Cover Letter and Personal Essay, Essays (university) of Effective CV Writing

Download Cover Letter and Personal Essay and more Essays (university) Effective CV Writing in PDF only on Docsity! Scholarship Packet 2 Writing a Cover Letter/Personal Essay for a Scholarship* ** Tips: What to Do with a Scholarship Application Essay* 1. Answer the Question. Review the question asked by the application. Has the student completely answered it? If not, what additional info needs to be included? How can it be effectively inserted into the text? 2. Be Original. Is the essay individual and creative or does it give an unexciting narrative? 3. Be Individual. Scholarship officers want to learn about the student and his or her writing ability. Is the essay meaningful and descriptive, about the student’s feelings and not entirely about actions? 4. Don’t “Thesaurize” the Composition. Big words used inappropriately make for clunky, unconvincing essays. 5. Use Imagery and Clear, Vivid Prose. A lot of students who come to us are not ease with using imagery so it’s up to us to see that all of the reader’s senses are engaged. 6. Spend Most of Your Time on the Introduction. Expect scholarship officers to spend 1-2 minutes reading the essay. The introduction should grab the reader’s interest from the beginning. Some things to keep in mind:  Don’t summarize in the introduction. If you summarize, the scholarship officer need not read the rest of your essay.  Create mystery or intrigue in your introduction. It is not necessary or recommended that your first sentence give away the subject matter. Raise questions in the minds of the scholarship officers to force them to read on. Appeal to their emotions to make them relate to your subject matter. 7. Relate Body Paragraphs to the Introduction. The introduction can be original but cannot be silly. The paragraphs that follow must relate to the introduction. 8. Use Transitions. Applicants continue to ignore transitioning to their own detriment. Use transitions within paragraphs and especially between paragraphs to preserve the logical flow of the essay. Transitions are not limited to phrases like “as a result, in addition, while, since, etc.” but includes repeating key words and progressing the idea. Transitions provide the intellectual architecture to argument building. Scholarship Packet 3 9. Conclude with a bang. The conclusion is the last chance to persuade or impress the reader. In the conclusion, avoid summary since the essay is usually short to begin with; the reader should not need to be reminded of what was written 300 words before. Also, do not use stock phrases like “in conclusion, in summary, to conclude, etc.” Sample Cover Letter Format* Fran Fingers 1234 Any Street Anywhere, Anystate 12345 (123) 867-5309 October 5, XXXX Bonnie Blum Memorial Scholarship Selection Committee 5678 Any Street Anyhwere, Anystate 12345 Members of the Selection Committee: Opening: Houses the reason for the letter, the specifics of your application, umbrella statement for rest of letter. First Paragraph: Topic Sentence, discussion of one of areas mentioned earlier (education for example) briefly or in depth depending on accompaniment of personal essay and/or resume. Second Paragraph: Transition, topics sentence, discussion of new point. Third Paragraph: See second. Fourth Paragraph: See third. Eventually you will run out of new points to discuss. You will then make the transition into a closing paragraph. Closing: Often times it’s easy to transition from your goals to a summation of the letter. Do not use the same wording as the opener. Thank the committee for considering your letter. Sincerely, Signature Fran Fingers Scholarship Packet 6 being an SI leader how to explain things in several different ways and not to give up until the student truly understands the material. In addition to my employment I also continue to volunteer for community service. I assist in a kindergarten class every Wednesday. I have tied shoes; put on name tags, sang songs and helped the children make apple muffins. I help the teacher with lessons, art projects, supervising during “play time,” testing and many other aspects of the career I hope to have one day. It is the most rewarding experience at this pointing in my life. I love children. Watching them grow and learn is one of my greatest joys. I also give some of my time to the children at my church. I am the leader of the puppet team there. I organize outings, performances and competitions for about fifteen children between the ages of eleven and sixteen. I conduct practice for two hours every Saturday in which the puppeteers learn more about puppetry and practice songs and skits for upcoming performances. I chose the material and make decisions about who gets which part. Dedication and commitment are two of the traits that have been developed in me through this experience. After graduation I hope to become an elementary school teacher. I am committed to this goal as is evident by my record of academic