Cover Letter, Résumé, and Course List
Order Description
Assignment 6: Cover Letter, Résumé, and Course List
To pursue your post-undergraduate plans—whether that means work, internships, or graduate school—you need to prepare a set of professional materials: a cover letter, résumé, and course list.
Because the content and arrangement of information in these professionally focused materials should vary depending on your discipline and their prospective use, you must “declare” how you intend to use them (and how I should look at them).
Cover Letter:
A cover letter introduces your résumé and course list; it should clarify how you want readers to review your materials (i.e., as part of an admissions process or as part of a job application) and highlight key features (explain elements that are presented briefly in the résumé). Although the letter appears first when materials are presented, it is best to write it after you have prepared the résumé and course list.
The letter should be consistent with your résumé in information and overall design (font, margins, and so on).
Format for Cover Letter
• Make your paragraph organization logical, and be sure that the information is clear and complete.
• Use block form or semi-block form.
• Single space throughout, with double spacing between the paragraphs.
• Use your complete address (either home or school) and include the date (use the same form you use on the résumé).
• Leave plenty of “white space” and center the letter on the page.
• Maintain a professional but not pompous tone. Write clear, natural-sounding sentences, and avoid phoney-sounding vocabulary.
Typing:
• Make sure your letter is free of spelling or typing errors.
• Do not use unusual (decorative) fonts.
• Abbreviate sparingly.
Résumé:
A résumé presents important information about you in an “outline” form; it should include selected personal information, as well as information about your education, extra-curricular activities, work experience, and, in some instances, references.
Context:
• Prepare these materials as if you were in your last semester at ISU.
• Because your resume will have some “blanks,” make up that information—with the understanding that the version you create for this project will have to be modified later.
Format for Resume:
• Make the organization easy to follow and the sectioning logical.
• Make sure that information is chronologically or alphabetically presented, whichever applies. Or you can use reverse-chronological order.
• Keep all information in parallel form (all fragments or all sentences; all capitals for headings or normal capitalization; all like items indented or like items lined up with the margin).
• Include only information which is pertinent to your work or which gives an impression of your work habits. Don’t overload your résumé with trivial material that has nothing to do with your educational or work-related goals.
• Leave plenty of “white space” to make your information as accessible and attractive as possible.
Typing:
• Make sure your résumé is free of spelling and typing errors. It must be “letter perfect.”
Course List:
A course list presents required and elective courses in your major and minor, along with other related courses; it presents in an easy-to-read format the information that appears in your not-so-easy-to-read transcript. (As with the résumé, you will need to project forward by including all of the courses you will have completed by the time you finish your degree.)
Format for Course List:
• The format of your course list should match that of your résumé: use the same font and the same overall design.
• Place your courses in numerical order (English 108 should precede English 230).
Content:
• Include pertinent information: course numbers, descriptive titles, credit hours, grades, and so on) in a uniform style.
• Use abbreviations to save space.
Submitting the Assignment
• Save your assignment as a single Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx), using page breaks where appropriate to separate components.
• The assignment will be evaluated on (1) format and appearance, (2) the appropriateness of the information provided, (3) clarity and professionalism, and (4) overall technical matters.
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