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CSTW Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing

College of Humanities

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Portfolio Guidelines

Your portfolio must contain a cover letter, résumé, and three of your best, meticulously proofread writing samples. Here are some specifics:

Letter

Write a cover letter to Professor Trish Houston, Coordinator for the Minor in Professional Writing. Format this as a formal business letter, with a heading or letterhead, date, inside address, salutation, body, complimen-tary close, and your signature. Remember that your prospective internship supervisor will see this letter and your Résumé. These two documents give you an additional opportunity to demonstrate your writing professionalism.

Use the body of the letter to, first, articulate why you are interested in the Minor in Professional Writing and, second, to analyze and evaluate the writing samples in your portfolio. You can use the following questions to guide your analysis: Which writing sample do you think is the best? Why? What makes it more effective than the others? What was the context for creating each of the pieces? Were any pieces written collaboratively? What was your role in the collaboration?

Résumé

Your Résumé should inform readers about your education, work experience, and special skills related to professional writing. Consider including a section titled "Relevant Coursework" to showcase your writing experience. If you would like to learn more about writing a good Résumé, pick up a handout called "Writing an Effective Résumé" from the Writing Center in 475 Mendenhall Lab or read the chapter on Résumés in Kolin's Successful Writing at Work, which is often a text for HUM COL 450.

Writing Samples

The assignments you have written for classes can be used as examples of your writing, but you may have others as well. Examine your writing samples to identify three that best showcase your abilities, and make sure your samples demonstrate as much variety as possible. Try not to choose all research papers, for example, or all news articles. A press release, business letter, memo, Web page, or short analytical paper will show your ability to write in more than one style. If papers written for courses are all you have to select from, try for variety of subject matter. Avoid poems, as they tell prospective employers little about your ability to do workplace writing.

Remember to meticulously proofread all application materials to ensure that they are work-world ready, that is, free of typographical, mechanical, and grammatical errors. Do not send your portfolio electronically; rather, bring hard copies placed in a simple manila envelope to the Professional Writing Minor office, 419 Mendenhall Lab.

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