accomplishments and community service. I am convinced that all these factors make me a good candidate for this scholarship. Sample Essay/Cover Letter 3 My name is __________, and I am applying for the Ralph M. and Emmalyn E. Freeman Philosophy Scholarship. Presently, I am a senior working towards a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and English with a specialization in writing. Despite being a full time student, balancing two majors, maintaining a 3.8 GPA, and working over 30 hours a week, I also take the initiative to enhance my education outside the classroom. I constantly strive for excellence and am committed to making my time as an undergraduate as productive and beneficial as possible. A well-rounded student, my interests span across curriculum and culture. I’ve thirsted for knowledge since childhood, and when I finally reached high school, my craving was further whetted. I finished fifth grade in the United States before moving to Bethlehem, Palestine. There, in my parent’s homeland, I completed the next 4 years of my education. Consequently, I attended my first year of high school in an Arabic school. Although I did exceedingly well there, ranking seventh amongst my classmates, my family relocated to Grand Blanc, MI before I began tenth grade. Regardless of the radical shift in culture and educational systems, I excelled in my new setting. I graduated from Grand Blanc High School in January 2000, a semester early, with a 3.81 GPA and ranking 38th out of a class of 468. Attending college liberated me and allowed me to not only explore a wider array of subjects, including women, gender and feminist studies, but also explore myself. I grew into a strong woman, questioning the status quo and doing all I can to change injustices I find. My development was aided by the Michigan Competitive Scholarship (since Fall 2002) and consistently acknowledged by the University of Michigan-Flint Scholar Award (for every semester at U of M – Flint except Fall 2000). My personal achievements exceed beyond school, however. I work roughly 30 hours a week, spread liberally over two jobs. The first is as a cashier for Bernie’s Market. I’ve learned to work with others through this experience and it has shaped me into a responsible adult. As Bernie’s is a family business, I often open and close the market, work with suppliers, track purchase and sales, in addition to hands-on jobs like stocking shelves. The second is as head tutor in the Marian E. Wright Writing Center. I am responsible not only for tutoring developmental writers enrolled in ENG 109 and students wanting one-on-one Scholarship Packet 7 appointments for any subject, in any stage of writing but also supervise the day-to-day operations of the center. I monitor scheduling and budget, organize and lead meetings, plan and execute workshops, and overall keep the writing center running smoothly for the benefit of fellow tutors and students. Currently, I’m also voluntarily involved in planning the 11th Annual Michigan Writing Centers Ideas Exchange with my co-workers, manager and director. I’ve also helped revise the syllabus for the center’s tutor training course. After its revisions, I worked with the center’s director and fellow staff to carry out the revisions in the actual classroom. My work in the center is extremely gratifying both on the personal and professional level. I take pleasure in watching my students discover and rediscover writing. Furthermore, their success inspires me to delve into my own work regularly. In that avenue, I spend what little spare time I have writing and revising poetry for submission to contests and various publications. I’m also in the process of assembling a work tentatively titled “Fabulous Feminism” which I intend to be an introductory guide to feminism in all its faces. To do this, I’m drawing on my experience from Spring and Summer 2002 in which I created the “Road Guide to Working in the Writing Center,” an instructional manual for all incoming tutors. Over the upcoming spring, summer and fall, I’m working with the help of Dr. Jami Anderson to begin and complete my senior thesis concerning feminist ethics. In the past, I attended two Writing Center conferences including the 9th Annual Michigan Writing Centers Ideas Exchange and the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing/Midwest Writing Centers Association Conference 2002, for which I was a presenter. Behind my achievements is a strong desire to learn. I hope to complete my Bachelor’s degree over the next year and attend graduate school so I can one day return the favor many professors bestowed on me and teach at a college level. Philosophy has taught me to evaluate life and my experience. It’s through that that I hope to become an instrumental member of society, using all of my energies to bring about constructive change and create a path to the “good life,” not only for myself but also for others. I would like to thank you in advance for considering my application.