【翻譯】如何給外國教授髮套磁信，海外大牛告訴你。

本文來自世界著名生物信息學家劉小樂的博客——Xiaole Shirley Liu's Blog Site。本文以意譯爲主，初次翻譯，有時間地可直接去看原文。

公派留學獲取海外實驗室邀請函的正確作法

在過去的十年裏，中國政府迅速加大了對教育和科研的財政投入。一個重要的表現，就是國家留學基金委（CSC）資助國內研究生赴海外著名高等學府進行爲期一到兩年的交流學習。咱們實驗室已經接受不少優秀的訪學生，他們中有些在交流期間取得了很不錯的研究成果。在獎學金申請肯定前的12月和1月，我常常收到一些申請者的郵件。有一些大致像下邊這封，

Dear Professor Xiaole Liu,

My name is AB, and I am 2nd year PhD student from C University in China. I work on the mechanism of X gene / complex in the Y developmental stage of Z organism. From my previous studies, I know techniques D, E, F and G and have published a paper in H, I, J journals. From your website, I read that you are a cancer and bioinformatics expert, and I really hope to learn more about both. Recently I have been awarded the CSC scholarship, which will sponsor me for travel and living cost to study in the US for one year. I hope to have the opportunity to study in your lab, so I urgently need to get an invitation letter from you.

I look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,
AB

這封信有問題嗎？讓咱們來分析一下：

一、咱們一般用姓加職稱（教授、博士）稱呼別人，而不是名字。正確的寫法是：Dear Professor Liu

二、在大部分狀況下，XYZ這些研究和咱們實驗室作的工做是沒有關係的。申請者僅僅對學習癌症或者生物信息學感興趣，可是咱們實驗室爲何想要接收他們呢？這種狀況在博士後申請中也會出現。申請者能不能給帶來更多諸如特定的實驗技術、分析能力、生物學知識及臨牀樣本資源等對咱們有價值的東西？

三、一般來講，第一封信僅僅是爲了瞭解被實驗室接受的可能性。邀請信的請求應該是在申請的實驗室贊成接收以後在說起的。第一封信就請求邀請信是很是不合適的，更別說是「迫切地」要求。

四、每一個研究生（固然也包括博士後和教師）應該時常更新本身的簡歷（CV），這裏郵件也應該要帶有本身的簡歷做爲附件。簡歷適用於求職或者學術申請的，它有不少不一樣的長度和格式。簡歷可讓申請的實驗室對申請人有一個正確的認識，包括受教育經歷、考試分數、發表文章、獲獎記錄和其餘專業經歷。不少人把他們的簡歷放在網上，因此能夠很容易地找到他們的簡歷並學習他們的寫法。我常常去看我領域裏的成功專家的簡歷，看看本身是否有須要改進的地方。舉個例子，看到他們在本身的當前階段發表的突破性論文、得到的獎項、教授的課程和其餘專業經歷，這是很是使人鼓舞的。總之，在申請PhD、博士後、訪學獎學金等的時候都要附上簡歷，這會增長申請被認真考慮的機會。

 

原文地址：

http://www.longwoodgenomics.org/2017/01/15/good-practices-for-soliciting-hosts-for-csc-sponsored-visits/

原文：

Good Practices for Soliciting Hosts for CSC-sponsored Visits

In the last decade, Chinese government has drastically increased investment in education and research. One important initiative is the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) which sponsors graduate students to study for 1-2 years at top foreign research institutions. Our laboratory has hosted a number of talented visiting students, many of which achieved impressive research results during their visits. In Dec and Jan right before these scholarship applications are due, I often receive many email requests from candidates. Quite a few reads something like this:

Dear Professor Xiaole Liu,

My name is AB, and I am 2nd year PhD student from C University in China. I work on the mechanism of X gene / complex in the Y developmental stage of Z organism. From my previous studies, I know techniques D, E, F and G and have published a paper in H, I, J journals. From your website, I read that you are a cancer and bioinformatics expert, and I really hope to learn more about both. Recently I have been awarded the CSC scholarship, which will sponsor me for travel and living cost to study in the US for one year. I hope to have the opportunity to study in your lab, so I urgently need to get an invitation letter from you.

I look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,
AB

Is there anything wrong with such a letter? Let’s analyze:

1. People usually say Dear Professor (or Doctor) Lastname, not first last. So I should be addressed as: Dear Professor Liu.

2. In most cases, the XYZ research has nothing to do with what my lab is doing. The applicant is just interested in learning cancer or bioinformatics, or both, but why would our lab be interested in hosting them? This is the same with postdoc applications as well. Is there something that the applicant could contribute, e.g. certain experimental technique, qualitative skills, biological knowledge, clinical sample resource, etc, which might be valuable to the host laboratory?

3. Usually the first letter just explores the possibility that a is interested in hosting his/her visit. The invitation letter request should be mentioned after the host lab has agreed to host. It is inappropriate to ask for the letter in the first email, let alone to ask for it 「urgently」.

4. Every graduate student (of course postdoc and faculty as well) should actively maintain and update a CV, and include the CV in the attachment of such an email. Resume and CV are used for industry and academic job applications, respectively, and they have different lengths and formats. CV gives the host laboratory a lot more concrete ideas about the candidate, his educational histories, test scores, publications, awards, and other professional experiences, etc. Many people put their CV online, so it is easy to find good CV online and see how they are written. I often look at the CV of really successful experts in my field, and see what areas I need to grow. For example, seeing what papers these big shots published, grants and awards they obtained, courses they taught, other professional experiences they had at my stage is very inspiring. Anyway, always include CV when applying for PhD, postdocs, visiting scholarship, etc, which greatly increases the chance the application will be considered seriously.