Word Processing Day 6
Tone and Author’s Intent in Cover Letters
Daily Objectives
(Students will be able to)
Computer Skills:
 Format a letter by changing font size, style,
text alignment, and by using bold and
underline
 Use spell check (continued practice)
 Align text (right, left, centered etc.)
Literacy Skills:
 Identify the tone of an article
 Describe and identify the appropriate tone
for a business letter
 Identify and Describe common elements of
a cover letter and purpose of a cover letter.
Describe how author’s intent (purpose) is
related to tone and formatting.
 Revise a cover letter for conventional
formatting and professional tone.
Tasks
(Students will have completed)
 Microsoft Word Exercise 6
 Cover Letter Exercises
Vocabulary
Materials & Activities
(at the end of this lesson)
Laptop, Mouse, USB Disk, Headphones,
LCD Projector
Format
Tone
Author’s intent
(Author’s purpose) Cover Letter for Revision
Align
Microsoft Word, Exercise 6
Jane Doe (sample letter for Ex. 6)
Note: In preparation for today’s final activity, identify a few appropriate job ads from an on line source (like Craigslist.org) and
print them. You will want 3-4 ads that might interest students in the class.
Activity / Time
Warm-Up
& Introduction
10 minutes
25 min.
10 min.
Description
Resources
Begin students thinking about tone and purpose in a
letter. Ask students to list as many uses for a typed or
written letter as they can. Who might a person write to
and with what purpose? (Letter to editor, note to
spouse/partner/child, email to co-worker, birthday card,
letter of complaint)
As students share their ideas, put them up on the board,
overhead projector or on chart paper. Put formal,
professional or business related communication on the
left. (Don’t title the columns) Put informal
communication on the right. Ask students to tell you
how the communication on the left is different from the
communication on the right.
Introduce formatting (how text is laid/appears) and
review definition of tone (quality, attitude of writing or
speech) as focus of today’s lesson. If students didn’t
already address it, briefly address how formatting and
tone might be similar for the communication listed in
the left and right columns. Tell (Solicit from students if
possible) that the author’s purpose/intent determines the
tone and format used.
Model skills from Ex. 6 as necessary.
Microsoft Word
Students will complete Microsoft Word Exercise 6 in Exercise 6
order to get themselves comfortable with the format of
a business letter.
After they are finished ask “Describe the tone and
formatting of this letter. How might the tone and format
be different in a different type of letter? ” “What makes
it formal and appropriate for business?”
Have students brainstorm in small groups: What is a
cover letter? What is its purpose? What should it
include? What is its tone?
Go over as a class, define author’s intent (author’s
purpose)
Notes
This activity might be done as t ThinkPair-Share or as a whole group.
Teacher may need to lead class in
review of how to download/save
documents or introduction of some of
the formatting skills. Teacher can
narrate while a student models for the
class or model the skill while a student
narrates (i.e. now the teacher is
clicking on the tool bar)
If students’ don’t know the answer to
these questions you can distribute the
letters first, then have them examine
them and answer the questions.
In the same small groups, students should read the
Sample Cover Letters
cover letters together in groups, identify basic elements
of it, and underline the words used to convey the tone
and intent of the different letters. Compare and
Contrast the different letters.
You may want to have students to this in stages:
1) Review letters, underline words and phrases that
support the letters’ professional tone. (Share with class.)
2) With a partner describe the formatting (layout) of
the letter. (Share as class)
Individual Practice Students will continue to work on tone and intent by Cover Letter for
editing cover letter in order to convey a professional
Revision
30 min.
tone and the correct intent.
Http://tinyurl.com/com
pandlit
First, have students read the letter (distribute paper
copies). Have students identify words or phrases that
could be changed to create a more professional tone.
Review these phrases as a class and have student
suggest alternative wording with a more professional
tone.
Group Practice
25 min.
Second, have students identify some formatting that
should be revised to create a conventional, professional
cover letter.
Transition to
Project
15 min.
Finally have student download the letter to their USB
drive and revise the letter for best tone and formatting.
Introduce that students will be writing cover letters.
Job Ads selected by
Have them pick a job to "apply for” from some
teacher
different job ads.
Encourage students to discuss and
identify cover letter elements, common
formatting for a professional cover
letter (location of date, greeting,
heading, type of font used, and size of
font…)
As well as phrases from cover letter
that establish positive, professional
tone – Dear Mr…., sincerely… I look
forward…
To be revised:
“it would be cool” “I rock” “Big M”
“it was very boring.”
Formatting:
Alignment
Font size in names and addresses
Font styles and size in letter.
The letter can be downloaded from:
http://tinyurl.com/compandlit
(Click on CoverletterforRevison)
It may be useful to clarify that:
1. Students will not actually have to
apply for these jobs.
2. A well written cover letter can be
revised for future job applications.
