh tch

thiu thuyt phc thi i hc nn va i lm va hc ti chc mt bng thc s (d l thc s ngnh g)

bng chng r rng em c kh nng hc graduate study kinh nghim lm vic 2 nm quan trng hn

c th apply khi cha hon thnh ct thc s trong nc (nhng phi chngminh cho ad com thy l ti thi im em i hc, ct kia hon thnh ri)

Nu em lm v tc nhng ct thc s trong nc l chuyn ngnh khc th emcn gii thch ti sao (career goal & education goal relevancy)

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Package Resume (CV) Personal statement (PS)/Statement of Purpose (SOP) Letters of recommendation (LORs) Awards and testimonials Application package: other necessary components Professor contact Final interview Writing sample(s)

Why RESUME comes first? Resume vs. CV: do we need a full CV for our application?

APPLICATION PACKAGE

Package Resume (CV) Personal statement (PS)/Statement of Purpose (SOP) Letters of recommendation (LORs) Awards and testimonials Application package: other necessary components Professor contact Final interview Writing sample(s)

Why RESUME comes first? Resume vs. CV: do we need a full CV for our application?

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RESUME STRUCTURE Objectives, research interests Contact information Education Relevant experiences

teaching experiences research experiences other professional/working experiences

Honors, awards and grants Publications and conference presentations Extracurricular / Community activities Professional affiliations Other qualifications (language, computer, statistics, etc.) Personal hobbies/interests References

Objectives, research interests Contact information Education Relevant experiences

teaching experiences research experiences other professional/working experiences

Honors, awards and grants Publications and conference presentations Extracurricular / Community activities Professional affiliations Other qualifications (language, computer, statistics, etc.) Personal hobbies/interests References

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Objectives, research interests short-term vs. long-term goals be concise but specific

Example: seeking a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics summarize your research interests with three to six

keywords Example: Vocabulary development, translation & L2 writing

Objectives, research interests short-term vs. long-term goals be concise but specific

Example: seeking a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics summarize your research interests with three to six

keywords Example: Vocabulary development, translation & L2 writing

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Objectives: problematic examples Seeking a Professor position in a well-known university

seeking an academic faculty position (tenure track) in an well-knownaccredited tertiary institution

Example: Seeking a Master Scholarship in Public Relations Seeking a Masters degree in Public Relations (with financial aid)

Objectives: problematic examples Seeking a Professor position in a well-known university

seeking an academic faculty position (tenure track) in an well-knownaccredited tertiary institution

Example: Seeking a Master Scholarship in Public Relations Seeking a Masters degree in Public Relations (with financial aid)

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Objectives: problematic examples Information technology is my passion since I was a high school student.

Therefore, I always want to go to a world top-level university to have anopportunity to obtain more useful knowledge in IT field.

provide too much details more appropriate for SOP

I want to become a Marketing Manager in a foreign company seeking a Marketing Manager position in a... (size) small-sized | mid-sized (nationality) international | multinational corporation (industry) in IT | telecommunication | the hospitality industry

Objectives: problematic examples Information technology is my passion since I was a high school student.

Therefore, I always want to go to a world top-level university to have anopportunity to obtain more useful knowledge in IT field.

provide too much details more appropriate for SOP

I want to become a Marketing Manager in a foreign company seeking a Marketing Manager position in a... (size) small-sized | mid-sized (nationality) international | multinational corporation (industry) in IT | telecommunication | the hospitality industry

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Research interests: problematic examples Applied Geographic Information System in Forest Resources and

Management Internationalization of SMEs seem a bit narrow. Use several keywords peculiar to your own discipline the risk of having too narrow or broad research interests the professor-matching process, more important for Ph.D. students

Research interests: problematic examples Applied Geographic Information System in Forest Resources and

Management Internationalization of SMEs seem a bit narrow. Use several keywords peculiar to your own discipline the risk of having too narrow or broad research interests the professor-matching process, more important for Ph.D. students

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RESUME STRUCTURE Contact information

full name, postal address, phone, fax, and e-mail for home and office Name, Addr., Tel, Fax, Email, (H), (O) & (M) Notes:

Gender, DOB, marital status, nationality normally NOT required Why so?

