Reference no: EM13839027

Cover Letter

I will ask you to write a reflective and thoughtful letter that explains the strengths and weaknesses of each project in order to orient your readers as they approach your text:

º First: for your Peer Review partner(s), due on the scheduled Peer Review date
º Again, revised: for your Instructor, due on the scheduled final draft due date

Description

Each Cover Letter will give you the opportunity to reflect on and critically consider how your Project is successful and, at times, unsuccessful or where it could be better. It also provides space for you to reflect on what you learned about writing, your own writing processes, and your analysis of writing ecologies and rhetorical situations.

Purpose

A primary reason for the Cover Letter is to orient your reader to the rhetorical choices you've made during your composing and revising processes for the Project. It also allows you to step back and reflect on the overall effectiveness of the Project you've produced. Most importantly, it helps you to reflect on your evolving understanding of writing, from Project to Project, which will help you to better articulate the many ways to skillfully navigate multiple writing situations, which will help generateideas for the final Project.

Cover Letter Criteria: What I'm Looking For

• Use formal business style letter conventions: format, state the purpose of the letter first
• Explains the main purpose you wanted to accomplish with the Project and discusses/justifies the rhetorical choices you made
• Describes why you thought your project would be effective
• Explains what changes you made after Peer Review feedback and why; if you did not make recommended changes, explains why not
• Discusses what parts of your project you think are working well and which parts you think could be better, as well as anything you would like your peers to make sure to comment on
• Reflects on what you think you've learned about writing - what it is, how it works, your own relationship to it - and attempts to articulate your developing understanding of writing based in that reflection.

What Makes it Good

A good Cover Letter is not thrown together at the last minute, or approached as something that simply "has to be done" to meet a requirement. This letter has the power to set the stage for the relationship between the reader and writer, so it should be genuine and thoughtful. Take the time to carefully construct the letter to effect a good impression on your reader - a writing situation that will be useful to practice for the future when you are applying for jobs! Be sure to use the conventions of a formal letter; for example, use first person, address the reader as "you," make a thoughtful request to the reader to provide specific feedback about a potential problem area, and provide a comprehensive appraisal of what is successful and what could be improved within the Project. Take the time to read your peer's letter carefully before you review their draft.