Paper biography example

An academic biography is a concise, informative paragraph that highlights your professional identity, research interests, and significant accomplishments. It’s a crucial component of your academic presence, often required when proposing conference abstracts, contributing to edited collections, or publishing articles and books. Even early in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to help you create an effective academic biography: the short-and-sweet bio, the brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, and the academic-adjacent bio. Each type has its own strengths and ideal contexts, meaning that you have a suitable version ready for any academic opportunity that comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

Formula: [Name] is a [position] at [institution].

Example: Big Bird is a doctoral student at Sesame College.

When to use it: You can never go too wrong with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use it for books, articles, conference papers, blog posts… everything, really.

Why it’s good: It’s quick to update and doesn’t require much thinking.

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is a [position] at [institution] + main research interests include [this] and [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets at [Twitter handle] OR [Name] is a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets at [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Abby Cadabby is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of the Upper West Side. Her main research interests include a decolonial approach to Fairy Studies, and she recently published the edited volume Rhyme Time: Creative Methods (2023, Sesame Books). She tweets at @AbbyCadabbySST.

When to use it: You’ll probably use this one quite often – it’s my favourite. Like the short-and-sweet approach, the brief biography (around 50 words or

Biographical Statement

Once articles have been selected and accepted for publication each year, authors will be asked to submit a biographical statement to be included in the Advocates’ Forum. The biographical statement should include the author(s) full name. In addition, it is also appropriate to discuss your personal history, academic program and/or field placement, and interest in the article’s subject. The biographical statement may not exceed 75 words. Below is an example taken from the 2009 volume of the Advocates’ Forum:

"Kathryn Saclarides is a second-year social administration student at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. She received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and Spanish from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in bioethics from La Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid, Spain. Her current field placement is with the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC). She is interested in migration patterns, ethnic neighborhoods, and transnational communities."

Abstract

The abstract should appear on the second page of your manuscript, immediately following the title page. The abstract should briefly summarize the argument advanced in your manuscript, and should be limited to no more than 100 words. For additional guidance on composing abstracts, refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Below is an example taken from an issue of Advocates’ Forum (Charlotte L. Hamilton, “Anti-Drug Legislation and the Rising Incarceration of Women: Recommendations for Future Sentencing Reform,” Advocates’ Forum [2005]: 33-43).

The Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988 led to a rapid increase in the number of incarcerated Americans. The rate of female incarceration has risen at a particularly high rate over the past 20 years. This article discusses the evolution of drug sentenc