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Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it)

Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it)
For the next few months I will be posting the “best of the best” Professor is in blog posts on the job market, for the benefit of all those girding their loins for the 2013-2014 market. Today’s post was originally published in 2011. I’ve now read about two thousand more job letters than I mention here. All the advice still applies. In my 15 years as a faculty member I served on approximately 11 search committees. Some of these search committees I chaired. Estimating that each search brought in an average of 200 applications (a conservative estimate for a field like Anthropology, a generous estimate for a much smaller field like East Asian Languages and Literatures), that means I have read approximately 2200 job applications. That means I’ve read 2200 job cover letters. I’ve also read the cover letters of my own students, and a passel of Ph.D. students who came to me for advice, as well as a large number of clients since opening The Professor is In (as of July 2012 let’s say 600). 1. 2. 3.

http://theprofessorisin.com/2013/05/17/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks/

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The Six Ways You’re Acting Like a Grad Student (And how that’s killing you on the job market) For the next few months I will be posting the “best of the best” Professor is in blog posts on the job market, for the benefit of all those girding their loins for the 2013-2014 market. Today we have another Special Request post, this one coming from Liz, who asks, “You’re always telling us ‘not to act like graduate students.’ But how do I know when I’m doing it??” Thanks for asking this, Liz. It is an excellent question, especially at the start of the conference and job season. Tools for Writing: Points of View in Writing There are three different points of view that can be used in writing: first person, second person, and third person. In academic writing, the third person point of view is usually clearer and allows a writer to come across as more credible. Due to this and other reasons, the third person point of view is considered the best in academic writing. First person occurs primarily through the use of the pronoun “I.” This is the point of view used when a writer is writing about himself. There may be times when it is okay to incorporate personal examples into an essay, and if so, the first person will be used.

OWL: Subject/Verb Agreement Summary: Ever get "subject/verb agreement" as an error on a paper? This handout will help you understand this common grammar problem. OWL: Creating a Thesis Statement Summary: This resource provides tips for creating a thesis statement and examples of different types of thesis statements. Contributors:Elyssa Tardiff, Allen BrizeeLast Edited: 2014-02-10 10:44:43 Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement 1. Abstracts This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

OWL: Paraphrase Exercises Summary: This resource discusses how to paraphrase correctly and accurately. Contributors:Purdue OWLLast Edited: 2016-06-30 09:41:14 Learn to borrow from a source without plagiarizing. For more information on paraphrasing, as well as other ways to integrate sources into your paper, see the Purdue OWL handout Quoting Paraphrasing, and Summarizing. OWL Writing Exercises These OWL resources offer information and exercises on how to clarify sentences and specifically discuss sentence clauses, sentence fragments, sentence structure, and subject-verb agreement. Please use the navigation bar on the left or the links below to access the individual exercises. Sentence Clauses: Independent and Dependent Clauses This resource provides exercises on the differences between independent and dependent clauses that you may print.

Academic Writing These OWL resources will help you with the types of writing you may encounter while in college. The OWL resources range from rhetorical approaches for writing, to document organization, to sentence level work, such as clarity. For specific examples of writing assignments, please see our Common Writing Assignments area. OWL: Verb Tenses Summary: This handout explains and describes the sequence of verb tenses in English. Contributors:Chris Berry, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth AngeliLast Edited: 2013-09-14 09:29:01 Strictly speaking, in English, only two tenses are marked in the verb alone, present (as in "he sings") and past (as in "he sang"). Other English language tenses, as many as thirty of them, are marked by other words called auxiliaries. Understanding the six basic tenses allows one to re-create much of the reality of time in their writing.

Methods of communication - Getting the message across - the importance of good communications - HMRC The best communication methods succeed in putting across the right message in a clear, unambiguous way that gets noticed by the target audience, whilst also saving on time and cost. Good communicators succeed in choosing the best medium of communication for the particular purpose in mind. For external communications, the Inland Revenue typically uses: Written communications dispatched by mail e.g. statements detailing tax liabilities and payment schedules. Paper-based items sent by mail have the advantage of providing a clear, fileable statement that is likely to reach its intended recipient.Oral communications: customers can 'phone in' with their queries.

mshesso:Grammar AA = Avoid Anthropomorphism Do not assign uniquely human qualities to inanimate objects. For instance, results do not think and the literature does not believe. STANDARD OUTLINE FOR  RESEARCH P Not only will this outline help you write, it will help you skim college-level reading. Note: In a group project, each individual’s paper—like chapters-- may follow IV-VII. Later, write I, II, III &, VII-VIII to frame all of the individual sections coherently.

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