【文书写作笔记】在令人信服的个人陈述中推销你自己和你的科学

·不要陷入技术细节，平衡专业和个人

Sell yourself and your science in a compelling personal statement
在令人信服的个人陈述中推销你自己和你的科学
Don’t get bogged down in technical details, and balance the professional and the personal.
不要陷入技术细节，平衡专业和个人。

Personal statements — essays highlighting personal circumstances, qualities and achievements — are used extensively in science to evaluate candidates for jobs, awards and promotions. Five researchers offer tips for making yours stand out in a crowded and competitive market.
个人陈述——强调个人情况、品质和成就的文章——在科学领域被广泛用于评估职位、奖项和晋升的候选人。五位研究人员提供了一些技巧，可帮助您在拥挤且竞争激烈的市场中脱颖而出。
STEVE OH: Convey personal qualities beyond academic interests
STEVE OH：传达超越学术兴趣的个人品质
Steve Oh is director of the Stem Cell Processing Group at the A*STAR Bioprocessing Technology Institute in Singapore.
Steve Oh 是新加坡 A*STAR 生物加工技术研究所干细胞加工小组的主任。
As a principal investigator, I have read a good number of personal statements from students applying for science scholarships and jobs. The ones that stand out recount the applicant’s biography, bringing out their character as well as their professional qualities.Personal statements are often centred on academic and research achievements. But, in my opinion, a good scientist should also demonstrate social skills, be interested in making an impact on society through, for example, entrepreneurship, and have awareness of the world outside the country they live in. Memorable personal statements tend to bring out ‘soft’ skills, such as having macro-level thinking abilities and awareness of the impact that science can have on society.
作为一名首席研究员，我阅读了大量申请科学奖学金和工作的学生的个人陈述。脱颖而出的简历讲述了申请人的传记，展现了他们的性格和专业素质。个人陈述通常以学术和研究成果为中心。但是，在我看来，一名优秀的科学家还应该表现出社交技能，有兴趣通过创业等方式对社会产生影响，并对他们所居住的国家之外的世界有认识。令人难忘的个人陈述往往会带出“软”技能，例如具有宏观思维能力和对科学对社会影响的认识。

