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Sample Academic Cover Letter
For your final exam, I would like you to write about the papers
you've written in class. Discuss how each of these three pieces came
into being, evaluate whether you think they successfully communicated a
purpose to an audience, whether you enjoyed writing them (or not),
whether you found your peer review letters helpful (include whether or
not your own peer reviews helped you think about your own essays), why
you've chosen to revise one particular piece--what revisions,
specifically, have you made--and any other pertinent information about
your papers you feel inclined to discuss.
On the day of your final, you will turn in your letter to me, your final
draft, and your first draft graded by the panel (along with your journal
entries).
What I'm asking you to do in this letter is to give a reflective,
self-evaluation of your work this semester. This sort of reflective
self-evaluation is called metacognition, which is often asked of both
students and employees. Metacognition refers to higher order thinking
and should allow you some distance in order to see yourself and your
work from a different angle of vision.
The following example illustrates one student's writing journey over the
course of semester--she is writing for a portfolio class, which we,
obviously, are not:
As I sit and examine my nearly completed portfolio, I ask myself if I
will ever come down this road again, writing nontechnical pieces. I am
a prelaw student, and my writing usually consists of analyzing
philosophers and commenting on Supreme Court decisions. Like everyone,
I have no idea what the future holds, but I do hope I can carry some of
the editing and rewriting skills I have learned from this portfolio into
my major. That is not to say I wouldn't like to continue with writing:
I really enjoyed the opportunity to develop a side of me that before was
fairly untouched.
The first paper in the portfolio, "Exposed," recalls an experience with
my ninth grade English teacher, Mrs. Flynn, which kept me away from the
world of writing for a few years. This piece really surprised me--it
was the first piece we wrote and, consequently, the first one to end my
nonwriting streak. I was shocked at how easily it seem to lean out of
my mind right onto the word processor, as if it was a story I had been
longing to tell for a while. Although Mrs. Flynn never reappears in the
portfolio, my insecurities about my own writing were a constant hurdle
for me to jump.
My advisory piece, "From Twists to Tangles: A Beginners Guide to Knots,"
is by far the piece I feel least comfortable with, yet many of editors
enjoyed it the most. Contrary to my bossy (prelaw student, remember?)
personality, I felt like it was arrogant and condescending to advise
others how to do anything. Choosing a topic such as knots to label
myself as an expert about was similarly difficult, as was actually
figuring out "So how do you do it?"
The memoir "Air Fare" and the editorial "Hanukkah Bushes and Other Such
Nonsense" I found very challenging to write. My pit bull-like
perfectionist side reared its ugly and head and chased me though many
rewrites and headaches. I believe these pieces were harder because they
are both highly tied to experiences that my parents played a role in,
and I wanted the final drafts to be a version I would be proud of giving
to them. They both deal with my religion and issues that have developed
because of it. My Judaism was a topic that proved so natural (not to
say easy) to write about that once I started, I found that many pieces
(including those that I omitted from the final cut for this portfolio)
would end up exploring a minority/religious/Jewish angle of a
situation. Perhaps due to all the struggles with these pieces, they are
the two that I like the most also, and would like to see eventually
published.
What unites this portfolio? I had found throughout these four works a
number of "links." Most notable is my sense of questioning that which
surrounds me, including myself. I question traditions around me, how
people attack challenges, and how I have dealt with obstacles in my
past. Even my ideas for future pieces involve a questioning spirit. I
was pleased to discover this, since I consciously value questioning, but
wasn't aware it had seeped its way into my subconscious. I had heard
more than once the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, "Nobody can make you feel
inferior with your consent." This I find ignorant; although I am never
one to support anyone claiming that they are a victim for whatever
reason, I think the emotion of feeling inferior is in a class by
itself. It is not an emotion one can straighten their back and walk
away from, as Eleanor Roosevelt implies, since it is one of the emotions
that cuts right to the bone and hurts deeply. Although I have no
feelings of inferiority to anyone anymore, it was an emotion I had some
tough wrestling matches with when I was younger.
Writing this portfolio has proved to be an exploration in many senses.
As you read it and "explore" what I have to say, may you enjoy the
journey, take some ideas with you, and, of course, tread lightly!
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