Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing professional philosophy statements for academic career advancement. Triggers include: any mention of "research statement," "teaching statement," "teaching philosophy," "diversity statement," "DEI statement," "tenure narrative," "promotion statement," "research vision," "future research plans," "statement of purpose," "personal statement for academic job," "how to write a research statement," "how to write a teaching statement," or "tenure portfolio." Covers research statements, teaching statements/philosophies, diversity statements, and tenure/promotion narratives for anthropologists at all career stages. Do NOT use for CVs, cover letters, or job talks (use job-materials skill), course syllabi or assignments (use teaching-materials skill), or grant proposals (use grant-proposal skill).
Write professional philosophy statements (research, teaching, diversity) and tenure/promotion narratives that articulate a coherent scholarly identity. Career statements are arguments about who you are as a scholar -- they must show trajectory (past to present to future), provide evidence of effectiveness, and demonstrate fit with the target audience (search committee, tenure committee, fellowship panel).
The central challenge: career statements require the author to step back from specific projects and articulate a larger intellectual narrative. Most scholars find this difficult because their daily work is project-level, not narrative-level. The skill bridges that gap by scaffolding the move from evidence (publications, courses, mentoring, service) to argument (who you are as a scholar and where you are going).
| Task | Reference |
|---|---|
| Research statements, vision narratives, program-building framing | Read references/research-statement-guide.md |
| Teaching statements, philosophy articulation, evidence from practice |
| Read references/teaching-statement-guide.md |
| Diversity statements, concrete action framing, integrated DEI narrative | Read references/diversity-statement-guide.md |
Determine which statement(s) the user needs and what context they serve. Career statements appear in several distinct contexts, and the audience shapes everything downstream: emphasis, register, length, and what counts as persuasive evidence.
Ask the user if not immediately clear:
If a specific statement type is identified, load the corresponding reference file now. For tenure narratives that integrate multiple statement types, load all relevant reference files.
Collect the information needed to write a statement that is specific, evidence-backed, and tailored to the audience. Not all of this is needed upfront -- gather what you can and note gaps.
Required (statement cannot proceed without these):
Important (strengthens the statement significantly):
Helpful (improves tailoring):
references/research-statement-guide.md when writing a
research statement or the research component of a tenure narrative.references/teaching-statement-guide.md when writing a
teaching statement/philosophy or the teaching component of a tenure
narrative.references/diversity-statement-guide.md when writing a
diversity/DEI statement or the DEI component of a tenure narrative.All career statements follow a common narrative architecture: past work leads to current projects, which set up a compelling future vision. This past-present-future arc is the backbone of every effective career statement.
Past: What have you done? Ground claims in specific, verifiable evidence. Publications, fieldwork, courses designed, students mentored, programs built, communities engaged. The past section establishes credibility.
Present: What are you doing now? Describe current projects, ongoing commitments, and active work. This section demonstrates momentum and shows that the past work was not a dead end but part of a developing trajectory.
Future: Where are you going? Articulate a research program, teaching agenda, or DEI vision that builds credibly on past and present work. The future section must be ambitious but realistic -- reviewers are skeptical of promises disconnected from track record.
The connecting thread across all three arcs must be explicit. What is the through-line? For research statements, this might be a thematic question, a methodological commitment, or a theoretical orientation. For teaching statements, it might be a pedagogical philosophy that connects course design choices. For diversity statements, it might be an integrated commitment to equity that manifests across research, teaching, and service.
