Instructor's Page:
Online Class Period on Writing Job Emails and Cover Letters

Description of Class Period

Our tutorial on writing job emails and cover letters was developed to put engineering and science students in position to succeed in their emails and letters to secure an internship or research position. This tutorial targets students enrolled in  first-year seminars or professional development workshops.

Objectives of Class Period

  1. Persuade students about the importance of analyzing audience before writing an email or letter
  2. Dispel common misconceptions that engineering and science students have the structure and language of emails and letters
  3. Put students in a position to draft a job application email.

Online Class Period

Prior to the class period, the students should do the following:
  1. View the films of the Tutorial for Job Emails and Cover Letters in Engineering and Science.
  2. ​Take a comprehension quiz on the course's online platform (instructors are welcome to use questions given on this page)
  3. View or download an email template or letter template.
  4. Draft a job application email or cover letter

Teaching Slides for Follow-Up Class Period

​If a live class period or zoom class period is available, you might consider using the following instructor slides (forthcoming), which pose and answer questions from the tutorial. When I show these slides, I call on specific students to answer the easier questions (the ones directly discussed in the tutorial). For the more difficult questions, I pose the questions to the class. For "yes or no" or multiple choice questions, I have students raise their hands.  

Possible Questions for Comprehension Quiz 

  1. After you identify the content that needs to be communicated, the tutorial recommends what as the next step in the writing process?a) Write an outline
    b) Write a working subject line
    c) Write the first paragraph
    d) Write the last paragraph
    e) Analyze the constraints of audience, purpose, and occasion
  2. True or False: An effective way to begin a professional email is "My name is...." 
  3. True or False: An effective way to structure a middle paragraph of a job application email is to make an assertion in the first sentence and then back up that assertion with examples and other evidence in the paragraph's remaining sentences.
  4. True or False: An effective ending to an email or letter indicates the next step for the audience and provides closure.
  5. Of the following choices, which is the most effective subject line of a job application email?
    a) Eric Salerno Product Development Summer Intern Opportunity
    b) Request for a Summer Internship in Product Development
    c) Best Internship Candidate on the Market--Bar None
    d) Job Opportunity
    e) Summer Internship Opportunity
  6. True or False: In professional emails and letters, an effective strategy is to achieve a balance between using "I" and using "you." 
  7. True or False: The name "resume.pdf" is an appropriate file name for a resume attached to a job application email.
​Answers: 1(e); 2(F); 3(T); 4(T); 5(b); 6(T); 7(F)

References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 4th ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2018).
  2. Bernstein, Theodore, The Careful Writer (New York: Free Press, 1995).​​
  3. William A. Sabin, The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting, 11th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010).
Sponsors
     Leonhard Center, College of Engineering, Penn State
​     National Science Foundation, NSF EAGER Award  1752096

​Content Editor
     Michael Alley, Teaching Professor, College of Engineering, Penn State

Film Editors
     Richelle Weiger, College of Engineering, Penn State
     Casey Fenton, College of Engineering, Penn State
​For the academic year 2019-2020, we are collecting comments, questions, criticisms, and suggestions for the films, text, and quizzes of each lesson on scientific writing. To help us understand your input, would please let us know what your discipline is and whether you are a student, professional, or faculty member?