Portfolio Cover Letter
March 4, 2014
Dear Beth,
Thank you for taking the time to look through each of my pieces. I have put a significant amount of work and time into each one, and I hope that this is evident within the quality of the writing that I’ve submitted. Every piece represents a part of my academic and professional journey thus far, as well as demonstrating the anticipations and goals I hold for my future as a career person within the public relations industry.
My midterm portfolio begins with my business letter forecasting the summer. This was one of my favorite pieces that I’ve written so far within this semester. The reason for this being that I felt as though I was really able to bring my voice into my writing in this letter, as opposed to the sometimes less personal pieces like resumes. I appreciated the opportunity to voice my concerns for the upcoming semester, and felt as though it was incredibly helpful to put my thoughts down in words on paper. I had to make quite a few changes between my first and second draft of the business letter. For instance, on my first draft, I did not include the proper kind of header for a formal business letter format. I neglected to include the address of both the sender and recipient of my letter. This was the first thing I made sure to change when I began my second draft. I also believe that it makes the letter look so much more professional with just this small detail. Another change that I had to make between revisions was to elaborate about my hopes and goals for my future, as well as this semester. Within this next draft, I went into further detail about the kind of writing that I would like to do one day within my “dream job” and how I felt that this course could help prepare me for that. Finally, within the last paragraph of the business letter, I added a little bit more detail into my concerns for the semester. In my first draft, I lightly touched on my fears of a heavy workload from this class. However, within the newest draft, I elaborated more about my strategies for effectively tackling the course work. I did this by delving further into my own work ethic and explaining how I have been able to juggle large projects in the past.
The next aspect of my portfolio was the category of “job search materials.” Within this category were my pieces: master resume, targeted resume, cover letter and job description. Each of these has gone through significant revisions and I’m quite proud of the way that they have evolved and developed from the first draft that I originally turned in. One of the most significant revisions I had to accomplish within each of these was to simply elaborate. I had many more experiences and applicable skills to place on these documents than I originally realized. It was quite helpful to get another pair of eyes.
With my master resume, I made slight format changes between my first few drafts. First, I lightened the section dividers a bit so that the eye was drawn more to the content of the resume as opposed to the dark dividers. The next change that I made was to move around some items underneath my “education” subheading. Previously, I had Bachelor of Science and my minor listed underneath “Marquette University” and my expected graduation date aligned on the other side of the paper. In order to create a more visually aesthetic balance, I moved both of these items underneath my expected graduation date. I also moved the item “Marquette Ignatius Scholarship” underneath this section as well. A large change that I made with this draft of my master resume was to add most of the English courses I have completed to my “Relevant Coursework” section. Neglecting to include these courses in my first draft was a huge oversight on my part, as I was focusing on my major courses within the public relations curriculum. I also added a few new activities and experience to my “Skills & Interest” and “Activities & Service” sections. There were a few things that I just completely forgot to include, and when I took the time to brainstorm over my past few years of educational and work experience, I found that I actually had quite a bit more items to add to my resume.
The changes that I made within my targeted resume were very similar to the changes I made for my master resume. The main difference for my targeted resume, however, was to change up slightly my job descriptions under my “experience” subheading. The goal when changing my descriptions was to tailor them more towards the position description for the Nelson Schmidt internship that I chose as my desired job posting. I picked up a few of their “buzz words” from the post and found ways to incorporate them into my experiences. I also shortened the description for my experiences at American Eagle Outfitters because this was an insignificant job and it took up space where I could include more valuable experiences.
I made some changes within my cover letter that included using a little bit more enthusiasm and “pizzazz” within my opening sentence in order to draw in the reader. The biggest change I made was to include more of a story within my letter, which gave the reader an idea of who I was as a person, as well as an employee. I accomplished this by telling a bit about my experiences as the communications assistant for the Director of Marketing and Outreach at Raynor Memorial Libraries.
Moving on to the “collaborative project” component of my portfolio, this included the working drafts for the features on faculty currently on sabbatical and the writing center. While these still need some work, I’m still very pleased with the shape that they are taking on and I feel that it is clear that my group has put quite a bit of work into the drafts thus far. For each of these drafts, we have had to come up with questions, draft emails, conduct interviews, and edit responses. It has taken significant cooperation amongst each of our group members, but I feel as though we’ve navigated these challenges quite successfully and I do not anticipate any issues throughout the rest of our co-authoring experience. The final part of my midterm portfolio is made up of my academic annotations. These are small summaries of experiences and readings I’ve encountered throughout this semester, and then I follow up the summary by connecting the experience to writing for the professions. I’m able to draw a link between these annotations and the lessons that I can carry with me into the job search or even my future career. Each of the annotations was something that I considered to be helpful and useful, so it is convenient to have them all listed in one place.
When it comes to my individual participation and writing progression throughout the semester, I feel as though I have really seen some improvement. However, I know that there always aspects that I can improve upon more. Some of the ways that I feel I’ve improved are in the sense that I have become more concise and professional in my writing. I find that I’m able to more eloquently get my points across on paper. In another sense, however, I also find that I am also encouraging myself to elaborate more in areas where it’s appropriate. With each draft I’ve revised this semester, I have had to make changes in wording to become more concise in some areas, while needing to elaborate in other areas. One thing that I feel has always been one of my strengths is grammar. I usually have a decent sense of what sounds right and this has greatly helped me with developing effective and eloquent writing. I also feel that I have strong word choice and an ability to effectively piece together a fluent sentence.
