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Basic Journalism:  Portfolio Cover Letter

Amanda Evans

231 Sterling Street

Fairfield, CT 06825

December 16, 2004

 

Mr. John Doe

Editor in Chief

The Housatonic Herald

Bridgeport, CT 06604

 

Dear Mr. Doe:

                 In researching employment opportunities, I have learned of ongoing openings within your organization for a junior staff reporter position, which I believe I am a strong fit for.  I am currently a student at Housatonic Community College, entering my last semester as a journalism major concentrating in printed media.  In June of 2005, I will graduate and become available for employment, so I am writing to you now to take the first steps.

                 As a Housatonic graduate, I have much to offer your paper.  While you may already be familiar with the overall level of education available at my school, you might not be aware of just how much the journalism program can do to hone skills relevant to the industry.  The unique emphasis on real-world procedures, workload and deadlines pushes students hard, bringing out their strong points, filling in the gaps, and leaving Housatonic journalism graduates especially well prepared for the high level of productivity and quality required for work in professional publications.

                 As a case in point, any journalism course would have taught me to analyze a news piece to understand what makes it work, but Housatonic's classes gave me the opportunity to fully apply that theoretical knowledge practically, directly using what I learned to write a solid news story.

This is demonstrated by the enclosed News Analysis essay and the news story entitled Diversity is as Diversity Does.  Note how both the analyzed story and my own deal with somewhat overlooked social problems.  They likewise follow a similar format, with strong quotes and breakdowns.  However, one limitation I found in piece I examined was an overreliance on too few sources.  For my own story, I tried hard to provide more balance by using a larger variety of sources.  The lesson I learned here stuck, and its effects are visible in the other submitted pieces.

In this way, I not only learned what to do from example, mimicking the good points, but also to evaluate critically and therefore learn what not to do.  In other words, my education has not only provided me with a toolbox of skills, but also some ability to decide which tool is appropriate for a given context.  I am also more aware of the limitations of my existing skills and the need to continue growing.  For example, I feel that I could still benefit from further improvement to my descriptive techniques, as those can really bring a piece to life.

In writing Diversity is as Diversity Does, I learned how to gather information from many available sources, particularly through interviews, and put it all together in a logical order.  This successful news story is significant because I initially tended towards editorials, since they fit the style of the academic essays I was used to writing.  In producing stories such as this one, though, I learned to switch to a style more appropriate to news.  As a result, I was able to craft pieces that were more descriptive and informative, such as 3,000 Pound Labor of Love, a profile of Stan Vogel that is further described elsewhere in this letter.  The difference between my first news piece, Political Forum at HCC Sparks Debate, and the Vogel profile are striking.  In particular, the latter was more descriptive, better organized and made more effective use of quotes.

From coming up with story ideas to following through in the writing process, my journalistic abilities have increased steadily, as can be seen in the progressive improvement among the items in this portfolio (except, of course, for the News Analysis, which isn’t a story).  Perhaps more importantly, I’ve gained confidence in my ability to tackle assignments that didn’t come naturally to me at the time.  When I started out, I would have blanched at taking on the challenge of an interview-laden story such as the Vogel profile, but now I look forward to exercising that aspect of my skill set.

Of course, no writer can be perfectly objective about their own work, and almost all can benefit from constructive feedback.  In Political Forum at HCC Sparks Protest and Questions, I took a fairly decent piece, and with my editor’s help, turned it into a much better story.  The revision process is also highly visible in 3,000 Pound Labor of Love.  By the end of the course, I have learned to use the writing process to my advantage to sharpen my stories, giving them depth, flow, and that all too elusive informative quality.

My best piece by far is 3,000 Pound Labor of Love, and I hope you take special care in reading it.  It has a variety of sources, yet still manages to focus on Stan Vogel, the subject of the piece.  More than anything else, the story demonstrates my ability to capture the voice of the person I am interviewing.  I spent hours with Vogel, letting him explain his craft.  As a result, he comes through in the piece, to the point that you can almost hear him speaking directly to you.  The main thing I initially got wrong was that, because I was so happy with the quotes he gave me, I was hesitant to shorten and summarize them, even though the story needed this.  Fortunately, I was able to work with my editor to overcome my errors and revise the piece so that it was much improved, which you can see through a comparison of the first draft with the final product.

It is all too easy for the novice to fall in love with their own words and resist suggestions for improvement, but I have come to learn that revision is the heart of good newswriting.  Revision is what takes a good story and removes everything that holds it back from being great.  Two pieces in my portfolio are particularly good examples of how I’ve learned to accept and incorporate feedback.  The first, Political Forum at HCC Sparks Protest and Question, was ok to begin with but had some minor factual errors that needed correction.  Diversity is as Diversity Does was acceptable as turned in, but quotes came in subsequently that, once integrated, contributed significantly to the article.

Finally, the best example of revision is the best example of my writing.  A comparison of the rough draft of 3,000 Pound Labor of Love with the final story demonstrates my ability to revise on deadline.  Quotes had to be paraphrased, description had to be added, and sections had to be moved around to achieve more coherency.  The end result speaks for itself.

Given all this, I feel that this resume and portfolio demonstrate that, with my qualifications, skills and background, I could make a strong contribution to your organization.  I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you in greater detail, and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest opportunity.

 

Amanda Evans

Copyright 2004

by Amanda Evans

Date: 12/16/04