WHAT IS THE COVER LETTER?

The cover letter is a short (1-2-page) informal reflection that you will write three times: one each for Phase 1, 2, and 3. In this cover letter you will detail what you learned during each respective phase. Each cover letter should be pasted at the top of the corresponding essay. I will read your cover letter prior to reading your essay, so use the cover letter as an opportunity to communicate what you want me to know. 

WHY REFLECT?

One of the best tools we have for learning is through reflection, which helps us to reinforce our knowledge. And that’s because our awareness of what we know grows and fortifies when we consciously build a vocabulary for naming and discussing what we know. A major goal of this composition course, then, is for you to reflect on your learning and writing practices. 

WHAT'S THE FORMAT & STYLE?

Cover letters can be written in essay or letter format (but not numbered or bulleted format). Language differences are most welcome. Informality is most welcome. The most important thing is that you are capturing your perspectives, experiences, and knowledge.

WHAT TO INCLUDE?

In each cover letter, you should briefly reflect on these questions (in no particular order): 

• Who is your audience and how did you tailor your language and rhetorical choices to appeal to them and/or meet their needs?
• What are some of the most meaningful insights you’ve gained in this phase (and through writing this assignment) regarding language and literacy (as topics you’re learning about and as practices you’re developing)? 
• What concepts/terms have most impacted your learning and your writing practices (e.g., rhetoric; rhetorical situation; context; exigence; purpose; author; audience; text; genre; argument; evidence; something else)? How so? 
• In what ways has this phase’s assignment helped you to achieve (some/any of) the Course Learning Outcomes? (These outcomes are listed in the syllabus and offered below for convenience.) Please provide actual examples (e.g., moments in/after class or through the completion of certain assignments) and please actually refer to and quote at least one Course Learning Outcome.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

​ON WRITING:

​HOW TO:
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• Analyze, articulate, and synthesize one’s own and other’s assumptions, biases, and experiences in different rhetorical and cultural contexts
• Adapt and apply an understanding of multiple world views, experiences, and power structures
• Evaluate texts for logical thesis support
• Demonstrate information literacy in conducting research
• Employ a writing process to create thesis-driven essays supported by multiple sources and tailored to an academic audience
• ​Consistently use MLA and/or APA documentation style

​ON LANGUAGE:

​SIX PREMISES:
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• Language is one of the most powerful forces in human culture.
• Language supports structures of power and privilege-it helps those in power remain in power, and it prevents others from challenging them.
• Language shapes our assumptions and beliefs.
• Language can bring some issues and questions to the forefront of our thinking, and make others appear insignificant-or render them invisible.
• Language motivates us to act-or keeps us from acting.
• Understanding the power of language can be profoundly empowering. 

​ON POWER:

​WE WILL EXPLORE:
​

• How people are judged and treated because of the way they speak.
• The ways language influences our thinking about race, gender, sexual orientation, and species.
• The persuasive use of language in social media and politics.
• The use of language in education and the workplace.
• Language as a human rights issue.
• The poetry of code-meshing and the importance of linguistic capital.
• Our rights as language agents and purveyors of meaning in the classroom and in our lives.