Cover Letter for Revision
Miguel “Big M” Ahmed
1234 Lake St. East
Minneapolis, MN 55406
Lucy Diamonds
Hennypenny Candy Shop
456 Hennepin Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55409
Hey Lucy,
I am writing because it would be cool to work for you. I saw on
Craigslist.org that you are hiring a part time salesperson. As a skiled
salesperson who is passionate about candy, I am excited to be part of the
team at Hennypenny candy.
I rock!
I have signifeggant experience working in retail settings. I was employee of the month four times during
my two years working at Target. I worked for 4 years at, Plinko’s, a small candy company in Atlantic
City. It was very boring but I went every day. I learned to prepare high quality candys and to provide
superior service to customers of all ages.
The Hennypenny Candy Shop is known for excellent customer service and delicious treats. I
am currently in school, planning to pursue a degree in business. I am interested in continuing
to grow in the field of candy sales.
Thank you very much for your time and attention. I will contact you next week so that
we can set up an interview.
See ya later,
Miguel Ahmed (You can call me “Big M”)
Microsoft Word: Exercise 6
This is Jane Doe. Jane is going on vacation.
She wrote a letter to her teacher about her vacation.
The letter has many spelling and grammar mistakes.
In this exercise, you will download Jane’s letter from the
Internet. You will fix the spelling and grammar mistakes and
format the letter to make it look better.
To start, follow the step-by-step instructions.
1. First we we’ll download the document
and save it to our U.S.B drive. Open
Internet Explorer. .
2. Go to http://tinyurl.com/compandlit
3. Click on Jane Doe.
4. Click on Save. Save the document to your
U.S.B. drive.
5. Click on MY COMPUTER.
6. Click on the place
where you want to save you files.
Click SAVE.
= Removable Disk
7. Close Internet Explorer. Now the document is on your USB drive.
8. Now you will open the document you saved. Click on MY COMPUTER and double click on
Removable Disk.
9. Click on the document named Jane Doe. Wait for the document to open.
10. Look at the top of the document. Does it say Microsoft Word? (If not, go back to step number 1)
1.
Now you see Jane’s letter.
2.
Red lines mean that a word is misspelled or that the computer does not know the word. Green
lines mean that there might be a grammar mistake. These lines are only there to help you when
you are typing. They will not be on the paper when you print your document.
3.
Now you will change how the letter looks. This is called formatting.
4.
Highlight Jane’s name and address. Change the font to Arial.
5.
Change the font size to 14. Make it Bold.
6.
Click on the align center button to move the address to the center of the page.
7.
8.
Highlight the date. Click on the align right button.
Click in front of “dear Leslie”.
9.
Press the ENTER key. This moves the words down.
10. Use the Enter key to make spaces between the lines as shown below:
11. Highlight the text from the date to the end of the letter. Change the font to Arial 12pt.
12. Highlight the words May 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. Underline them.
13. Move the cursor to the beginning of the document.
14. Click on the Spelling and Grammar Check button.
15. For each mistake, click on CHANGE or IGNORE.
16. Finish the Spelling and Grammar Check now.
17. After you finish the spell check look for other words in your letter that might still be spelled
wrong. Do you see the word vesting? This word is not correct. It should be visiting. Spell check
did not mark this mistake because this is an English word but it is not correct in this sentence.
Please change it now.
18. Highlight the word Sincerely at the bottom of your letter.
19. Click on TOOLS, Click on LANGUAGE then THESAURUS.
20. A Thesaurus is a book, like a dictionary. A Thesaurus helps you find
words that mean the same thing or similar to the word you have
highlighted. Microsoft Word can help you find similar words.
21. Choose a new word to replace “Sincerely.”
If you see an arrow, click on the arrow, click on INSERT.
22. Click on the Print Preview button.
You can see what the letter will look like
when you print it on paper.
23. Your document should look like the one below.
Jane Doe
1234 Green St.
St. Paul, MN 55101
March&28,&2003&
Leslie Gardner
Functional Work English Instructor
1600 University Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55101
Dear Leslie:
I am writing to let you know that I will not be able to attend classes during the first full
week of May. I will be visiting my family in Razles, Texas for the Cinco de Mayo
festival. I will miss classes on May 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. I hope that this will not be a
problem. I will be getting copies of what I have missed from another student, Ishmeal
Baheras. I believe that I will be able to catch up quickly. Thank you very much and
have a great Cinco de Mayo.
Truly,
Jane Doe
24. Save this document on your disk.
25. Ask a teacher to check you work. Your teacher will sign in this box.
Jane Doe
1234 Green St.
St. Paul, MN 55101
March 28, 2001
Leslie Gardner
Funsional Work Englesh Instructor
1600 Univercity Ave.
St. Pual, MN 55101
dear Leslie:
I am writing to let you kno that I will not be able to to attend classes dering the furst full week of may. I
will be vesting my family in Razles, Texas for the Cinco de Mayo festival. I will miss clases on May
3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. I hope that this will not be a probelem. I will be getting copies of what I have
missed from another student, Ishmeal Baheras.I belevive that I will be able to catch up kwickly. thank
you very much and have a great Cinco de Mayo.
Sincerely,Jane Doe