Action Words

Below is a sample list of action verbs to get you started with writing your performance appraisals. These headers are suggestions and an * indicates alignment with a UC Davis core competency.

Communication*

  • Address
  • Advertise
  • Arbitrate
  • Arrange
  • Articulate
  • Author
  • Clarify
  • Collaborate
  • Cultivate
  • Comfort
  • Communicate
  • Compose
  • Condense
  • Confer
  • Consult
  • Contact
  • Convince
  • Correspond
  • Debate
  • Define
  • Develop
  • Direct
  • Discuss
  • Draft
  • Edit
  • Elicit
  • Empathize
  • Enlist
  • Explain
  • Express
  • Formulate
  • Furnish
  • Incorporate
  • Influence
  • Interpret
  • Interview
  • Involve
  • Join
  • Judge
  • Lecture
  • Listen
  • Market
  • Mediate
  • Memorize
  • Moderate
  • Narrate
  • Negotiate
  • Observe
  • Outline
  • Participate
  • Persuade
  • Present
  • Promote
  • Propose
  • Publicize
  • Publish
  • Query
  • Question
  • Reason
  • Reconcile
  • Recruit
  • Refer
  • Reinforce
  • Report
  • Resolve
  • Respond
  • Solicit
  • Specify
  • Speak
  • Suggest
  • Summarize
  • Synthesize
  • Translate
  • Update
  • Verify
  • Write

Creative

  • Act
  • Adapt
  • Adept
  • Anticipate
  • Begin
  • Brainstorm
  • Combine
  • Compose
  • Conceive
  • Conceptualize
  • Condense
  • Construct
  • Create
  • Cultivate
  • Customize
  • Design
  • Develop
  • Devise
  • Direct
  • Display
  • Draw
  • Entertain
  • Establish
  • Expand
  • Fashion
  • Formulate
  • Illustrate
  • Imagine
  • Improvise
  • Initiate
  • Institute
  • Integrate
  • Introduce
  • Invent
  • Model
  • Modify
  • Originate
  • Perceive
  • Perform
  • Photograph
  • Plan
  • Revamp
  • Revise
  • Revitalize
  • Shape
  • Solve
  • Strategize
  • Visualize

Stewardship and Managing Resources*

  • Account
  • Acquire
  • Administer
  • Adjust
  • Allocate
  • Analyze
  • Appraise
  • Assess
  • Audit
  • Balance
  • Budget
  • Calculate
  • Comply
  • Compute
  • Conserve
  • Correct
  • Determine
  • Develop
  • Estimate
  • Finance
  • Forecast
  • Guarantee
  • Invest
  • Manage
  • Market
  • Maximize
  • Measure
  • Minimize
  • Met
  • Offer
  • Plan
  • Predict
  • Prepare
  • Program
  • Project
  • Protect
  • Qualify
  • Quantify
  • Reconcile
  • Reduce
  • Report
  • Secure

Teamwork and Principles of Community*

  • Adapt
  • Advise
  • Advocate
  • Aid
  • Answer
  • Anticipate
  • Arrange
  • Assist
  • Clarify
  • Coach
  • Collaborate
  • Comfort
  • Consult
  • Contribute
  • Cooperate
  • Counsel
  • Deliver
  • Demonstrate
  • Facilitate
  • Find
  • Further
  • Guide
  • Help
  • Improve
  • Intervene
  • Generate
  • Mediate
  • Motivate
  • Prevent
  • Provide
  • Receive
  • Recommend
  • Refer
  • Rehabilitate
  • Relate
  • Represent
  • Resolve
  • Serve
  • Simplify
  • Supply
  • Support
  • Validate
  • Volunteer
  • Unify
  • Unite

Leadership and Managing People*

  • Achieve
  • Administer
  • Analyze
  • Appoint
  • Approve
  • Assign
  • Attain
  • Chair
  • Charge
  • Consider
  • Consolidate
  • Contract
  • Control
  • Convert
  • Coordinate
  • Decide
  • Delegate
  • Develop
  • Direct
  • Drive
  • Eliminate
  • Emphasize
  • Enforce
  • Enhance
  • Establish
  • Exceed
  • Excel
  • Execute
  • Expand
  • Foster
  • Generate
  • Govern
  • Handle
  • Head
  • Hire
  • Implement
  • Improve
  • Incorporate
  • Increase
  • Initiate
  • Inspect
  • Institute
  • Launch
  • Lead
  • Manage
  • Master
  • Mentor
  • Merge
  • Motivate
  • Navigate
  • Organize
  • Originate
  • Overcame
  • Overhaul
  • Oversee
  • Plan
  • Preside
  • Prioritize
  • Produce
  • Recommend
  • Recruit
  • Reorganize
  • Replace
  • Restore
  • Review
  • Schedule
  • Screen
  • Secure
  • Select
  • Streamline
  • Strengthen
  • Succeed
  • Sustain
  • Terminate
  • Transform

Organization and Administration

  • Approve
  • Arrange
  • Catalogue
  • Categorize
  • Chart
  • Classify
  • Code
  • Collect
  • Compile
  • Correct
  • Correspond
  • Deliver
  • Distribute
  • Execute
  • File
  • Generate
  • Incorporate
  • Index
  • Inspect
  • Inventory
  • Log
  • Maintain
  • Maximize
  • Minimize
  • Monitor
  • Obtain
  • Operate
  • Order
  • Organize
  • Practice
  • Prepare
  • Process
  • Provide
  • Purchase
  • Record
  • Register
  • Reserve
  • Register
  • Respond
  • Review
  • Route
  • Schedule
  • Submit
  • Supply
  • Standardize
  • Systemize
  • Update
  • Validate
  • Verify

Quality Improvement,* Research and Analysis

  • Analyze
  • Clarify
  • Collect
  • Compare
  • Conduct
  • Correlate
  • Critique
  • Detect
  • Determine
  • Devise
  • Diagnose
  • Discover
  • Document
  • Evaluate
  • Examine
  • Experiment
  • Explore
  • Extract
  • Follow
  • Formulate
  • Gather
  • Map
  • Measure
  • Organize
  • Publish
  • Question
  • Research
  • Review
  • Search
  • Solve
  • Summarize
  • Survey
  • Systematize
  • Test
  • Theorize

Teaching

  • Adapt
  • Advise
  • Clarify
  • Coach
  • Communicate
  • Communicate
  • Conduct
  • Coordinate
  • Correlate
  • Critique
  • Deliver
  • Develop
  • Enable
  • Guide
  • Individualize
  • Inform
  • Instill
  • Instruct
  • Mentor
  • Motivate
  • Persuade
  • Report
  • Serve
  • Simulate
  • Stimulate
  • Study
  • Teach
  • Test
  • Train
  • Transmit
  • Tutor

Technical

  • Adapt
  • Apply
  • Assemble
  • Build
  • Calculate
  • Chart
  • Comply
  • Compute
  • Conserve
  • Construct
  • Convert
  • Debug
  • Design
  • Determine
  • Develop
  • Dispatch
  • Engineer
  • Fabricate
  • Fix
  • Fortify
  • Implement
  • Install
  • Launch
  • Maintain
  • Map
  • Master
  • Operate
  • Overhaul
  • Perfect
  • Print
  • Process
  • Program
  • Proofread
  • Rectify
  • Regulate
  • Remodel
  • Repair
  • Replace
  • Restore
  • Scan
  • Solve
  • Specialize
  • Standardize
  • Streamline
  • Study
  • Survey
  • Upgrade
  • Utilize