Introduction: As you know, we do not have a final exam in this course. Instead, students are expected to submit a final portfolio consisting of several substantial revisions of earlier projects, along with a detailed discussion of all that they have learned over the semester. Indeed, it may be useful to think of your final portfolio as a single document that attempts to argue how you have succeeded in accomplishing the major goals of this class. Thus, the purpose of the final portfolio is not only to reflect on all that you have learned over the past fifteen weeks, but to document your writing and design skills by showing me how successfully you can revise.
Getting Started: You need to revise your Career Cover Letter (Project 1). You will need to spend several hours substantially redoing this project, carefully incorporating any key concepts you gained from course lectures and online readings. Indeed, keep in mind that the term %60revision%60 literally means, %60to see again.%60 You’ll want to put a lot of thought into the papers you are revising, and you’ll want these revisions to demonstrate that you have made substantial improvement in your writing and thinking in this course.
Next, you will then need to write a cover letter explaining your revisions and explaining what these finished documents say about the things you have learned this semester. Because your goal is to showcase all that you’ve accomplished this semester, your portfolio cover letter needs to provide enough specific detail to persuade me that you deserve a good grade for the course. That is, what do you think this course has set out to teach you about writing this semester, and what does your work demonstrate about what you’ve learned?
Keep in mind that your cover letter will be the last thing I read before giving you a final grade in this course, so you’ll want to make sure that the letter itself is formatted appropriately with no proofreading errors, and that you take into consideration the needs of your readers. As a document, the cover letter should demonstrate some of what you’ve learned about writing persuasively this semester.
Putting It Together: Your final portfolio will include: 1. Portfolio Cover Letter 2. Revised Application Letter (Project 1) 3. Edited Long Report (Project 4)
Your portfolio will be submitted in this dropbox as a single document. You should collect your portfolio into one document (pdf, doc, or docx file). You should have all 3 assignments assembled into one document. The assignments should be assembled in the following order: 1. Portfolio Cover Letter; 2. Revised Job Letter; 3. Final Activity Report or Research Report.
Good luck!
Announcement
Just a note on the final portfolio. Remember that it’s due July 23 and I cannot accept anything after the due date. Some have asked me how to revise a piece if they got an “A” on it. Does that mean it doesn’t need revision? Absolutely not. Revision means to “re-see” a piece and make new decisions based on what you’ve learned and read and based on what you now think might work better as you see the piece now. So don’t think of it in terms of that an “A” means it’s beyond revision. Think of it as making the best choices for the portfolio at this new point.
Read the directions for this, but generally, your final portfolio will include: 1. Portfolio cover letter (this is new); 2. Revised application letter from portfolio 1 (it wouldn’t hurt to revise your resume as well but it’s not required); and 3. the edited long report from portfolio 4 (no need to include those cover letters from that). The 60% that shows up in the assignment description is an error in HTML coding and does not mean your paper will have to be revised/changed by 60%.
Portfolio One: Successful Writing to Get the Right Job
Submit Portfolio One (resume, application letter, and short job analysis report) to the assignment dropbox by its due date.
Note: You must read all of the required reading listed in the syllabus (Chapters 1, 2, 5, and 11 in your text) to do this project. It will greatly facilitate your successful completion of this portfolio.
Assignment Purpose and Objectives: A resume is YOU on paper! How do YOU want to look? What do YOU want people to know? What have YOU done that makes you proud? What are YOUR talents? What makes YOU different from other applicants? A resume is a personal advertisement about YOU. It is an illustration on paper of what you can do for a company. A resume makes a first impression and whether or not you get an interview depends on the impression you make. A creative and professional resume, complete with a well-written, well-formed cover letter, gets applicants interviews, and without them, you lower your chances of getting the position you desire.
To successfully complete this assignment, you must meet these objectives:
• Find a job advertisement within your current choice of major.
