RSU Writing Center Tip: Help with Resumes and Cover Letters

Technical Communications

Writing for the Professions

Tech Writing

Business Writing

These are the sort of terms we give to writing that is composed for an audience of business-minded folks, people looking to become employed, to hire employees, to manage employees, etc. I'm working on incorporating some of this kind of writing into my Composition courses for two main reasons:

1. It's writing! Those same concepts of writing process, purpose, and audience are just as important to this sort of writing. They translate across boundaries and are valuable in all majors.

2. A great writing exercise to employ (see what I did there?) is the job application materials assignment. It encourages students to think about their future, research potential employers, practice writing for a specific audience, familiarize themselves with the job hunting and hiring processes, generate templates for use during future job searches, and learn about how design can complement document function.

RSU Career Services can help you with your job search and has posted some resources to help you generate documents like resumes and cover letters.

Here's one more resource you could use as you work: the Resumes and Job Application page of the Bedford/St. Martin's Writing that Works textbook, 11th edition. Oh! And, if you have a copy of The Everyday Writer, check out chapter 64 (starts on page 552), "Writing for Business," for more models and advice.

Did you know you can bring job application documents to the Writing Center for help? We can help with any and all college-level writing tasks--including resumes, cover letters, and any other writing required during a job search. Just email writingcenter@rsu.edu for more information!

~Sara

In Process

Hi, all,

Are you working on any summer writing projects? I've got several going, and two of them are essays for a collection about teaching with children's literature. One is focused on teaching with Anna Sewell's 1877 Black Beauty and the other on teaching with Keiron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, et al.'s 2013-2014 reboot of the Young Avengers.

As I work on these projects, I'm reminded how very important a conscious and reflective writing process is. Without it, I'd be doomed to a terror and shame spiral--it's very easy to get caught up in the pressure and ever-expanding challenges of every major writing task. These essays are not really that long (2500-4000) words, but it's not really the length that determines the amount of fear. Instead, it's the challenge of purpose and audience.

Why am I writing, really?

What is it about this topic that is compelling?

For whom am I writing?

What does the audience know about my topic?

I've gathered all my familiar aids. My favorite way of taking notes, music to get me pumped up about writing after I've taken a break and lost momentum, friends to talk to about my ideas, all that stuff.

Something I learned about recently (from a student who came in for a Writing Center appointment this Spring!) is the information that MS Word stores about how many revisions/edits you've done and how many hours you've worked on a document. Check this out:

I'm only in the note-taking,outlining, and prewriting stage and already I'm on my 95th revision! Neat.

Happy writing,
Sara