Work/school email should be included (if you have one) If you provide a personal email, make sure its neutral and not

something like Imsodrunk@gmail.com or Iloveporn@yahoo.com you may indicate that you prefer which email for program

communication Emails: personalemail@yahoo.com (preferred), workemail@yahoo.com

Contact information full name, postal address, phone, fax, and e-mail for home and office Name, Addr., Tel, Fax, Email, (H), (O) & (M) Notes:

Gender, DOB, marital status, nationality normally NOT required Why so?

Work/school email should be included (if you have one) If you provide a personal email, make sure its neutral and not

something like Imsodrunk@gmail.com or Iloveporn@yahoo.com you may indicate that you prefer which email for program

communication Emails: personalemail@yahoo.com (preferred), workemail@yahoo.com

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Education list chronologically, with the most recent first

list degrees BEFORE certificates

include date of graduation (or a date range), type of degreeand major, affiliation (department and university), GPA, classstanding, title of thesis/dissertation

for graduate application, ONLY list postsecondary schools The date the degree was awarded (Month and Year) is preferred indicate expected graduation date for degrees not yet completed Overall/cumulative GPA vs. Major GPA: which to be used? Class standing and GPA:

class vs. section (e.g., class size 210, section size around 30) specialized class vs. graduating class

Education list chronologically, with the most recent first

list degrees BEFORE certificates

include date of graduation (or a date range), type of degreeand major, affiliation (department and university), GPA, classstanding, title of thesis/dissertation

for graduate application, ONLY list postsecondary schools The date the degree was awarded (Month and Year) is preferred indicate expected graduation date for degrees not yet completed Overall/cumulative GPA vs. Major GPA: which to be used? Class standing and GPA:

class vs. section (e.g., class size 210, section size around 30) specialized class vs. graduating class

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Education Example:

May 06 Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics, Department ofClassical and Modern Languages and Literatures, TexasTech University, U.S.GPA: 4.0 (A+ for thesis)Thesis: Personalized vocabulary development andorganization based on the mechanism of association.

Aug 90-May 95 Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics and ComputerScience, Electronics and Telecommunication School,Hanoi University of Technology.GPA: 7.85 (Class standing: graduated 3rd in the class of30)

Education Example:

May 06 Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics, Department ofClassical and Modern Languages and Literatures, TexasTech University, U.S.GPA: 4.0 (A+ for thesis)Thesis: Personalized vocabulary development andorganization based on the mechanism of association.

Aug 90-May 95 Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics and ComputerScience, Electronics and Telecommunication School,Hanoi University of Technology.GPA: 7.85 (Class standing: graduated 3rd in the class of30)

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Education Example (cont.):

Certificates Certificate on Unix Systems Development by TheAssociation for Overseas Technical Scholarship, JapanCertificates on Internetworking and LAN Optimization andTroubleshooting by NetLearner, Singapore

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Education: problematic examples Feb 27th 2009, HANOI MEETING ROOM - MICROSOFT VIETNAM -

10th floor Tung Shing Square, 2 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi. Participant,Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Team Foundation Server, lectured by aMicrosoft Vietnam Expert. Keep in mind: the keyword for resume is succinct only list certificate courses dont mention places, lecturers, etc.

What if this is a well-known lecturer? Certificate in SQL Server 2008 granted by Microsoft [Vietnam]

Education: problematic examples Feb 27th 2009, HANOI MEETING ROOM - MICROSOFT VIETNAM -

10th floor Tung Shing Square, 2 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi. Participant,Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Team Foundation Server, lectured by aMicrosoft Vietnam Expert. Keep in mind: the keyword for resume is succinct only list certificate courses dont mention places, lecturers, etc.

What if this is a well-known lecturer? Certificate in SQL Server 2008 granted by Microsoft [Vietnam]

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RESUME STRUCTURE Relevant experiences

teaching experiences Why teaching experiences are important? List the courses you taught, co-taught or assisted with as a TA. Mention student level (adult / secondary / high school / college / 8th grade) Note the institution, supervisor, the number of your TAs (if applicable) and

class size (enrolment). Notes: exclude private tutor jobs unless you were working for a tutoring

center. Otherwise, put these in the working experience section.

