Library Worklife

Career Advancement

Writing Professional Statements

Tips to Help Secure Your Future in Academic Libraries!

By Gerald T. Burke

Introduction

Being a tenure-track librarian magnifies the challenge of thriving in an already rapidly changing academic library environment. As part of the tenure and promotion process, librarians need to assemble a dossier. An important component of the dossier is the professional statements, sometimes referred to as candidate's statements or statements of philosophy. These statements should reflect the hard work and accomplishments of a librarian's emerging career. Articulating these experiences can appear daunting. This article will show librarians how to plan rhetorical and organizational strategies to transform their professional activities into coherent and positive narratives. Professional statements generally consist of three narratives that focus on your research, your service, and your teaching. There are a number of strategies to use when approaching these narratives, but there are always two major considerations: writing style and organization.

Writing Style

Your writing style should be consistent for all three narratives, and to do this you need to focus on six key components: point of view (POV), rhetorical strategy, active narrative, specificity, coherence, and revision.

Point of View

Essentially, there are three points of view: first person (I, we), second person (you), and third person (he, she, it, they). You should maintain a consistent point of view, and this is easy to do because you are writing about yourself; just stick to the first person singular "I." Oddly enough, even experienced writers will occasionally shift to the second person "you" when the narrative becomes vague or out of focus; review your narratives to make sure your point of view remains consistent.¹

Rhetorical Strategy

This is a broad term for using various organizational approaches to writing. In this case, I suggest you adopt an argumentative, but not confrontational, position when thinking about your narratives. Keep in mind two elements: one, an argument is not an opinion; two, an argument states a position in the form of a proposition. For example, you would begin one of your narratives with: "My philosophy of Service is . . ." and continue the statement so the reader will think either "I agree" or "I disagree." Of course, you want the reader to agree with your statement.

You can write using a formalized argumentative strategy, but, in most cases, it might be more of a bother than it's worth. If you decide on this approach, check with a current handbook for writers for a form to follow.²

Active Narrative

There are two components that make your writing more active: using the active voice and using active verbs. Active voice is when the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action instead of the receiver. For example, the passive sentence, "The administration gave me a discretionary raise last year," could be revised to, "I earned a discretionary raise last year." In addition, active verbs give your writing more vitality. For example, the sentence, "The conference was exciting, and I learned about cataloging," could be revised to, "The conference sparked my interest in cataloging."

Not every sentence needs to be in the active voice or use active verbs, but a liberal sprinkling will add zest to your writing.

Specificity

Use specific details when documenting your statements and avoid vague descriptions. Your argumentative position needs specifics to support it. For example, the accurate but vague sentence, "I was on the membership committee of the Eastern New York Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries," could be revised to include more specifics: "While on the Eastern New York Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries membership committee, I organized meetings, managed the membership table at conferences, and contacted regional institutional liaisons."

Coherency

Writing is coherent when the various parts of the narrative relate to each other, and it progresses smoothly. Basically, there are four coherency "tools": consistent point of view, selected repetition, transitional expressions, and parallel structure. In this case, to maintain a consistent point of view stick with the pronoun "I." After all, you're writing about you. To take advantage of selected repetition, repeat key words related to the main idea, but don't overdo it. To smooth out your narrative, use transitional expressions; they show connections between ideas and sentences. Many are common, and you probably use them without thinking of them as such, words like besides, however, and finally; others can be easily found.³ Finally, tighten up with parallel structure. This means using equivalent grammatical forms to express ideas of equal importance. For example, the following sentence uses parallel words: "Professional statements require creativity, work, and time;" while this one uses parallel phrases: "The committee members read the professional statements, discussed their major points, and decided to accept them." One thing to note: using parallel structure in outlines and thesis statements provides a solid foundation to the overall narrative.

Revision

Revision is the heart and soul of writing. Many authors consider that revision is writing. Essentially, it is a matter of getting your thoughts organized, writing a draft, and evaluating and rewriting your draft. Then you do it again for however many "cycles" you need. It also helps to get several fresh pairs of eyes to read your writing when it begins to reach a polished stage. Colleagues will see errors that you continually overlook, and they provide insightful comments on points that might be issues with a broader audience.

