How to format my paragraphs in a job application?

March 5, 2007 10:00 PM

How should I format the paragraphs in my cover letter / application materials for an academic position?

Specifically, I have been so brainwashed by reading the internet all the time that I naturally do non-indented paragraphs, separated by spaces, like this paragraph and the next one.

But as I was writing my most recent job application stuff, I suddenly found myself wondering if I should be indenting my paragraphs and putting them next to each other, like I used to do with my essays in high school / college.

Or does it even matter?

To be clear, I am curious about both the standard cover letter, but also the supplemental essays I have to write regarding my teaching philosophy, how I have effectively interacted with a diverse population, that sort of thing.

posted by evinrude to writing & language (9 comments total)

Talk to someone who has seen a teaching philosophy statement before, such as an advisor, or better yet a person who has served on search committees. Ask for advice. See if he or she will review yours and make suggestions. This is a more important bit than whether or not your cover letter is indented (mine are generally not, btw.)

I was lucky enough to have the chair of my dept. look my application materials over before starting to send them out. It helped immensely.

Also, take the time to specifically target your statements to the job, if possible - you don't say what your field is, but a purely academic job requires a different statement than one which involves research, and guiding student research vs. doing your own independent thing requires a slightly different emphasis...
posted by caution live frogs at 10:21 PM on March 5, 2007

IMHO a six em indent at the beginning of each paragraph looks so much neater than without.
posted by popcassady at 12:07 AM on March 6, 2007

I work at a university (and have worked at 2 others) and see a number of documents (applications for jobs, grants, and awards)formatted by academics that range from neat to atrocious. There does not seem to be a standard, but, without double-spacing your lines, I would leave plenty of space - extra wide margins, and double space your paragraphs. It looks cleaner, and they can write heaps of notes on your application if they want.

Mostly, aim for neat with good spelling and have a friend proof read it for things that Word can't catch (like "form" and "from").

Where I come from, indenting is uncommon, but if you're consistent (don't use spaces! - use formatting tools), it should be fine.

The standard you are talking about (non-indented paragraphs, double spaced) was taught in my "modern" typing class more than 20 years ago (eek!). It's not just the internet.
posted by b33j at 2:19 AM on March 6, 2007

I doubt anyone will care in the slightest.

I do political science. When we run searches, we usually end up with 50--80 applications. Even at that level, there is little enough time to spend on each application that I assure you I would not notice whether or not someone's paragraphs were indented. I would notice if someone's letter were handwritten, on pink paper, or done in crayon or blood. Anything else would escape my stern glare.

Work on the text.

I don't know whether my paragraphs end up indented or not. They're whichever way TeX does them.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:17 AM on March 6, 2007

In your cover letter, indent and skip a line between paragraphs. Also, fully justify.
posted by amro at 6:30 AM on March 6, 2007

Both ways of doing paragraphs seem to be advocated. Personally, I use modified block style because I feel that first line indentation is unnecessary when you use space between paragraphs. I seem to be more than my fair share of nibbles.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:03 AM on March 6, 2007

I don't know if this has any bearing at all on how people view cover letters, but I think things typeset in LaTeX always look really nice. Plus if you're entering a math/science field (not sure about philo) it's widely used and may get you some subliminal "extra points" by the prof reading your cover letter, for knowing how to typeset in something other than Word. But I'm a nerd and never have hired anyone, so what do I know?

But, yeah, I'd be surprised if someone seriously considered the indentation of the cover letter.
posted by heydanno at 7:37 AM on March 6, 2007

Seriously, don't waste time thinking about this; fussy formatting questions and font choices are classic avoiding-real-work time-sucks. Stop avoiding work and sit down and get something useful done.

Think about the text of the letter. Think about how you might address the particular needs the department says it has. Think about who you know who might know someone in that department who might be able to put in a good word for you. Think very, very hard about finishing your dissertation or at the very least getting another chapter approved ASAP. Don't waste your time fussing with whether paragraphs are indented or how big your margins are or whether 11.5 or 12 point fonts are better.

Every year since I've had my PhD, I've looked at application cover letters. I have never once given the slightest damn how the paragraphs were delimited. I have cared very deeply about signals of whether or not the dissertation would be done, or how wel the letter matches up with our needs.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:48 AM on March 6, 2007

What ROU said, completely. I've looked over hundreds of these and never noticed the formatting. Make sure it is well ridden and no spelling areas. Otherwise, content is everything.

to contradict myself slightly, I fucking hate justified text. There is no more reason to justify the text of a letter than there is to format the text into a triangle, or concentric circles. And done with a normal wordprocessor, there are always ridiculously anomalous gaps between words which are a total distraction.
posted by Rumple at 8:23 AM on March 6, 2007