Relevant experiences teaching experiences

Why teaching experiences are important? List the courses you taught, co-taught or assisted with as a TA. Mention student level (adult / secondary / high school / college / 8th grade) Note the institution, supervisor, the number of your TAs (if applicable) and

class size (enrolment). Notes: exclude private tutor jobs unless you were working for a tutoring

center. Otherwise, put these in the working experience section.

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Teaching experiences Examples

Teach (college-level) classes in | on... TA for classes in....

2008 2009 TA-ed two graduate classes on Functional Approaches toLanguage (Fall 08, enrolment: 12) and Applying CognitiveLinguistics to Language (Spring 09, enrolment: 20)Supervisor: Dr. Andrea Tyler, Georgetown University

Teaching experiences Examples

Teach (college-level) classes in | on... TA for classes in....

2008 2009 TA-ed two graduate classes on Functional Approaches toLanguage (Fall 08, enrolment: 12) and Applying CognitiveLinguistics to Language (Spring 09, enrolment: 20)Supervisor: Dr. Andrea Tyler, Georgetown University

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Relevant experiences research experiences

List assistantships and other research experiences. They do NOT have tobe directly relevant to what you want to do in the future.

Include the institution, research projects, nature of the position, duties, dates,and supervisor (or advisor/project director).

Mention significant results (e.g. generated papers)

Relevant experiences research experiences

List assistantships and other research experiences. They do NOT have tobe directly relevant to what you want to do in the future.

Include the institution, research projects, nature of the position, duties, dates,and supervisor (or advisor/project director).

Mention significant results (e.g. generated papers)

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Research experiences Examples

2007 2008 principal researcher in a Cognitive Linguistics project onModality Teaching which investigates two currentpedagogical approaches to teaching English modals todetermine if one approach is more effective than the otherSupervisor: Dr. Andrea Tyler.Result: presented two conference papers, co-authoreda journal article and a book chapter

Research experiences Examples

2007 2008 principal researcher in a Cognitive Linguistics project onModality Teaching which investigates two currentpedagogical approaches to teaching English modals todetermine if one approach is more effective than the otherSupervisor: Dr. Andrea Tyler.Result: presented two conference papers, co-authoreda journal article and a book chapter

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Research experiences Examples: Cuc thi or Tun l sinh vin nghin cu khoa hc

Student Research Contest or Research Contest for University Students Undergraduate Student Conference or Conference on Undergraduate

research Question: should you present this as a contest or conference?

Note: youll need to mention your research topic, or better yet, the exacttitle of your presented paper.

Research experiences Examples: Cuc thi or Tun l sinh vin nghin cu khoa hc

Student Research Contest or Research Contest for University Students Undergraduate Student Conference or Conference on Undergraduate

research Question: should you present this as a contest or conference?

Note: youll need to mention your research topic, or better yet, the exacttitle of your presented paper.

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Research experiences problematic examples (Research experience) Built, installed and configured a custom Linux

system from more than 100 packages (Research experience) Design a resource management system based

on C# and SQL Server for BCHANOI Club Comment: do not confuse working experiences with research

experiences. what could be implications of mistakes of this type?

Research experiences problematic examples (Research experience) Built, installed and configured a custom Linux

system from more than 100 packages (Research experience) Design a resource management system based

on C# and SQL Server for BCHANOI Club Comment: do not confuse working experiences with research

experiences. what could be implications of mistakes of this type?

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Relevant experiences working experiences or employment history

include internships, administrative work and part-time/summer jobs include paid jobs only (except for internships) include job type (temporary/part-time/full-time/probationary), date range,

position, company name, supervisors name and contact info list major responsibilities and accomplishments

be specific (e.g., supervise 10 staff or install 100 computers) Working experiences problematic samples

Achievements: highly appreciated by the supervisor for theprofessionalism and accuracy of the sub-project. Comment: only list specific facts (e.g., give specific numbers).

Otherwise, talk about it in your SOP/LORs.

Relevant experiences working experiences or employment history

include internships, administrative work and part-time/summer jobs include paid jobs only (except for internships) include job type (temporary/part-time/full-time/probationary), date range,

position, company name, supervisors name and contact info list major responsibilities and accomplishments

be specific (e.g., supervise 10 staff or install 100 computers) Working experiences problematic samples

Achievements: highly appreciated by the supervisor for theprofessionalism and accuracy of the sub-project. Comment: only list specific facts (e.g., give specific numbers).

