Unit 1a: Meet the Team

A professional biography (sometimes referred to as a “biosketch” in the sciences) is a genre of descriptive writing in which you explain how you fit within a larger community, how you got where you are, and what contributions you’ve made to the field so far. These types of bios appear in a number of different venues and take slightly different forms depending on where they’re used.

Make no mistake, you will definitely be writing a version of this bio as you search for new careers or further your education. Resumes, cover letters, personal statements, conference presentations, publications, and even industrial “Meet the Team” pages all require you to clearly and concisely describe who you are, what you do, and why your work is important/relevant.

Rather than doing an awkward icebreaker where we play “2 Truths and a Lie” to learn about people we’ve never met, we’ll begin the course by writing professional biographies. This first unit “Meet the Team” has 3 assignments that build off of one another and are envisioned to simulate the onboarding process that occurs after entering a new position (both professional and graduate).

These assignments include:

1. Synthesizing the “best practices” of writing a professional bio.
2. Writing a professional bio for the course’s Meet the Team page.
3. Responding to 2 bios with an email to your new colleagues.