How to write teaching philosophy and research statement?

I know that this question is too broad, but honestly I am deeply confused. How can I highlight my teaching/research potential to attract their attention?

11.5k 3 3 gold badges 35 35 silver badges 79 79 bronze badges asked Mar 18, 2015 at 16:33 149 3 3 bronze badges

And it may help to include also which type of school you are applying to: big research universities and small liberal arts colleges with emphasis on undergraduate research opportunities will have very different criteria used to evaluate both of the statements.

Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 16:37

BTW, books such as this give quite some discussion about this topic. Your local institute's career office can probably also help.

Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 16:38

There is already a lot of information on this site about teaching and research statements. Please spend a little time browsing first. (Incidentally, oughtn't we to have a research-statement tag?)

Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 16:51

@ff524 I think--based on the subquestions--that this question is not about the specifics of either statement, but about how they relate to each and how to go about writing both. Thus, if your view is that they are completely independent then I feel your first comment could be made into an answer ("Don't, write them separately"), rather than carving this up into subparts which are redundant to other questions and don't reflect the asker's intent.

Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 19:49

I'd agree with @Tim that, both potentially and perhaps actually, the "teaching statement" and "research statement" are related, both in writing and in perception . at least of some people on the receiving end. E.g., if I read two such statements that absolutely don't refer to each other, I am not as happy as when there's some connection.

Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 22:57

3 Answers 3

Many successful teaching and research statements do the same basic three things:

  1. Describe broad themes or approaches that tie together your research or teaching.
  2. Narrate specific relevant examples of your achievements related to these themes or approaches that illustrate your experience and qualifications.
  3. Describe your aspirations and future directions in terms of your research or teaching.

It might help to think of the research and teaching statements in terms of other items in your packet. For example, your writing samples will provide concrete examples of your work as a scholar so don't need to prove this in a research statement. Similarly, your CV will show your publication and teaching record so you don't need to reiterate this either. Instead, provide a high-level overview of your approaches to research or teaching while referring to examples from your experience that help make the case for your excellence in each area.

Statements also provide a space for you to explain what you hope to do in the future. I used my teaching statement to describe examples of graduate and undergraduate classes I could teach that were on the books at the department I was applying to and that I would design from scratch. I used my research statement to explain the areas of research I was hoping to move into in the future.

Your goals with the statement may also be to address potential weaknesses in your application. For example, if you have little teaching experience, your teaching statement is an opportunity to show that you have thought deeply about teaching and that you have gained relevant skills through experience like mentorship that might not show up on your CV.

Specific expectations, in terms of of teaching and research statements, may vary from field to field and even within fields, but you can generally assume that authors have quite a bit of latitude. Look for examples online and, perhaps, more usefully, contact successful recent job market candidates you know to ask their materials.