Otherwise, talk about it in your SOP/LORs.

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FUN ACTIVITY

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RESUME STRUCTURE Working experiences

Examples Oversee | supervise ... Support | assist with... (be) responsible for | ensure ... Collaborate with | partner with... | report to...

04/01 06/04 Quality Assurance person, Accellion Pte Ltd, Singapore[Supervisors name and contact info]- design and implement test plans for in-houseapplications- inspect codes submitted by programming teams andensure integrity- develop test agents to automate various testing tasks

Fun question: (major responsibilities) Talk in other peoples sleep. So I am College Professor

Working experiences Examples

Oversee | supervise ... Support | assist with... (be) responsible for | ensure ... Collaborate with | partner with... | report to...

04/01 06/04 Quality Assurance person, Accellion Pte Ltd, Singapore[Supervisors name and contact info]- design and implement test plans for in-houseapplications- inspect codes submitted by programming teams andensure integrity- develop test agents to automate various testing tasks

Fun question: (major responsibilities) Talk in other peoples sleep. So I am College Professor

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RESUME STRUCTURE Honors, awards and grants

include the date awarded, awards title and granting institution. give a brief description of the awards nature (if necessary) explain how difficult/rare for one to receive this honor (if possible) mention frequency (annually, monthly, etc.) Award types

graduation honor research grant: why this is important? watch a sample video talk about this in both awards and research experience sections. Also

mention the amount of fund. Tips: How can you get a research grant?

scholarship/fellowship competition/contest prize work performance community contribution

Honors, awards and grants include the date awarded, awards title and granting institution. give a brief description of the awards nature (if necessary) explain how difficult/rare for one to receive this honor (if possible) mention frequency (annually, monthly, etc.) Award types

graduation honor research grant: why this is important? watch a sample video talk about this in both awards and research experience sections. Also

mention the amount of fund. Tips: How can you get a research grant?

scholarship/fellowship competition/contest prize work performance community contribution

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Honors, awards and grants Examples (cont.):

06 - 11 Graduate School Fellowship granted by Georgetown University1997 Annual Award for Excellent Services granted by Ministry of Finance

of Vietnam. Awarded to the top two individuals per department.or Awarded to the two top-performing staffs in a department of hundreds

90 - 95 Government-sponsored Scholarship granted annually by Ministry ofEducation and Training. 1st year based on entrance exam results,subsequent years on academic performance

2005 Second place in the National Mathematic Contest for High SchoolStudents organized by Ministry of Education and Training ofVietnam

Honors, awards and grants Examples (cont.):

06 - 11 Graduate School Fellowship granted by Georgetown University1997 Annual Award for Excellent Services granted by Ministry of Finance

of Vietnam. Awarded to the top two individuals per department.or Awarded to the two top-performing staffs in a department of hundreds

90 - 95 Government-sponsored Scholarship granted annually by Ministry ofEducation and Training. 1st year based on entrance exam results,subsequent years on academic performance

2005 Second place in the National Mathematic Contest for High SchoolStudents organized by Ministry of Education and Training ofVietnam

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RESUME STRUCTURE

Honors, awards and grants problematic examples Received an award for excellent students

for students with outstanding/excellent scholastic/academicachievement/performance/community services

2004 Award from The Peoples Committee of Hanoi what kind of award? for what achievement? selection criteria? number of awardees

Honors, awards and grants problematic examples Received an award for excellent students

for students with outstanding/excellent scholastic/academicachievement/performance/community services

2004 Award from The Peoples Committee of Hanoi what kind of award? for what achievement? selection criteria? number of awardees

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HOMEWORK

For session 10: Create a new or revise your current CV based on what you learned in

class today. Print out a copy and bring it to class for a peer review. review the sample rsum on the hand-out, focusing on

organization content

sufficiency and redundancy appropriateness

language use

For session 10: Create a new or revise your current CV based on what you learned in

class today. Print out a copy and bring it to class for a peer review. review the sample rsum on the hand-out, focusing on

organization content

sufficiency and redundancy appropriateness

language use

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LAST LAUGH

Should you lie on your rsum? Watch a comedy in which the guy lied about having a solid dance

background.

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