If you're not familiar with the process, here are a few brief pointers that are best done in "cycles." First, just look at the whole narrative, then paragraphs, then sentences, then diction. Ask yourself a number of questions:

For the whole narrative, ask: Does the thesis and narrative fit? Is the tone appropriate? Is there overall unity? Is it well organized?
For paragraphs, ask: Does the introductory paragraph "introduce" the reader to what follows? Is each paragraph coherent and reflect the thesis? Are there clear transitions between paragraphs? Does the concluding paragraph wrap it up neatly?
For sentences, ask: Are there fragments, comma splices, incomplete or run-on sentences? Are there shifts in person, number, or tense? Are the sentences coherent themselves? Is there wordy construction?
For diction, ask: Is there correct usage? Are the words precise? Is the level of formality suitable? Is the language slanted, sexist, or clichéd?
By working in cycles, you will be able to approach your writing analytically, but this takes time. It is important in revising to give yourself enough time to do these things.

Organization

There are ways to organize your narratives so they are consistent and coherent, and some considerations are common to all of them. For instance, each one should have an introductory paragraph that establishes context, and each should have a concluding paragraph that ties everything up neatly and positively. Also, remember that the narratives are not a rehash of your curriculum vitae, although some specific examples strongly support your overall argument. In addition, in each essay, both throughout the narrative and especially in the conclusion, you want to make explicit two points: how your research, service, or teaching relates to your position; and how your research, service, and teaching relates to one another.

On the other hand, there are slight differences in organization for each of the three categories.

Research

First, put together a list of all the research you have done, are doing, and plan to do. The body paragraphs reflect the research you have done, arranged chronologically (past, present, future). Include some of your research accomplishments and goals as examples, but primarily you want the narrative to reflect how your research highlights your professional curiosity and contributions, and how it enhances your day-to-day work.

Service

Gather a list of all the service you have done in the past, are doing now, and plan to do. You can organize your body paragraphs in two ways: geographically or chronologically.

Geographically, the body paragraphs are arranged by national service, regional or state service, institutional service, library service, and community service. Within each paragraph, arrange service chronologically into past, present, and future. Chronologically, the body paragraphs are arranged by time: past service, present service, and future service. Within each paragraph, your service is arranged geographically: national, regional, institutional, library, community.

Use some specific examples for support, but remember you are primarily showing how your service record and philosophy establishes you as an active and outstanding member of the profession.

Teaching

Organize a list of all the teaching you have done in the past, are doing now, and plan to do. The body paragraphs discuss your teaching arranged chronologically (past, present, future). Using examples, you want to demonstrate that your activities and interests in teaching reflect this important, and sometimes overlooked, aspect of the profession. For some librarians, teaching may not be an expectation, but, in various institutions, regardless of the position, all librarians are considered faculty, and, therefore, a "teaching" statement may be required. If so, you might think of your activities with a slant. For example, if you were a network librarian, you might ask, "What does my job have to do with teaching?" In this case, you might ask yourself: "Have I 'taught' colleagues how to use an HTML editor?" or "Have I made web pages that are instructional?" or " Have I 'shared' experiences and knowledge with others?" By examining your work experiences from this point of view, you will be able to see that, in many ways, you are a teacher, and highlight this in your dossier.

Conclusion

For some additional tips for success, check with your personnel administrator and ask the following questions: Do they have guidelines for candidate statements? Do they have examples of candidate statements? Will they allow you to read other successful candidates' statements? Also, you should ask your colleagues, both in the library and throughout your institution, if you could read their successful Professional Statements. Start early! The earlier you start, the more time you will have for revisions, revisions, revisions! This will allow you to craft your Professional Statements and succeed in your academic career! Good luck!

If you have been taught that writing in the first person reflects a weak or undeveloped style, read Bryan A. Gardner's entry on the topic in A Dictionary of Modern American Usage, Oxford University Press, 1998. p.292.
Lynn Q. Troyka, Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers, 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002) or Diana Hacker, The Bedford Handbook, 5th ed. (Boston: Bedford Books, 1998).
For examples of transitional expressions, see Purdue Online Writing Lab. Available: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_transition.html (accessed March 8, 2004). For examples of standard handbook for writers, see note 2.

Gerald T. Burke is a bibliographer of the humanities at the University at Albany. He has an MLS and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany.