Although not every employer requires a cover letter, it's a useful to for personalizing your application, highlighting how your specific skills will benefit the organization (you're selling yourself!), and demonstrating your communication skills. You should always include a cover letter if the job ad asks for one, but you may want to include one even if it doesn't.

The cover letter is more than a prose version of your résumé; it is a persuasive document that enables you to demonstrate how your particular skills, experience, and abilities can meet the organization's needs. Your goal is to highlight and expand on selected experiences (usually 1-2) from your résumé that best show your "fit" for this position.

Even more than your résumé, your application letter should change to meet the specific qualifications of the job/organizataion. You may want to develop several different body paragraphs, each developing a particular experience (an independent study, a group project, a job, a volunteer opportunity). For each letter you send, you can then choose the most appropriate paragraphs.

Consider a simple example: a prospective teacher may develop paragraphs describing several different classes he or she has taught (earth science, chemistry, physics), and choose the one most approach to the requirements of the position.

 

Analyzing the rhetorical situation-->