What your research statement needs to accomplish
- A lot in a little space; get help with compressing
- Page/character limits aren鈥檛 about being short or giving reviewers less to read; 聽limits are about your capacity to articulate complex ideas and methods at a powerfully lucid conceptual level
- Who you are as a scientist/scholar, how you think
- Your energy, passion for the work, questions
- A vision
- Accessible to educated lay readers as well as experts (but never 鈥渄umb down鈥�!)
What other application components need to accomplish
- Different roles, no redundancy
- Shortened CV
- Publications
- Budget tells story
- Letters: the perspective only that writer can give
- View as a whole package, not just pieces;聽consider how each component contributes fully to a larger whole
Choosing letter writers
- Your impact on their lab/research
- Can they characterize your scholarly qualities and strengths?
- Do they have sufficient information about the funder to aim their letter?