What is a Biosketch? A biosketch is similar to, but different from a cover lette

What is a Biosketch?
A biosketch is similar to, but different from a cover letter or resume.  The purpose of a biosketch is to introduce yourself to anyone who needs to know about you, including potential employers.  A biosketch should provide your credentials, but also give your reader a sense of who you are, what you do, and what you value. It does not need to list everything you’ve done. Rather, it provides highlights. A biosketch should provide a quick narrative or a story of who you are.  And, for this particular assignment, the biosketch will also show your style and how you want to brand yourself.  The act of creating a biosketch will help you identify and talk about what makes you most valuable, interesting, and marketable.
Objectives
To identify your greatest assets (i.e., your most essential learning, experiences, or credentials earned as an undergraduate student)
To communicate your greatest assets to a non-academic audience
To create and design a single-page document that effectively presents the material in a visually appealing way
Instructions & Requirements
Format
Your biosketch should be one page. It needs to be saved as a .pdf file.  Beyond that, you have quite a bit of freedom and are encouraged to format your document so that your personality shines through.  Your biosketch can and probably will include at least some standard text in sentence or paragraph format, but you are encouraged to be creative by using word processing, image manipulation, white spaces, borders, colors, figures and graphical elements to create a visually appealing and aesthetically interesting document. Be sure to strike a balance between professionalism and personality.  
Audience
The intended audience for this biosketch is a potential employer who would visit your e-portfolio or digital resume to learn more about you during the hiring process. This means you want to be both professional and creative, as well as to design something pleasing to the eye.
Submission
Upload a .pdf of your biosketch here.
Grading
This assignment will be graded on a 10-point scale.
9-10 points: Represents an outstanding biosketch; effectively communicates in a visually pleasing manner who you are, what you have done, and what you value.
6-8 points: Represents an adequate biosketch that meets the minimum requirements of the assignment.  Revision is suggested before this is used for potential employers.
5 points or fewer: Represents a poorly written or unpolished biosketch.  You may be asked to improve and resubmit.
When assigning points, the grader will consider three aspects of the biosketch, which are aligned with the three stated objectives:  CONTENT (what was included in the biosketch), EFFECTIVENESS (professionalism and effectiveness of communication, grammar), STYLE (use of stylistic elements such as color, images, and graphics to visually show personality)
Examples, Tips, Resources
Please review these examples of biosketches
Actions
created by other students.
Please also review these tips and resources to guide you in the process and creation of your own biosketch:
CONTENT:  If you are stuck and do not know where to begin or what to include on your biosketch, try writing a traditional text-based biosketch first. 
[Name] is a [title] who works with [who you help] to [how you help them].  [First name] [knows/believes] [what you know/believe about the work you do]. [First name] has [landed/secured/garnered/worked at/supported] [insert your most compelling experiences and wins]. [First name] is a [trained/certified/awarded] [insert relevant trainings, awards, honors, etc].  [First name] holds a [insert degree] in [insert area of study] from [insert university].
Note: That second sentence is the most important—in addition to listing your credentials, you want to give people a sense of why you do what you do. If you are not sure how to answer this, ask yourself: Why do I do what I do? What inspires me to do this work? What do I believe about it?  This process may help you determine what content to include.
Source:  Alex Honeysett, 2017. The Professional Bio Template that makes Everyone Sound Accomplished. Forbes Magazine.
STYLE:  Once you have a general idea of the main points or themes you want to highlight, think about how to recreate the text in a visually appealing page.  Use color, images, and graphic design elements to present your information in a way that represents you.  Keep it professional, but be creative.   Students may want to use a free online graphic design app such as Adobe Spark (Links to an external site.).  Other students have effectively used programs such as Microsoft Powerpoint, Word, and drafter, as well as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign to create their biosketches. 
EFFECTIVENESS:  Finally, make sure your review and proofread the document. It is advised that you have someone else view it and give you feedback on well you have communicated the image and content you want to portray.  Then, revise as necessary.