Sincerely,
Marisa Wade
Dear Beth,
Thank you for taking the time to look through each of my pieces. I have put a significant amount of work and time into each one, and I hope that this is evident within the quality of the writing that I’ve submitted. Every piece represents a part of my academic and professional journey thus far, as well as demonstrating the anticipations and goals I hold for my future as a career person within the public relations industry.
My midterm portfolio begins with my business letter forecasting the summer. This was one of my favorite pieces that I’ve written so far within this semester. The reason for this being that I felt as though I was really able to bring my voice into my writing in this letter, as opposed to the sometimes less personal pieces like resumes. I appreciated the opportunity to voice my concerns for the upcoming semester, and felt as though it was incredibly helpful to put my thoughts down in words on paper. I had to make quite a few changes between my first and second draft of the business letter. For instance, on my first draft, I did not include the proper kind of header for a formal business letter format. I neglected to include the address of both the sender and recipient of my letter. This was the first thing I made sure to change when I began my second draft. I also believe that it makes the letter look so much more professional with just this small detail. Another change that I had to make between revisions was to elaborate about my hopes and goals for my future, as well as this semester. Within this next draft, I went into further detail about the kind of writing that I would like to do one day within my “dream job” and how I felt that this course could help prepare me for that. Finally, within the last paragraph of the business letter, I added a little bit more detail into my concerns for the semester. In my first draft, I lightly touched on my fears of a heavy workload from this class. However, within the newest draft, I elaborated more about my strategies for effectively tackling the course work. I did this by delving further into my own work ethic and explaining how I have been able to juggle large projects in the past.
The next aspect of my portfolio was the category of “job search materials.” Within this category were my pieces: master resume, targeted resume, cover letter and job description. Each of these has gone through significant revisions and I’m quite proud of the way that they have evolved and developed from the first draft that I originally turned in. One of the most significant revisions I had to accomplish within each of these was to simply elaborate. I had many more experiences and applicable skills to place on these documents than I originally realized. It was quite helpful to get another pair of eyes.
With my master resume, I made slight format changes between my first few drafts. First, I lightened the section dividers a bit so that the eye was drawn more to the content of the resume as opposed to the dark dividers. The next change that I made was to move around some items underneath my “education” subheading. Previously, I had Bachelor of Science and my minor listed underneath “Marquette University” and my expected graduation date aligned on the other side of the paper. In order to create a more visually aesthetic balance, I moved both of these items underneath my expected graduation date. I also moved the item “Marquette Ignatius Scholarship” underneath this section as well. A large change that I made with this draft of my master resume was to add most of the English courses I have completed to my “Relevant Coursework” section. Neglecting to include these courses in my first draft was a huge oversight on my part, as I was focusing on my major courses within the public relations curriculum. I also added a few new activities and experience to my “Skills & Interest” and “Activities & Service” sections. There were a few things that I just completely forgot to include, and when I took the time to brainstorm over my past few years of educational and work experience, I found that I actually had quite a bit more items to add to my resume.
The changes that I made within my targeted resume were very similar to the changes I made for my master resume. The main difference for my targeted resume, however, was to change up slightly my job descriptions under my “experience” subheading. The goal when changing my descriptions was to tailor them more towards the position description for the Nelson Schmidt internship that I chose as my desired job posting. I picked up a few of their “buzz words” from the post and found ways to incorporate them into my experiences. I also shortened the description for my experiences at American Eagle Outfitters because this was an insignificant job and it took up space where I could include more valuable experiences.
I made some changes within my cover letter that included using a little bit more enthusiasm and “pizzazz” within my opening sentence in order to draw in the reader. The biggest change I made was to include more of a story within my letter, which gave the reader an idea of who I was as a person, as well as an employee. I accomplished this by telling a bit about my experiences as the communications assistant for the Director of Marketing and Outreach at Raynor Memorial Libraries.
Moving on to the “collaborative project” component of my portfolio, this included the working drafts for the features on faculty currently on sabbatical and the writing center. While these still need some work, I’m still very pleased with the shape that they are taking on and I feel that it is clear that my group has put quite a bit of work into the drafts thus far. For each of these drafts, we have had to come up with questions, draft emails, conduct interviews, and edit responses. It has taken significant cooperation amongst each of our group members, but I feel as though we’ve navigated these challenges quite successfully and I do not anticipate any issues throughout the rest of our co-authoring experience. The final part of my midterm portfolio is made up of my academic annotations. These are small summaries of experiences and readings I’ve encountered throughout this semester, and then I follow up the summary by connecting the experience to writing for the professions. I’m able to draw a link between these annotations and the lessons that I can carry with me into the job search or even my future career. Each of the annotations was something that I considered to be helpful and useful, so it is convenient to have them all listed in one place.
When it comes to my individual participation and writing progression throughout the semester, I feel as though I have really seen some improvement. However, I know that there always aspects that I can improve upon more. Some of the ways that I feel I’ve improved are in the sense that I have become more concise and professional in my writing. I find that I’m able to more eloquently get my points across on paper. In another sense, however, I also find that I am also encouraging myself to elaborate more in areas where it’s appropriate. With each draft I’ve revised this semester, I have had to make changes in wording to become more concise in some areas, while needing to elaborate in other areas. One thing that I feel has always been one of my strengths is grammar. I usually have a decent sense of what sounds right and this has greatly helped me with developing effective and eloquent writing. I also feel that I have strong word choice and an ability to effectively piece together a fluent sentence.
Sincerely,
Marisa Wade