---
name: professional-documents
description: Prepare truthful academic CVs, applications, cover letters, statements, correspondence, and proposal documents tailored to a specific audience and requirements.
---

# Professional documents

Use this method for academic CVs, resumes, cover letters, research or teaching statements, fellowship applications, grant summaries, and formal correspondence. Apply the [research contract](../../docs/RESEARCH-CONTRACT.md). The task is to present relevant evidence clearly while preserving the applicant's actual record, contribution, and intentions.

## Establish facts and requirements

Collect the requested document type, recipient or selection context, role description, evaluation criteria, length limits, supplied CV or record, and required format. Verify current external requirements when access and authorization permit. If requirements cannot be inspected, use the supplied instructions and identify that limitation.

Build a factual inventory: education; positions; dates; publications and their status; skills with evidence; individual contributions; awards; teaching; service; and future plans. Keep submitted, accepted, in press, published, and ongoing work distinct. Describe collaborative projects accurately and retain required contributor or source credits. Do not add metrics, grades, funding amounts, credentials, institutional ties, or accomplishments merely because they would strengthen an application.

## Match evidence to the reader's decision

Translate selection criteria into questions the document must answer. Map each important criterion to an actual example. Prefer a concrete account of a problem, the applicant's action, and the supported outcome over unsupported adjectives. Where an outcome is qualitative or still developing, say so. A candidate may demonstrate potential through a reasoned plan without presenting the plan as completed work.

For a CV, prioritize truthful structure and consistent chronology. Group entries according to the audience's needs and mark publication status. For a short resume, select the most relevant evidence and preserve dates and role scope. A one-page limit should lead to content selection, not an unreadable font.

For a cover or motivation letter, establish the specific purpose, relevant preparation, evidence of fit, and a plausible next step. Connect interests to verified features of the opportunity when available. Avoid generic claims of familiarity with a laboratory, institution, or person that the supplied material does not support.

For research statements, explain the research question, completed contribution, methodological strengths, current work, and feasible future direction. Separate candidate ownership from shared infrastructure and collaborative results. For teaching statements, connect teaching aims to actual practices, examples, and evidence of reflection; do not invent course evaluations or teaching experience.

## Handle proposals and formal correspondence

For fellowship or grant branches, distinguish the applicant's record from the proposed project. State aims, approach, feasibility evidence, expected outputs, risks, alternatives, and resource dependencies. Match broader significance to the funder's actual remit without inflating scientific or social impact. Treat budgets, partner commitments, and institutional support as factual claims needing supplied evidence.

For formal correspondence, make the purpose and requested action clear, include necessary context, and use an appropriate degree of formality. Drafting a letter or email does not authorize sending it. Preserve recipient names, dates, reference numbers, and attachment descriptions exactly after checking them.

Use [academic editing](../academic-editing/SKILL.md) for language, translation, or word reduction. Use [document production](../document-production/SKILL.md) when producing a polished editable document and PDF.

## Deliver and verify

Return the requested document, editable source, and concise unresolved factual queries. If multiple variants are requested, explain their intended audiences and keep their factual inventories consistent. Avoid manufacturing plausible placeholders inside a document that appears ready to submit; mark unresolved details visibly.

Check every date, name, role, publication status, quantified achievement, and affiliation against supplied or inspected evidence. Confirm compliance with actual length and format limits, readability, contact information, and attachment references. Inspect the fresh rendered document for page breaks, clipped entries, awkward headings, and searchable text where relevant. State whether the result is a draft, visually inspected artifact, or submission-ready package within the checks performed. Do not claim submission, delivery, or acceptance without evidence that it occurred.