Student Learning Outcomes:
• Develop rhetorical strategies for creating professional and ethical documents that successfully meet the needs and expectations of a target audience;
• Craft a professional cover letter using an appropriate tone and style to convey knowledge or information to an intelligent reader who is in the process of reviewing your application.
Step 1.
Consider the kinds of formal letters you may be required to write in the future. What are the expectations of those who will receive your message? Will your target audience be a manager, a selection committee, colleagues, a supervisor, or perhaps a team you are leading?
Step 2.
Devote some time to reading Chapter 5, and examine the letters provided in the chapter, as models. Draft a Letter of Application for a scholarship, internship, coop, a study abroad program, graduate school, or future employment. Be specific about your target audience for this assignment. Search online for possible schools or businesses you could contact.
Step 3.
Include the essential parts of a formal letter: return address, date, inside address, salutation, body, closing, signature, signature block, and your contact information. If you have an enclosure, please indicate it so the reader is alerted to it--and finds it.
Step 4.
Develop the body of your letter so that it will get immediate results: a follow-up interview. Engage the reader with your introductory paragraph. Indicate how your skills and abilities will benefit the company or program in a positive way. What do you have to offer that will help a company solve its problems? How will you "add value"? What makes you uniquely qualified for the position?
Step 5.
Revise, polish, and tighten your letter so that unnecessary wordiness is removed. Read your letter aloud. Is your purpose stated directly and clearly? Can a reader follow the logical flow of your ideas? Have you provided specific examples to support your claims?
Format: typed, single-spaced cover letter (Letter of Application) Times New Roman, 12-point font
Length: one page.