A curriculum vitae, or CV or just vita, is a record of the academic achievements and body of work of a teacher, scholar or researcher. A curriculum vitae differs from a resume primarily in length. While resumes provide a brief snapshot of work history and relevant activities, a curriculum vitae is much more detailed and includes information about academic background, work experience, award,
. professional memberships and affiliations, publications and research. Curriculum vitae are most commonly by individuals seeking acceptance or employment in graduate or professional programs, when the job may involve a company whose headquarters is in Europe or when employment is sought in professional and academic fields.While there is not a standard format for a curriculum vitae, there are some important aspects to emphasize. Whereas a resume provides a bullet-point approach to providing the reader with brief tidbits of information, the curriculum vitae should be much more descriptive. A thorough curriculum vitae can include any of the following information: objective or objectives, summary of qualifications, any professional licenses or certifications held, educational experience particularly graduate and post-graduate studies, research experiences including theses or dissertations and publications, work experience and technical skills.There are numerous available templates that can be tailored to suit the needs of the job seeker. All curriculum vitae must be typed to be taken seriously and thus the first place to look for templates is on the Microsoft Office website. The Resumes and CVs subsection of the Microsoft Office website, found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT010104337.aspx, contains subcategories for job-specifc and situation-specific resumes and CVs. These templates can be downloaded and added directly into the template folder of the Microsoft Word installation directory.Additional templates can be found on a variety of resume writing help websites. The Purdue Online Writing Lab also has a page, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/641/01/, which overviews how to write a successful curriculum vitae. http://www.cvtemplate.org/ houses a large database of templates which can be editing and adapted to meet the situation-specific needs of any writer.Additional templates can be found by Google searching " CV template" or " curriculum vitae template."More reference links: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/curriculum-vitae-TC010169559.aspx http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/documents/curriculum-vitae/templates-instructions
