Chapter 10 on Cover Letters discusses how to write and understand the tools and techniques behind a stand-out cover letter for job applications. A few items I would point out for readers would be to take the extra time and hone in on those small details because those are what matter in and out of the professional sphere; employers know that. Things such as checking out the website to try and understand the essence of the company and if you think it’s a good fit, making a quick call asking for some names or information about the company, and always paying attention to grammar, spelling, and format. This indicates other themes that resonate with this course as well, such as an overall responsibility for your writing that highlights you, your education, and your character. Despite the cover letter being a business document, adding those key points of personalization will help set you apart. Another crucial element to take into consideration builds upon what the last chapter discussed, the AIDA format. Layering in the Cs of good professional writing, the chapter also highlights how to manipulate that basic formula into personalized and effective information for each job application with ideas such as writing for an audience of a prospective employer who wants to know what you can do for them. It’s also important to remember that the cover letter is not where you delve into specific details of your best and most awe-inspiring accomplishments but a short and persuasive insight into what’s to come.
Category: Uncategorized (Page 19 of 22)
Journal Entry #1
Two important points and most significant takeaways from this chapter stemmed from the overarching idea that good communication is essential to any professional sphere within the focus of writing. The first lies in the ability to have control and understanding of grammar and the techniques of writing. The biggest misunderstanding the text explains from this idea is that our education system has made grammar secondary to the expression of ideas and creativity within students. The correction of this idea, I feel, is incredibly essential – not only is creativity enhanced by the ability to freely experiment with thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively made possible by those “persnickety” rules of writing, but creativity also goes to waste when an individual cannot express themselves because their own writing hinders it.
Another point from this section of the book expresses that being accountable for writing well is impacting more individuals than before, as technology has enabled one person to do the job of many in previous years. This brings in the importance of feeling confident in skillfully writing for an audience, presenting not only yourself but your place of employment and sometimes even a representative of an entire profession in the highest light. Connecting back to the most prominent theme when exploring professional and technical writing, good communication, the text stated, “Regardless of what profession you ultimately choose, you will almost certainly be using these skills every single day, both on the job and off”(20).
Journal Entry #2
As discussed in the chapter on plain language, one of the big points focused on deciphering the style and intent of academic versus business writing. From this, the discussion on specialized writing tended to align with written works in academic fields where knowledge of specific jargon, background knowledge, and format tends to be structured based on particular disciplines. Whereas business writing gears toward generalist strategies where “This audience calls for a less specialized vocabulary and less complex set of concepts”(27). Additionally, professional writing can feel more stylized in visual matters like images, lists, and graphics to make the information easier to present (26).
Leading from this, the second essential point is the concept of plain language or plain English. Unlike the lesser-known jargon in fields like law, plain language emphasizes “concrete and specific examples rather than abstractions to be as clear as possible” (27). Again, the idea of creating effective and efficient communication based on serving a wide range of prospective audiences comes back to learning, sometimes relearning, the formats, tools, and techniques to offer clarity. In that same line, it is helpful to maintain the perspective of business and career writing where revenue and spending are taken into account; the easier it is to convey the purpose of written works, the success often follows when misunderstandings, complaints, and costs are reduced due to plain English writing.
Framing Statement:
Thinking about the work I have done for my major in English and Political Science and then reflecting on this semester’s coursework in literary criticism, for one, I noticed an incredible overlap between the topics and theorists we covered and those within my political science courses. I knew that my two majors complimented each other well just based on bolstering my writing and reading skills, but I hadn’t thought about the possibilities of topics of literary criticism and theory such as Marxism, post-colonial studies, Freudian psychoanalysis, and feminist theory to appear even within my intro-level political science courses. In past English courses, especially ENG 229, which looked at the origins of the novel, I found many connections within our course surrounding narratology and the structures of literature, as well as where the role of authors comes in when analyzing their work. Taking this into account, I feel that the cultural and intellectual relevancies from my two majors extend our work across disciples by utilizing well-known theorists, concepts, and cultural markers to engage with specific areas of each major that left me with a feeling of cohesion, knowing what I am studying has broader implications and significance.
Within the learning outcomes for my English major, I found the point of being able to “Read texts closely and critically through the conscious application of methods and insights drawn from a range of critical theories” went well with this project as I had to analyze two primary works, one being outside of this class and find and explain their relevance within two theories. Another category was “Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of literature in English with special attention to theory and criticism as a field,” which I felt was the very claim I tried to make within the project. Looking to theory and criticism as a way to enhance and deepen our understanding of literature is vital.
I thought of this project as an in-depth and reflective scavenger hunt, and looking back through all of the work I did this semester showed me how many directions, and interesting perspectives can arise from theory. Through the modality of an essay, I feel that I have interpreted primary pieces of literature and connected them to various theories while gaining an understanding of those far-reaching historical and cultural moments that created them.
Final Project Essay:
Theories of interest
Structuralism
- Connection to the narratology aspect and how it can connect to previous works from ENG 229, what makes the novel “novel” with aspects of the structure and assumptions of how a novel as a genre came to be.
- PSC 210 con-law with discussions of frameworks and how certain things are framed (legal concepts connection).
- Texts:
Psychoanalysis
- Connection to Foucault and Freud in PSC 105
- Avenues for Feminist criticism within our review of Virginia Woolf and how that story can be a lens to discuss both.
- Texts:
New Criticism
- Avenue to discuss what theory I don’t like as much and highlight its shortcomings with contemporary examples of ways that literature is connected to outside issues and relevancies
- development of feminist theory to then queer theory and gender studies as a response to the cultural and academic need to press further and expand the role literature plays as well as postcolonial and race studies.
- New questions can be asked that prompt different analyses and exploration of a certain theory.
- Texts:
