How to craft a strategic research statement

Question: 

I’m going up for tenure next year and need to write a research statement for my dossier. I’ve published consistently, secured external funding, and mentored several graduate students, but when I try to write about my research program, it reads like a list of everything I’ve ever done. What does a research statement need to do that my CV isn’t already doing? – Anonymous, Environmental Science 

Dr. Editor’s response:

You’re experiencing what most pre-tenure faculty experience: the challenge of seeing the forest when you’ve spent years examining individual pine needles. A research statement isn’t a prose version of your CV — it’s an argument about the coherence, quality, and impact of your scholarly contributions. Let me walk you through a strategic approach to crafting this crucial document. 

Start with the middle: Identify your research strands 

Don’t begin by writing your opening paragraph. Instead, start by identifying the major threads, strands or themes that cut across your projects. I’ve edited research statements with two, three and four strands, and I can imagine promotion-to-full applications that might have five or more; in that situation, I imagine that some of the strands would focus on early interests you’ve since moved beyond, or would be purely methodological in an otherwise empirically-focused statement. 

Here’s the crucial part: don’t assume you know what your threads are. Instead, look at your data. If you work well on paper, print your CV and use highlighters to colour-code your publications, conference presentations, and grants. If you prefer digital tools, create a spreadsheet. Ask yourself: what unifies particular outputs or projects? The answer might be subject area, population studied, methodologyemployed, or theoretical lens applied. 

Once you’ve identified your major strands, write a qualitative description of the major projects within each strand. I strongly advise against chronological organization in this section, as that approach can feel undigested. Instead, describe what each project accomplished, then link that project to the outputs it generated — the publications, presentations, datasets, reports, op-eds or documentary films that resulted. 

Within each strand, your goal is to demonstrate how your work has advanced important conversations in your field. This means moving beyond “I studied X” to “My study of X revealed Y, which challenged prevailing assumptions about Z.” If you’re struggling to articulate this significance, consider the questions posed by Mount Allison historian Elizabeth Wells in an earlier post on this website:  

“Elements of the research statement, or questions you can ask yourself are: what has been my trajectory so far? Who has influenced me or who have I influenced? What is important to me about my work? How do I plan to build on what has come before, or if I am going in another direction, what will that be and why am I changing course? What do I see as important benchmarks in my journey? What questions in my research remain unanswered? What is the next step or steps to achieving my goals?” (Wells 2024). 

Next, craft your opening paragraph 

Only after you’ve written about your research strands do I recommend drafting your introduction. This opening paragraph should identify your research field and preview the strands you’ll discuss. What overarching question or problem unifies your work? What vision drives your research program? This paragraph reveals the larger pattern your strands create when woven together. 

For some institutions, you’ll need to connect your research to the institution’s mission or strategic plan. If this applies to you, your opening paragraph is the natural place for this connection. Don’t force an artificial alignment — your reviewers will recognize insincerity. 

Then write your numbers paragraphs 

While some institutions are moving away from metrics-heavy assessments, many reviewers still expect quantitative evidence of productivity and impact. Unless you’re confident your institution has abandoned conventional metrics, I recommend including what I call “numbers paragraphs.” These can be structured in several ways; a common approach is to write three numbers paragraphs: 

• Publications paragraph: Summarize your career and post-appointment publications, noting any that received awards or nominations, significant citations, or notable critical reception. In some fields, you’llwant to say on what percentage of your publications you’ve been first, last or senior author; in other disciplines, identify the percentage of publications with trainee, patient or community member co-authors. If your numbers are substantial, include your total conference presentations, invited talks and keynotes (domestic and international) — both overall and since appointment or last promotion.  

• Funding paragraph: Outline your total career research funding and funding received since appointment. Clarify the total dollar figure of grants on which you were PI or Co-PI, and distinguish between internal and external funding sources (regional, national, international). If relevant, highlight donations or industry contracts you’ve secured. 

• Public engagement paragraph: Describe your scholarly outreach through media coverage, interviews with journalists, podcast appearances, public lectures, policy briefs and op-ed publications. If you have access to analytics, include them. Was your piece in The Conversation among the top ten most-read articles from your institution that year? After circulating your policy brief, were you invited to join an advisory committee, or co-author a think tank report?  

The placement of these paragraphs varies across successful dossiers. Some researchers position them immediately after the introduction to establish credibility before discussing specific research strands; others place them near the end as a summative demonstration of productivity. Review your institution’s guidelines and, if possible, examine successful dossiers from recently promoted colleagues to determinewhat works in your context. 

Finally, look forward 

Your research statement should conclude by describing your trajectory. This forward-looking section has two components: 

• Ongoing commitments: Describe ongoing grant-funded projects; grant applications currently under review; and manuscripts in progress, under review, or contracted for publication. Be specific about timelines: your article to Journalname was submitted in Month, 202#; you submitted a grant application for $X million in the Fall 202# competition, and, if funded, the project will run from 202# to 203#. 

• Future work: Outline projects currently being seeded and what they’ll become when scaled up. Are you planning to turn a project currently running on internal funding into an external grant application? To which competition will you submit, and when? Are you working on an MOU with a community group or not-for-profit or institution in another country? Describe relationships you’re developing for future collaborations and logical extensions of current work. 

This section should convey momentum and ambition without overpromising. Your readers want to see that you have a sustainable, coherent research program that will continue generating significant scholarship. 

The fundamental shift 

The transformation you’re seeking — from list to narrative — requires a fundamental shift in perspective. Your research statement is not a comprehensive record of everything you’ve accomplished: it’s a carefully constructed argument about the coherence and significance of your work to date. Your research statement is itself a form of scholarly argument — one in which you are both subject and author, making the case for the significance of the intellectual contributions you’ve spent years developing. 

For more advice on P&T, download my free, 30-page PDF of quotations from recently tenured and promoted research- and teaching-stream faculty, Promotion & tenure perspectives from faculty who’ve been through it. We’ll continue discussing P&T next month, too, as I’ll share my recommendations for writing compelling service statements for P&T dossiers.