Produce a complete statement calibrated to the audience, institution type, and length requirements. The output should:
Before presenting the draft, verify:
| Failure mode | What goes wrong | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Autobiography instead of argument | Statement reads as a chronological life story rather than a narrative about scholarly identity and trajectory | Structure around themes and through-lines, not timeline; open with intellectual identity, not personal history |
| Project list without narrative | Research statement catalogs publications or projects without explaining what connects them or where the program is headed | Articulate the through-line explicitly; each project should be positioned as part of a larger intellectual agenda |
| Platitudes without evidence | Teaching statement uses buzzwords ("student-centered," "inclusive," "innovative") without specific examples of practice | For every pedagogical claim, provide at least one concrete example: a course design choice, a student outcome, a specific teaching strategy |
| Performative diversity | DEI statement declares values without describing actions; reads as checking a box rather than demonstrating genuine engagement | Organize around concrete actions across research, teaching, and service domains; evidence over declarations |
| Wrong audience, wrong emphasis | Research-heavy statement for a teaching-focused institution, or teaching-heavy statement for an R1 | Match emphasis to institution type; read the job ad or tenure guidelines for signals about what the committee values |
| All past, no future | Statement describes accomplished work thoroughly but offers no vision for where the scholar is headed | Dedicate at least 25-30% of the statement to future plans that build credibly on past work |
| Grandiose future claims | Future plans section promises transformative impact disconnected from actual track record and available resources | Ground every future claim in existing evidence: skills already developed, collaborations already initiated, preliminary work already completed |
| Generic institutional fit | Statement claims to be excited about the institution without naming anything specific about its programs, mission, or community | Reference specific departments, programs, colleagues, or institutional values that genuinely connect to the scholar's work |
Example 1: Early-career research statement for an R1 position
Input: "I'm a postdoc applying for tenure-track positions at R1 departments. My research is on the anthropology of infrastructure -- specifically how communities in coastal Louisiana navigate oil industry decline and climate change. I've done 18 months of fieldwork, have two articles published and one under review, and I'm developing a second project on energy transition labor. I need a 2-page research statement."
Output approach: Load research-statement-guide reference. Set parameters: career stage = early career/postdoc; position type = R1; statement type = research; length = 2 pages. Structure around the three-arc model. Past: dissertation research on infrastructure and environmental change in coastal Louisiana, grounding the statement in specific ethnographic findings and publications. Present: current work extending the dissertation (article under review, book manuscript in progress) plus emerging second project on energy transition labor. Future: articulate a research program centered on infrastructure, environment, and labor that positions both projects as part of a coherent agenda. Show how the second project builds on skills and networks from the first. Include brief mention of external funding plans (e.g., planning NSF or NEH application) and collaboration trajectory. Register: confident but not grandiose; demonstrate potential for a productive research program without overclaiming.
Example 2: Teaching statement for a SLAC position
Input: "I'm applying to a small liberal arts college. I teach cultural anthropology and medical anthropology. I've designed an ethnographic methods course where students do semester-long community projects. I care a lot about making anthropology accessible to first-generation college students. I need a 1-page teaching statement."
Output approach: Load teaching-statement-guide reference. Set parameters: career stage = early career; position type = SLAC; statement type = teaching; length = 1 page. Open with a teaching philosophy grounded in specifics, not platitudes -- what does the user actually believe about learning, and how does that belief manifest in course design? Present the ethnographic methods course as a centerpiece example: what do students do, what do they learn, how does the community-project model reflect the teaching philosophy? Address first-generation students with concrete strategies (not just "I care about access"): scaffolded assignments, explicit instruction in academic conventions, mentoring structures. Include what courses the user would want to teach or develop at a SLAC. Close with a vision for how anthropological teaching contributes to liberal arts education. Every sentence should demonstrate what makes this teacher distinctive.
Example 3: Diversity statement with concrete actions
Input: "I need to write a diversity statement for my tenure file. I'm a mid-career anthropologist at a public R1. My research is on immigration and belonging in the US South. I've mentored several first-generation graduate students, redesigned my intro course to include more non-Western perspectives, and I co-founded a community advisory board for my research that includes undocumented community members. I'm not sure how to frame all this."
Output approach: Load diversity-statement-guide reference. Set parameters: career stage = mid-career/tenure; position type = R1; statement type = diversity/DEI; length = 2 pages (typical for tenure portfolios). Structure around three domains of DEI engagement: research (community advisory board, collaborative research design with immigrant communities, ethical commitments in studying vulnerable populations), teaching (course redesign with specific changes named, mentoring first-generation students with concrete outcomes like publications or conference presentations), and service/institutional (community advisory board as institutional innovation, any committee work, recruitment efforts, program building). Open with brief positionality context -- enough to ground the statement but without centering the author's identity journey at the expense of describing actions. Close with a vision for continued and expanded DEI contributions at the institution. Every claim should be supported by a specific action already taken, not a future intention.