Details on the Documents and How They Will Be Evaluated:

1. Job Posting: Find and print a current, relevant, and interesting job posting for a job you would apply for within the next year. You may instead choose to find a posting for an internship, or a graduate program you would like to apply to. You must provide the actual TEXT of the posting, so once you find one you want to work with, copy/paste the text into a document with URL and list date and save it (just in case the posting is removed before our due date).

• Résumé/CV: Depending on your goals, create a résumé or curriculum vitae that provides the relevant information for your application. Make sure this is thoroughly edited and professionally formatted. Using the readings and information provided, you may choose to create a traditional or non-traditional formatted résumé but you should utilize the advice and critical thinking elements from the supplemental articles and samples. Make sure you consider your audience and context in making your design decisions. You must construct or revise your résumé to demonstrate a critical reading of the job posting and an effective response.
• Self-Analysis of Strategy: This is a writing exercise that is intended to articulate your goals, principles, and expectations for how your résumé and cover letter would be received when submitted. This is not a document that you would submit to an employer. The GOAL of the document is to analyze the rhetorical strategies you employed in the writing, design, and submission of your application materials. This is a short analysis essay that should address the following:

1. Cover Letter/Personal Statement: For a specific job posting or internship or graduate program, write a cover letter that expresses your interest in a position. This should state your goals, your strengths in the field, your knowledge of the company/program and your appropriateness for the position; you must include an anecdote in your writing – a short, personal narrative passage that highlights some aspect of your candidacy with vivid, descriptive detail. Make sure this is thoroughly edited and professionally formatted. You must be applying to the same posting you chose in step 1. You must demonstrate that you have carefully read and analyzed the job posting, as well as the ethos of the institution, responding to and addressing their tone, wording, values, and jargon in your own letter.

• Discussion of the assumptions and expectations of your audience, based on a textual reading of your job posting and light research of the company/program.
• Decisions of wording, description, and organization of cover letter/personal statement.
• Decisions of anecdote – what does your descriptive detail reveal about you and how does it function in your overall ethos?
• Decisions of design of résumé.
• Discussion of rhetorical strategies and appeals you are attempting to use to persuade your audience.

How Résumé Will Be Graded:

The résumé grade will be based on the following three areas of evaluation criteria:

1. Visual Presentation:

• Appropriate typeface and size
• Bulleted lists rather than paragraphs, use bullets, not tiny hyphens-
• Balanced spacing/white space
• Consistent and visually helpful use of bold and/or underlining and/or upper case to highlight headings
• Visually accessible information
• Consistently aligned dates, columns

2. Structure/Format—Base your formatting on one of the types modeled in the Blackboard links, with an emphasis on logical ordering and easy access to information:

• “Skills” model: education and experience grouped according to relevance, OR
• “Chronological” model: information presented in reverse chronological order, OR
• “Combination” model: most relevant information grouped according to skill sets and relevancy; less relevant information presented chronologically at bottom

3. Language/Content:

• Parallel structure for bullet points
• Short phrases or fragments
• Job descriptions starting with verbs in consistent tense and form
• First letters capitalized on bulleted lists
• Concise wording, no repetition
• No “I” references
• Information relevant to position desired
• NO grammar, punctuation or spelling errors
• NO typos

How Cover Letter Will Be Graded:

The cover letter grade will be based on the following four areas of evaluation criteria:

1. Structure & Format:

• One page long; 3-4 paragraphs
• Proper heading and greeting
• Stated objective(s) in the introductory paragraph
• Qualifications detailed in the middle paragraph(s)
• Appropriate closing and signature

2. Content:

• New information not on résumé but relevant to the career you are seeking
• Enhancements to information on résumé with specific details and explanations to indicate how your experience qualifies you for the position you seek
• Includes an anecdote that SHOWS, not merely TELLS

• Effective use of language and examples to embed ethos and pathos into your letter
• Professional writing style
• Varied sentence types
• NO typos or errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation

4. Writing & Editing:

How Graduate School Personal Statement Will Be Graded: