Development of an Engineering Internship Cover Letter

As I read the materials (which included drafts, skills brainstorming, and audience analysis) for the cover letter for an engineering internship, I noticed two strengths of his writing process. First, he was very aware of his audience. Second, his revisions, particularly the work experience paragraph, really enhanced the persuasion of the final document.

The fact that this applicant took the time to research his audience is obvious. In the audience analysis, he talks about the company seeking an intern who can work hard and wants to learn a broad knowledge of civil engineering. In the final draft of the cover letter, he tunes in to these two points. First, he explains how he was the most reliable intern at Mylan. Working during school is exemplary of a hard working person. Even more company specific is the broad engineering coursework he has already completed. He explains in the audience analysis that the company completes a variety of tasks, so their engineers don't focus on one aspect. He demonstrates his broad knowledge by listing relevant courses and computer software.

The final draft includes a lot more specific examples that make him sound much more convincing. In the rough draft, he spoke of running the family farm and a lawn business. While these jobs may mean he is hard working, they are hardly relevant to his desired position. He changed this information to focus on the completed Mylan internship, in which he learned a lot of company relevant skills such as team work. He could have also mentioned his leadership role in the road design project. I think the examples from his first draft were okay, but because he has relevant experience, it was a good choice to delete those first work examples.