Three academic CV templates as editable Word files, one for each stage: applying to graduate school from undergrad, applying to a PhD programme with a master’s, and applying for a postdoc with a publication record. Each is a complete example with research interests, education, research experience, publications and presentations, teaching, awards and funding, skills, and a references section. Free .docx download — no sign-up, no email, no watermark. Replace the sample entries with yours and keep the section order.
Senior undergraduate sample: GPA and ranking, research assistantships, one co-authored paper, awards, skills.
Sociology master’s sample: research interests, thesis, research assistantships, publications and posters, teaching, fellowships, and three named references.
Materials science PhD sample: peer-reviewed publications in citation format, conference talks, beamtime and grants, teaching, service, references.
Skip the Word download: paste the AI-written text and it gets sorted into sections, laid out in a template, exported as PDF or Word. Free, no sign-up.
Editing a Word template tends to break the layout. The online editor on this site has 500+ templates with different structures: pick one, fill it in, and export a clean PDF that looks exactly like the preview. No sign-up to start, and a free resume check when you are done.
As long as it needs to be. Unlike a resume, an academic CV lists every publication, presentation, grant and teaching appointment. Two to three pages is typical for a PhD applicant; postdoc and faculty CVs are often longer.
Education, always. Committees read the CV top-down and want your degrees, institutions and advisor before anything else. Research interests can sit above education as a short 2–3 line statement.
Include it in the publications section with the status in place of the journal details, for example “(under review)” or “(manuscript in preparation)”. Never list a target journal as if it were accepted.
For PhD and postdoc applications, yes: list 2–3 referees with title, institution and email at the end. Ask them first. For industry jobs, use a separate references page instead.