How to Write a Good Academic Biography (Part 1)
When your journal article gets accepted or you are preparing for a public presentation, you will often be asked for a short academic biography. For many people, these academic bios are more difficult to write than a dissertation. How do you sum up yourself and your work in 3-5 sentences? What do you need to include? What should you leave out?
What You Should Do
- Start with your full name followed by your current position, your general interests, and your current project, keeping them all very brief.
- If you are within a year of receiving a prestigious award, mention that as well.
- Finally, finish with a sentence that’s personal: add a hobby, a pet’s name, the city you live in—whatever you are comfortable with that is personal but not too private.
What You Should Avoid
- Avoid speaking in the first person, i.e., don’t use “I.”
- Don’t divulge details beyond your current position.
- In a longer bio of multiple paragraphs, you may add more awards and information about your master’s and bachelor’s degrees, but not in a short bio. Moreover, don’t add anything that happened before grad school—including your place of birth. For example:
Hi! My name is Scott. I was originally born in Vermont and now I’m a professor at North Yankee University in Fargone, New York (in upstate New York). I study antelopes’ migration patterns and their impact of native grain growth. My interest in antelopes began as a teenager when I first saw one in the wild. I did my undergrad degree in biology at SUNY and my masters and UCLA and my PhD in Forestry at Hunter College.
Related: Finished drafting your academic biography and heading for an international conference? Check out this post now!
The above example is far too casual and Scott’s work and current position are overshadowed by all the other random details. This can be written in a much better way:
Scott Sampson is a professor of Wildlife Biology at North Yankee University. His work focuses specifically on the migration patterns of antelope and their impact on the growth of native grain. His favorite place to do research in his backyard, which opens to the Akron National Forest.
This improvised version is concise, relevant, and makes Scott’s bio appear professional while giving a short description of his personal details.
Longer Bios
For longer bios, follow the same basic rules, but go into a bit more depth about your work, your education, and your future projects or interests. You may also consider adding a line about your immediate family. But as always, leave the personal details for a short and friendly mention at the end of the bio.
Mostly, your bio will be used by someone to introduce you at a conference or public event so if you write your bio using these tips, you will help them give a smooth and accurate introduction. Remember that the bio is the first thing that people know about you so pack it full of the most important things about yourself!
If you would like to know more about different formats of academic biography, read the next article in this series!
Appreciating the dedication you put into your blog and detailed information you provide. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed material. Fantastic read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Greeting from Enago Academy! Thank you for your positive comment. We are glad to know that you found our resources useful. Your feedback is very valuable to us. Happy reading!
Super helpful! Thank you for writing about this.
wow great article. I got lots of new ideas from this post. Thanks a lot.
Thank you! Really a short and precise description of how to write short biographic sentence.
Excellent! Just what I needed; thank you.
Thanks for sharing this post, It is a very helpful article.
Excellent information…
Comparing to my introduction and yours, there is a huge difference and mine is like grade R?. Thank you so much for developing such content and helping disadvantaged students like me, hence holding Honours. Once again thank you
it is good, i learnt something new
Your articles are so much meaningful and informative.
Rate this article Cancel Reply
Your email address will not be published.
Enago Academy's Most Popular Articles
- Manuscripts & Grants
- Reporting Research
How to Write a Good Academic Biography (Part 2)
Writing an academic biography is part of many academic activities. Whether your paper is accepted…
Sign-up to read more
Subscribe for free to get unrestricted access to all our resources on research writing and academic publishing including:
- 2000+ blog articles
- 50+ Webinars
- 10+ Expert podcasts
- 50+ Infographics
- 10+ Checklists
- Research Guides
We hate spam too. We promise to protect your privacy and never spam you.
- Industry News
- Publishing Research
- AI in Academia
- Promoting Research
- Career Corner
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Infographics
- Expert Video Library
- Other Resources
- Enago Learn
- Upcoming & On-Demand Webinars
- Open Access Week 2024
- Peer Review Week 2024
- Publication Integrity Week 2024
- Conference Videos
- Enago Report
- Journal Finder
- Enago Plagiarism & AI Grammar Check
- Editing Services
- Publication Support Services
- Research Impact
- Translation Services
- Publication solutions
- AI-Based Solutions
- Thought Leadership
- Call for Articles
- Call for Speakers
- Author Training
- Edit Profile
I am looking for Editing/ Proofreading services for my manuscript Tentative date of next journal submission:
Which among these would you prefer the most for improving research integrity?
IMAGES
VIDEO