Careers Collection: Publishing
To achieve this balance of professional and personal, consider two elements. First, explain your motivations to pursue a scientific career. These might include a family illness, an inspiring talk by a scientist, or great mentorship from a colleague. Second, describe how you have gone out of your way to get experience in science, such as proactively seeking opportunities for a laboratory internship, or what you have learnt from overcoming difficulties with your experiments. This information brings out qualities, such as curiosity and perseverance, that are crucial to being a good scientist.
为了实现专业和个人的平衡，需要考虑两个因素。首先，解释一下你追求科学事业的动机。这些可能包括家庭疾病、科学家鼓舞人心的演讲或同事的伟大指导。其次，描述你如何不遗余力地获得科学经验，例如主动寻找实验室实习的机会，或者你从克服实验困难中学到了什么。这些信息带来了好奇心和毅力等品质，这些品质对于成为一名优秀的科学家至关重要。
I vividly remember the personal statement of one of my PhD students. He described his struggle with having only one healthy kidney — and how, despite this, he continued to do sports like rock climbing. He also wrote about how he did badly in his undergraduate studies: he had to take a year off to recharge before returning to school and excelling. His story shows resilience and honesty — traits that I love in a researcher.
我清楚地记得我的一位博士生的个人陈述。他描述了他与只有一个健康肾脏的斗争——以及尽管如此，他如何继续进行攀岩等运动。他还写了自己在本科学习中表现不佳的情况：他必须休学一年来充电，然后才能回到学校并取得优异的成绩。他的故事展现了韧性和诚实——这是我喜欢的研究人员的特质。
SILVIA KARIUKI: Do not be afraid to defend your decisions
SILVIA KARIUKI：不要害怕捍卫你的决定
Silvia Kariuki is a postdoctoral fellow at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi.
Silvia Kariuki 是位于基利菲的肯尼亚医学研究所 (KEMRI) 威康信托研究项目的博士后研究员。
When I was planning to return to Kenya, where I grew up, to start a postdoctoral project, fellow researchers, friends and family members all asked why I was choosing to go back. They felt my career would suffer because Kenya’s scientific infrastructure is not as advanced as that in the United States, where I spent 13 years working and completing my undergraduate and PhD degrees.
当我计划返回我长大的肯尼亚开始博士后项目时，其他研究人员、朋友和家人都问我为什么选择回去。他们认为我的职业生涯会受到影响，因为肯尼亚的科学基础设施不如美国先进，我在美国工作了 13 年并完成了本科和博士学位。
Two years into my return to Kenya, when writing my personal statement for the Wellcome International Training Fellowship to follow up on my postdoctoral project, I explained that the Kenya Medical Research Institute–Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi could provide a good research environment for me. I would be able to study human genetic variants that confer protective effects against severe malaria infection, and my research would have a real-world impact by informing the production of malaria therapies. In my personal statement, I wrote that I wanted to pursue my scientific career in Kenya despite the scepticism I had faced — and it convinced the fellowship committee that I had thought deeply about my career move.
返回肯尼亚两年后，在为惠康国际培训奖学金撰写个人陈述以跟进我的博士后项目时，我解释说肯尼亚医学研究所-基利菲的惠康信托研究项目可以为我提供良好的研究环境。我将能够研究对严重疟疾感染具有保护作用的人类基因变异，并且我的研究将通过为疟疾疗法的生产提供信息而对现实世界产生影响。在我的个人陈述中，我写道，尽管我面临着怀疑，但我想在肯尼亚继续我的科学事业，这让奖学金委员会相信我已经对我的职业发展进行了深入的思考。
I also seek advice from mentors when writing a personal statement. I usually send mine to two to three senior scientists who have had more experience writing them and who have been on review committees for fellowship applications. One suggestion I usually get is to be ‘more human’. The judges would like to hear your personal voice and read about your motivation, even if these might be unconventional.
在撰写个人陈述时，我也会寻求导师的建议。我通常会将我的论文发送给两到三位资深科学家，他们在撰写论文方面有更多经验，并且曾是奖学金申请审查委员会的成员。我经常得到的一个建议是“变得更加人性化”。评委希望听到您的个人声音并了解您的动机，即使这些可能是非常规的。
KELLY CLANCY: Use stories to show who you are
凯莉·克兰西：用故事来展示你是谁
Kelly Clancy is a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at University College London.
凯利·克兰西是伦敦大学学院神经科学博士后研究员。
Stories can make a personal statement stand out. It’s hard, of course — I’ve heard colleagues say it’s a trope for neuroscience-related personal statements to open with something like “I got interested in neuroscience after seeing my grandmother suffer from Alzheimer’s.” But I think that cynicism is unfair: it’s a beautiful impulse to get into science for a personal reason, and having a personal connection to science can drive important new insights.
故事可以使个人陈述脱颖而出。当然，这很难——我听同事说，这是一种与神经科学相关的个人陈述的比喻，可以用“在看到我的祖母患有阿尔茨海默氏症后，我对神经科学产生了兴趣”这样的开头。但我认为愤世嫉俗是不公平的：出于个人原因进入科学是一种美好的冲动，而与科学的个人联系可以带来重要的新见解。
I included the story that inspired the project I’d proposed in my application to the Branco Weiss postdoctoral fellowship. My best friend from high school had lost three limbs to an improvised explosive device while serving as a medic in Afghanistan. I described how this incident led to my interest in the field of neuroprosthetic devices that can restore motor capabilities, and the shortcomings I wanted to address with my work.
我在申请布兰科·韦斯博士后奖学金时纳入了启发我提出项目的故事。我高中时最好的朋友在阿富汗当医生时因简易爆炸装置失去了三个肢体。我描述了这一事件如何引起我对可以恢复运动能力的神经假体设备领域的兴趣，以及我想在工作中解决的缺点。
My advice for writing a personal statement is to not get bogged down in technical details. Don’t just focus on what you want to study — explain why. Demonstrate how you think. What led you to do the work or research you’ve undertaken so far? What are the questions that drive you and your science, and why are they important? Perhaps most importantly (and this is for all of us, not just those writing personal statements): ask, “What drives my science? Is it a reflection of my ego, wanting to be right or smart and to get high-profile publications? Or is it an extension of my will to do good in the world, my curiosity and my love of understanding?” The world is full of questions and problems to solve. Using stories in personal statements can help applicants to explain what scientific questions they care about, and why they matter.
我对撰写个人陈述的建议是不要陷入技术细节的泥潭。不要只关注你想学习的内容——解释原因。展示你的想法。是什么促使您开展迄今为止所从事的工作或研究？推动您和您的科学发展的问题是什么？它们为何如此重要？也许最重要的是（这适用于我们所有人，而不仅仅是那些撰写个人陈述的人）：问：“是什么推动了我的科学？这是我的自我的反映，想要正确或聪明并获得高调的出版物吗？或者它是我为世界做好事的意愿、我的好奇心和我对理解的热爱的延伸？”世界充满了问题和需要解决的问题。在个人陈述中使用故事可以帮助申请人解释他们关心哪些科学问题以及它们为何重要。

Collection: the PhD 藏品：博士With the support from the Branco Weiss Fellowship, my colleagues and I have since developed neuroprosthetic techniques that were just published1 and used these methods to explore interesting basic neuroscience questions and less-invasive neurosprosthetic interfaces.
在布兰科韦斯奖学金的支持下，我和我的同事开发了刚刚发表的神经修复技术 1 ，并使用这些方法探索有趣的基本神经科学问题和侵入性较小的神经修复接口。
WEI GAO: Demonstrate ambition and don’t exaggerate
魏高：展现雄心，不浮夸
Wei Gao is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
高伟是帕萨迪纳加州理工学院机械工程助理教授。

