Graded Project: Personal and Professional Writing Skills

Introduction

Now you’ll put all the writing skills you’ve studied to the test. Your exam for this lesson is a graded writing project. You’ll be provided with a two-part prompt that you’ll have to respond to using all the writing skills you’ve learned throughout this course.

• Part 1: Personal Writing—This part of your prompt will focus on the skills you studied for personal writing.
• Part 2: Professional Writing—This part of your prompt will focus on drafting a cover letter for a position of your choosing.

Before you submit your short essay and cover letter, you must check off all the tasks on the Final Project Checklist to make sure you have everything required for this graded project. Once you mark off all the tasks on the list, your submission page will show.

This video previews your writing assignment and how you’ll use what it teaches.

Prompt and Writing Guidelines

Read the prompts and the following rubric that will be used to grade your assignment in full before you start writing. Make sure you understand every part of the prompt you’re asked to write. You’ll have a chance to practice before you submit your final project.

Part 1: Personal Writing

For the first part of your project, you’ll take the writing skills you’ve learned so far in your studies and write about your own personal experiences. Consider what you’ve learned about personal writing in Analyzing Content in Nonfiction and Analyzing Language in Nonfiction. This part of your project will have many of the same elements, such as an introduction, body, and conclusion.

What made you choose this job? Maybe it’s a job you already have or one that you’re hoping to get in the future. Are you planning on going to college to be able to work in this field? Does this job require technical school? Or is this something you want to immediately pursue after you work towards your diploma? Why do you think you’ll do well in this job?

The purpose of this composition is to get you thinking and writing about the job you would like to have. This will prepare you for the formal cover letter writing in Part 2 of your project.

This prompt requires a multi-paragraph essay response that should include the following:

• The title of the job you want
• At least two reasons why that job is important or interesting to you
• Any personal experiences you’ve had with that job before

Your writing should include these items:

• An introduction paragraph
• One to three body paragraphs
• A conclusion paragraph

Your rubric for this portion of the project contains specific criteria you should follow for each element of your personal narrative. You may want to start a draft of your personal narrative by writing an outline of what you plan to write about. Then, you can take that outline and turn it into paragraph form.

As you’re thinking about this prompt, consider making a pre-writing outline to collect your thoughts. It can be as simple or as detailed as you need it to be.

Part 2: Professional Writing

In Part 2 of your project, you’ll create an effective cover letter using your ideas from Part 1 and the information and skills you just read about in Personal and Professional Writing.

When writing for this prompt, be sure to include these items:

• Your contact information, including your full name, your address, your email address, and your phone number
• One introduction paragraph
• At least one paragraph summarizing your experience, skills, and attributes
• One closing paragraph

If you have a résumé written, you can use that as an outline of what to discuss in your cover letter. Or, if you’ve never had a job before, or haven’t had one tailored to this position, you can focus on your personal life experiences and how they make you an ideal candidate for the job.

In your introduction, be sure to do the following:

• Introduce yourself.
• Identify the position you’re interested in.
• Add what you would contribute to the organization.

In your body paragraph(s), be sure to take these steps:

• Pair your experiences to the job requirements
• Emphasizing the value you bring to the organization

In your conclusion, be sure to make these points:

• Express appreciation for the reader’s time.
• Seek some type of action or response from the reader.

As you’re thinking about this prompt, consider making a pre-writing outline to collect your thoughts. It can be as simple or as detailed as you need it to be.

Compare your outline to the sample provided here.

Grading Criteria

Consult the following rubric before you start writing. This is how your instructor will grade your project. You may want to make a checklist for yourself of all the items you’ll be graded on, so you can keep them in mind while you’re writing. Make sure your first draft checks off all the items on your checklist. Compare it to your final project before submitting it as well.

Your First Draft

Now that you’ve read the prompts and the rubrics for this graded project, take the time to write a first draft before you submit it for grading. Here are the prompts again:

Part 1: Personal Writing Prompt

Write a short essay about one job you would like to have and why.

Part 2: Professional Writing Prompt

Use the position you chose to write about for Part 1 of this project. Search Indeed(this link opens in a new window/tab) or another job board website for a job posting for that position you chose. Write a cover letter as if you were going to apply for that job.

Note: This isn’t submitted to the school for grading. Your final project must be submitted following the submission guidelines that follow this practice.

Practice: Your First Draft

Proofread and Revise

Use your work from your first draft to create the final version of your project before submitting it. You can copy and paste your writing into the word processing document of your choice (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Open Office, Pages, and so on.)

Note: Whatever word processor you use, make sure you’re able to save as an .rtf file.

Compare your draft to the rubric provided. When you’re revising, ask yourself these questions:

• Are my message, purpose, and tone clear?
• Do I have key details that support my main idea?
• Do I need to add, move, or delete any information to make my main idea and supporting details clear?
• Is my writing structured appropriately?
• Do I use any weak or incorrect word choices?
• Is my writing free of mistakes (such as sentence fragments, incorrect subject/verb agreements, incorrect capitalization, and punctuation errors)?

Submission Instructions

Your exam for this lesson is a project, which we will individually grade when you submit it. This takes time, and it could be up to a week before you see results or feedback.

The final draft of your project must be submitted as a word processing document. Common word processing apps include Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Open Office, or any application that can save a rich-text format (.rtf) file.

The first page of your project should include these items:

• Your name
• Your student ID number
• The exam number (70065900)
• Your email address

Follow these steps to submit your graded project:

1. On the next page, select the Open in a new window button.
2. Choose Add a File.
3. Find the file you want to submit.
4. Choose the file and select Open. The file should then appear in the Uploaded Files section of the page.
5. After your file is uploaded, choose Submit for Grading.

Be sure to keep a backup copy of any files you submit to the school.