• Analyze the job advertisement and shape your application materials to fit its requirements. For the ad you have selected, you should prepare a Short Job Analysis Report by conducting research on the company which placed the ad and writing a short profile about that company. Include information about its location, kinds of products or services offered, number of employees, clients served, and other pertinent facts. Include a discussion of what your duties for this job would be. Find out the name, address, and phone number of the person to whom you would send an application letter to request an interview. Include an information line at the end of this report to indicate where you obtained the information for this report. (See the example file for this posted in the assignment dropbox).
• Prepare a professional resume to apply for your chosen position.
• Prepare an appropriate and effective application letter to accompany your resume.
Focus: Your focus for this assignment will be to analyze the advertisement that you have selected and to choose the type of resume most appropriate. Remember that each job opening is individual and specific in its description. For this reason, you should fit your resume to its announcement to increase your chances of getting an interview. You should include information that the company needs or wants to know and make your resume to the point. Your application letter should effectively communicate – in a brief and concise manner – your interest in the job.
Development for Audience: Knowing what an employer is looking for in a new employee can help you to shape your resume to fit the employer’s expectations. Shaping your resume to fit the employer’s expectations moves you one step closer to getting the interview. In other words, the more you know your audience and what they expect, the better you are able to meet their expectations.
Organization: Different types of resumes are discussed in Chapter 7 of our text. The resume should be no more than two pages! For information on effective application letters, you should read (as has previously been suggested) Chapter 7 of our text. Your application letter should be no more than one page.
Style and Convention: You should demonstrate clarity, conciseness, organization, and correct grammar through your technical writing. Your tone should be appropriate for your audience.
Follow these guidelines when writing your resume:List the most valuable information for the reader first, whether it is your education or your work experience.
• List jobs and education in reverse chronological order. (List most recent items first). You may embellish your educational background and job experience for the purpose of this assignment (never in the real world!!).
• Organize your best characteristics so they are easily noticed.
• Use active verbs (e.g., cleaned, initiated, directed, organized, planned, managed, investigated, composed.)
• Create an attractive resume using white space, headings, bullets, dividing lines, bold print, etc.
• Edit your resume until it is perfect. Read it aloud from a hard copy. Ask several people to proof read your resume.
Writing the Cover Letter
As you will read in Chapter 7, a well written, well formed business letter can make a powerful impression on the reader. As a student, college candidate, employee, and concerned citizen, the business letter will open doors for you as you begin to make your voice heard vis a vis the written word.
Here are some key points to practice: A brief, concise, and easy to understand letter makes a good impression. So, get to the point quickly. State your purpose in the first paragraph. Provide only essential information.
Most business letters are one page (block format) and include the following standard parts.
Heading – the return address of writer (if letterhead is used, omit the heading)
Date line – the date you wrote the letter
Inside address – the complete address of the reader
Salutation – “Dear…” and then put the exact name of the person your letter is intended for. (This is followed by a colon).
Body – 2-5 paragraphs; must look balanced on the page.
Closing – friendly, but businesslike; common closings are Sincerely, Yours truly, and Cordially
Signature – leave four blank lines between the Closing and your name; this is where you would sign your name if printing out the letter.
Don’t forget the Enclosure line.
PROOFREAD!!! Business letters are free of spelling, grammar, and typing errors.
Remember:
Your writing reflects your sincerity, attention to detail, and consideration of the reader’s time. In addition, your letter will leave a lasting impression with the reader of your attitude towards task completion as well as whatever it is that you hope to accomplish with the letter.
In this lesson, you’ll learn to analyze a job advertisement to discover the duties and responsibilities the job requires and the kinds of experience, skills, and education the employer is looking for. Most job advertisements contain four parts:
Company description
Job duties
Employee qualifications
(educational and experience)
Response information
Carefully analyzing these four parts reveals the employer’s expectations for the perfect employee. A careful analysis will also reveal what the employer wants in an employee and help you decide what to highlight and what to down play in your resume. In other words, a careful analysis helps you to tailor your resume to fit the employer’s expectations of the perfect employee.
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