A personal statement should highlight your aspirations and dreams. A CV can list all your publications, but they won’t all be read thoroughly, and members of the selection committee might miss the significance of your work.
个人陈述应该突出你的愿望和梦想。简历可以列出您所有的出版物，但它们不会全部被彻底阅读，评选委员会的成员可能会错过您工作的重要性。
Think of a personal statement as a document that complements your CV. I use it to explain the big problems my research is tackling and its impact. In my application to be a World Economic Forum Young Scientist, I described my concerns about worsening mental health in our society and discussed how my research on wearable sensors can improve early diagnosis of mental illness by sensing metabolites such as cortisol, a stress-related hormone, in sweat. It would be difficult to explain my aspirations clearly in a short, typically list-based, CV. In a personal statement, I can demonstrate my ambition in greater detail.
将个人陈述视为补充简历的文件。我用它来解释我的研究正在解决的重大问题及其影响。在我申请成为世界经济论坛青年科学家时，我描述了我对社会心理健康状况恶化的担忧，并讨论了我对可穿戴传感器的研究如何通过感测皮质醇（一种与压力相关的激素）等代谢物来改善精神疾病的早期诊断，在汗水中。在简短的、通常基于列表的简历中很难清楚地解释我的愿望。在个人陈述中，我可以更详细地展示我的抱负。
A good personal statement should avoid exaggerating your contribution. This is especially true for a multi-author paper on which you didn’t have a leading role. Focus on the work that you led and to not overstate your contributions to your field. Even if your contribution was significant, being humble in a personal statement is a good quality. Research is a culmination of the efforts of many researchers, and is never attributable to just one person.
一份好的个人陈述应该避免夸大你的贡献。对于您没有担任主导角色的多作者论文尤其如此。专注于您领导的工作，不要夸大您对自己领域的贡献。即使您的贡献很大，在个人陈述中保持谦虚也是一种良好的品质。研究是许多研究人员努力的结晶，绝不是一个人的成果。
ABHIMANYU VEERAKUMARASIVAM: Break the essay down and tailor it to your audience
ABHIMANYU VEERAKUMARASIVAM：分解文章并根据您的受众进行定制
Abhimanyu Veerakumarasivam is dean of the School of Medical and Life Sciences at Sunway University Subang Jaya in Malaysia.
Abhimanyu Veerakumarasivam 是马来西亚梳邦再也双威大学医学与生命科学学院院长。

One way to simplify the writing process is to break your personal statement down into several key elements, including who you are, what you have accomplished, why you are applying for a role or award and how you will contribute to the organization.
简化写作过程的一种方法是将您的个人陈述分解为几个关键要素，包括您是谁、您取得了什么成就、您申请职位或奖项的原因以及您将如何为组织做出贡献。
When I was organizing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Science Leadership Programme from 2017 to 2019, my committee and I divided the application statement into a few questions focused on the ‘who, what, why and how’, which would help applicants to better structure their essays. I found this format particularly useful because, in Asia, our default culture is to not stand out, and many qualified candidates might be too shy to share their personal stories or too humble to share their achievements.
当我在2017年至2019年组织东南亚国家联盟（ASEAN）科学领导力项目时，我和我的委员会将申请陈述分为几个问题，重点关注“谁、什么、为什么和如何”，这对申请者有帮助更好地组织他们的论文。我发现这种形式特别有用，因为在亚洲，我们的默认文化是不脱颖而出，许多合格的候选人可能太害羞而不敢分享他们的个人故事，或者太谦虚而不敢分享他们的成就。
I found that creating a more defined structure around the personal statement allowed applicants to reflect on the experience they have gained from working in the region, which has many low-income countries and little investment in science. I would not always get these details in an open-ended personal essay.
我发现，围绕个人陈述创建一个更明确的结构可以让申请人反思他们在该地区工作所获得的经验，该地区有许多低收入国家，而且在科学方面的投资很少。我并不总是能在开放式个人论文中获得这些细节。
One candidate discussed the huge disparities in science in the ASEAN region and his desire to bridge the gaps. By doing so, the candidate demonstrated that he had a good awareness of his environment and the unique challenges of working in that setting while highlighting his willingness to take action to bridge the gaps.
一位候选人讨论了东盟地区科学领域的巨大差距以及他弥合差距的愿望。通过这样做，候选人表明他对自己的环境以及在该环境中工作的独特挑战有很好的认识，同时强调他愿意采取行动弥合差距。
Applicants should also tailor their personal statements to their audience. For instance, students applying to graduate schools and scholarships will often send generic personal statements with their applications. If applicants want an academic institution to invest in them, then their personal statements need to reflect a genuine interest in the organization they’re applying to. The candidates with better statements usually include details of labs they are interested in working in and specifics about research topics they find fascinating.
申请人还应该根据受众定制个人陈述。例如，申请研究生院和奖学金的学生通常会随申请一起发送通用的个人陈述。如果申请人希望学术机构投资他们，那么他们的个人陈述需要反映出他们对所申请的组织的真正兴趣。具有更好陈述的候选人通常会包括他们感兴趣的实验室的详细信息以及他们感兴趣的研究主题的具体信息。