Instructions for Cover Letter: Self-Analysis of Your Writing Process
Upload your essay and your cover letter as two separate documents.
The cover letter must be 250 words. At the bottom of your cover letter, give the word count. (You will find the word count at the bottom, left-hand screen of your computer.)
The cover letter is not a summary of your essay; a summary or “off-topic” letter will not receive points.
What is a cover letter? It is a formal analysis of your individual writing process.
A cover letter is analysis applied to your writing process. Approach the cover letter as “meta-analysis” or self-observation of the steps you took to write the original essay and then revise it for the second submission. Don’t summarize (rehash) your essay’s content. You will not receive points if you only summarize your essay.
Writing a cover letter helps you to improve your analytic abilities. It can help you understand your individual writing process and improve your writing. Many students have learned to revise independently and effectively as a result of writing cover letters!
By taking notes on your writing process from start to drafts to finish, you can see what steps of the writing process come easily to you and what causes you to struggle. In other words, you pinpoint your own strengths and weaknesses. You can also learn to identify your original thinking, distinguishing your own thoughts from that of other authors or sources, including all-pervasive media.
The cover letter is a powerful tool for you to make progress as a writer and thinker. Don’t even try to include everything detailed below! Just pull what suits you from the information to help you through writing about your own writing.
The most important thing is just to observe yourself and take notes from beginning to end of your writing process.
Some Guidelines for the Cover Letter
Discovery – Explain how you got started.
“Discovery” process – Comments might include your initial thinking about the topic; how re-reading portions of the text helped you; prewriting tools you used –notes, freewriting, clustering, questioning, journaling.
You should cover discovery in no more than 2-3 sentences.
Evolution – Explain your actual writing process for the essay
How did you put the essay together – grouping, outlining, storyboarding? Drafts?
How did your thesis evolve?
How did you write the introductory paragraph? Conclusion?
What information (quotations, paraphrases, points) did you add or delete? Why?
At any point, were you forced to overhaul the paper?
Thinking Style
Did you analyze, clarify, and elaborate the ideas that you encountered in the text?
Did you insert your original ideas and interpretation while sticking to the textual evience?
Assessment – Comment on your paper’s strengths and weaknesses
What aspects of the topic put obstacles in your writing way, and how did you deal with them?
What “deep” elements of composition did you do especially well here?
Focus on thesis, organization, argument, support, and voice. Do not elaborate on grammar or sentences.
Thesis – focused, narrow, precise assertion that evolves through your paper
Organization – includes unity, coherence, introduction, body, conclusion, paragraph order, sentence order
Argument – logical structure, inclusion of well-placed topic sentences, persuasiveness, clear direction, use of key words
Support – use of facts, examples, illustrations, details that are representative, ample, and support the point. Appropriate use of sources
Voice – appropriate tone, logical, credible, trustworthy, original