Major course projects for English 420 in Florence.
ENGLISH 420: Employment Project
During the Employment Project, you will learn strategies for seeking and securing employment, with particular attention to the documents people normally use to represent themselves and their prospects to potential employers (see "Deliverables" below). This project asks you to work individually, but there will also be chances for you to work with your peers to exchange ideas and feedback.
You will be asked to locate a real and specific job for which you are qualified and prepare the application materials for it. If you already have a good job, you'll find one that would be an advance for you, then prepare application materials for that position. Step 1 of the project asks you to learn about and use various web-based resources for job seekers and ultimately to select one real job to pursue. Step 2 asks you to prepare the all-important cover letter (i.e., "Job Application Letter"). Step 3 asks you to prepare a print resume suitable for such a position. In Step 4, you will assess your experience in a "Project Assessment Document." In the process of completing each step, you will work closely with your peers and me to shape your writing so that it represents you and your experience fully and effectively.
This project emphasizes several important goals that all
professional writers should bear in mind and that are consistent with those
of the Professional Writing Program at
Purdue. In the Employment Project, you will learn to shape your writing
for very specific situations and purposes:
Writing in Context
Analyze professional cultures, social contexts, and audiences to determine
how they shape the various purposes and forms of writing, such as persuasion,
organizational communication, and public discourse.
Writing Process
Develop and understand various strategies for planning, researching, drafting,
revising, and editing documents that respond effectively and ethically
to professional situations and audiences.
Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents,
including analyzing professional contexts, assessing and using information
resources, and determining how various media and technologies affect
and are affected by users and readers.
Technology
Develop strategies for using and adapting various communication technologies
to manage projects and produce informative and usable professional documents.
Document Design
Learn to argue with visual data, understanding and implementing various principles
of format, layout, and design of professional documents that meet multiple
user and reader needs.
Step 1: Skills Inventory, Job Description and Rationale. In addition to completing and submitting the skills inventory, produce
an exact copy of the job announcement, a one-paragraph description of the
position in your own words, and a two-paragraph discussion of why you have
chosen this position and why you believe you are qualified for it. Not
counting the skills inventory or actual job announcement, Step 1 should
be approximately 300-500 words in length. This step is due on Monday,
May 22 by the beginning of class.
Step 2: Job Application Letter. The job application letter (or "cover letter") is critical to your efforts to secure a job, perhaps as critical as your resume itself. For Project 1, your letter should be no longer than one or two pages (one is preferable in most cases), following the suggestions and models discussed during class. (See below under resources for more information.) Printed draft due for peer review: Tuesday, May 23 for peer review.
Step 3: Print Resume. Your print resume (one or more pages in length, depending upon the
type of job and the depth of your experience) should adapt features drawn
from the samples discussed in class or available for review at the Online Writing Lab.
It's critical that you shape your resume to the specific job you have chosen
to apply for (that it's suited to the context), so be sure to include only
the relevant aspects of your professional experience. As in the Job Application
Letter, your writing needs to be error-free, concise, and presented in
an easily readable format. Printed draft due for peer review: Monday,
May 29.
Step 4: Project Assessment Document: As you
near the end of your work on the Employment Project, prepare a two-page overview
and analysis of your deliverables and the process you used to complete
them. Your Project Assessment Document should answer most of the following
questions, each of which is tied to the major goals of the assignment:
| Writing in Context: |
How did the particular job you applied for affect how you wrote your letter? Did it change or affect how you presented yourself? How did applying for this position help you understand aspects of your experience you might need to develop more? |
| Process: |
What was the most challenging document to produce and why? Briefly describe and explain one of the significant revisions you made to this document after your initial draft. |
| Research: |
Which research resource proved to be the most beneficial for you? The least? Explain. |
| Collaboration: |
What was one way that peer feedback helped you improve your work? How did responding to the work of others help you improve your own work? |
| Project Management: |
How well did you plan your work on this project? What might you have done differently? |
| Document Design: |
What is the most effective aspect of your deliverables in terms of presentation or design? Have you deliberately adapted a standard form in an unusual or creative way? If so, why? |
Your Project Assessment Document is due when you turn in your completed Employment
Project on Monday, June 6. All four deliverables
should be fully revised and submitted in printed form on Monday, June
6. All documents should be ordered in sequence,
Steps 1-4.
The Employment Project is worth 30% of your course grade. The breakdown for each of its components is as follows: Step 1: Job Description and Rationale (20%); Step 2: Job Application Letter (30%); Step 3: Print Resume (30%); Step 4: Project Assessment Document (20%).
When I assign a grade to your project, I will pay particular attention to see whether you have effectively adapted your documents to the job for which you have applied. Your writing will need to be precise, accurate, and well-suited to the context (the job/field) and to the rhetorical occasion (in terms of tone, style, and content). In this case, a generic, catch-all resume and cover letter will not satisfy the requirements of the project.
You will have opportunities to revise your work throughout the process and will be permitted to revise once again after receiving your grade on the project, subject to these restrictions: 1) You turn in your completed revision within one week of the date it was returned to you with a grade; 2) you include submission notes that specify precisely what you did to improve your work.