Thinking about Cover Letters
There are genuine debates, in this age of computer-scanned resumes, about how much longer prospective employers will continue to ask for cover letters as part of the standard application package. One thing is sure — many job postings today still require this specialized document. The cover letter provides information to link the applicant’s skills and experiences to the job ad in a more narrative (storytelling) fashion than is possible with a resume.
For this assignment, you’ll write your own Recommended Cover Letter Resources Guide, providing a brief summary of what each resource on your guide offers that you find potentially useful to people who need to write a cover letter template to use in the future.
You’ll need to research cover-letter-writing advice, using resources from the class LibGuide (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) page, FIU Handshake (Links to an external site.), and any other source you personally find helpful, finding the three items that make up your Recommended Cover Letter Resources Guide.
For each source on your list, provide a brief but specific summary of what that resource offers that you find potentially useful to people who need to write a cover letter template to use in the future.
Example:
Resource Examples
General, vague summary
A specific, useful summary
This resource is good because there are lots of letters and examples that you can see to base yours off of.
The article was published in the Harvard Business Review and starts with examples of how to write a strong opening sentence. It was published recently, so it includes helpful guidance on digital job applications.
And finally, be sure that for each item on your Recommended Cover Letter Resource Guide that you provide the URL to that source –the URL (web address) that you provide will let your readers instantly connect to any source you list that they are curious to investigate themselves.
Checklist for your Recommended Cover Letter Resources Guide submission:
List three Cover-letter-advice related sources,
Provide a useful summary for each listed source, (This is where people often sacrifice points because their summary isn’t usefully specific.)
Provide the URL (web address) for each, and
Be at least 200 words long.
Here’s how you’ll be graded
Weekly Assignment Specifications Checklist
To earn all available points for the week’s assignment, your submission must include all elements listed below. If your goal for this course is to earn an A, be sure to check off your completion of each element.
Content
Answers all parts of the assignment prompt and expresses ideas clearly and in your own words
Demonstrates careful attention to the assigned reading (or viewing) and/or research
Includes at least one quote from the reading (or viewing) and/or research.
Entry must meet the word count minimum specified in the instructions.
Document Specs
Follows standard professional document formatting (1″ margins on all sides, double spacing, a professional font such as Times New Roman or Calibri, 12pt font)
Submitted by the Due Date
Proofreading
Demonstrates sufficient self-review to avoid careless errors like typos, misspellings, missing words, sentences without standard capitalization or punctuation.
Assignment Grading Rubric
Grading Rubric Table
Excellent work
Almost there
Insufficient investment of time
Content
Satisfies each element on the specifications checklist AND appears to be the product of careful thinking.
Quote is selected to highlight one of your main points about the assigned reading. Research results suggest effort and attention.
Answers are responsive to the questions, thoughtful, specific, and share your thinking as it stands right now. (You can change your mind in later Diary entries.)
Satisfies each element on the specifications checklist but may have been hastily written. Reads like a rush job, rather than a series of careful ideas, flowing from one to the next.
Often the quote from the reading appears to have been selected without care or obvious logic and/or research conducted in haste; not a genuine inquiry.
Repetition or vagueness undermines the submission’s power.
Misses one or more elements from the specifications checklist.
Reads like something you slapped together and “phoned in,” rather than a series of careful ideas, flowing one to the next.
Missing quote or research
Repetition or vagueness undermines the submission’s power.
Document Specs
Satisfies each element on the specifications checklist.
Misses one element on the specifications checklist.
Misses more than one element on the specifications checklist.
Proofreading
Demonstrates sufficient self-review to avoid careless errors
Contains one or two careless errors that the writer could have caught by reviewing the work more carefully
Contains more than two errors that the writer could have caught by reviewing the work more carefully. Work that sacrifices points here often contains misspelling that Spellcheck flagged, sentences that don’t make sense because of missing words, proper nouns that haven’t been capitalized. (Ex: Florida International University).
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