Interview Letter: Required for Interviews for Career Documented Essay

Preparing Your Business Interview Letter Using the Correct Format: See pp. 298-299 in Your WRITER'S INC. Book

PURPOSE OF THE LETTER

Whether you do your interview (1) most desireable--live/face-to-face; (2) next most desireable--on the telephone; or (3) least desireable but acceptable--via email, this letter serves as a nice outline or script for your interview. It really makes your prepared to be successful.

This really becomes a nice script for the interview if you do it face-to-face or on the telephone. If you are forced to do your interview via email, this can be cut and pasted into the email.

These must be approved, revised and graded prior to actually using them.

FORMAT OF THE LETTER

The letter should be centered from top to bottom.

1" or 1.5" margins should be used for the letter.

The letter should be in Times New Roman 12 pt. font

Part I--Date: Insert Today's Date

March 15, 2oo7

Part II--Sender's Address, that's your address

DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME, YOUR SIGNATURE BLOCK TAKES CARE OF THIS

Line 1--

Your Address or LC's Address 3504 Harry Langdon Boulevard

Line 2--Your City, State Abbreviation (double space and Your Zip Code or Council Bluffs, IA 51503

Line 3--Your Email Address

Part III--Inside Address (that's the address to which you are sending the letter or the address of your interviewee)

Part III--Inside Address, that's your address

Line 1--Interviewee's Full Name with Title Mr. Ford, Ms. Chevrolet, Dr. Hanson, Mrs. Kreger, etc. Make sure you have a comma after the individual's name.

Line 2--The Company, Firm that Your Interviewee Represents

Line 3--Your Interviewee's Address
Line 4--Your Interviewee's City, State Abbreviation (double space and Your Zip Code or Council Bluffs, IA 51503
Line 5--Your Interviewee's Email Address

Part IV--Salutation

Dear Mr. Smith, Mrs. Jones or Ms. (if you do not know whether a female interviewee is married) Henderson: (colon comes right after the interviewees name)

Part V--Body of the Letter

Paragraph 1--Professionally introduce yourself, the project that we/you are working to complete (include in this the basic MPs that you are preliminarily interested in pursuing), and what you are generally looking to accomplish in the interview.

Paragraph 2--An introduction to the questions that you have designed. Make sure that these are open-ended in nature (they require more than a word/short phrase in response). I would suggest that you begin your questions with "Could you tell me about" or "I am interested in any moral, political, ethical, economic issues that cause you or your colleagues some concern about the profession." Make sure to have eight to ten good questions.

Paragraph 3--A request for a phone call or some other type of follow-up/contact or call to action. A sincere sentence (probably two) thanking the professional for his/her commitment to helping students learn about the career and, in turn, advancing the career.

Part VI: Complimentary Close

Best regards, or Sincerely, or Yours truly, (see the WRITER'S INC. BOOK for specifics here.

Four spaces (signature goes here in black ink)

Line 1: Your Name.

Line 2: Lewis Central High School English 10 Student

Part VI: Enclosures:/Copies to:/CC:

If you are enclosing any piece(s) with the letter, give the piece(s) a title and list it/them after the colon.

Pre-Speaking or Pre-Writing Block General Purpose, Specific Purpose, Audience Analysis Statement

FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE THE INFORMATION ASSOCIATED IN THIS BLOG ENTRY IS AVAILABLE BY CLICKING ON THE FOLLOWING LINK LISTED BELOW. ONCE YOU HIT THE LINK, YOU CAN EASILY PRINT THIS INFORMATION FOR YOUR USE:

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dmg4wrs_14dw7fg9

The Pre-speaking Block:
Complete Before You Begin Constructing Your Message/Speech

Whenever we communicate—whether it be through speaking or writing--we do so in real time for a real purpose and for a real audience. Prior to this communication, we need to consider our purpose and that audience. This pre-speaking/prewriting block is intended to assist us in developing and constructing a strong message.

The Prespeaking Block is intended to help you focus what content and how the content should be arranged for your speeches. As a result, you know how to build your speech once you've considered these important elements.

GENERAL PURPOSE: to+_________________
(one word)

(possible examples: to inform, to persuade, to convince, to teach, to introduce, to demonstrate, to motivate, to inspire)

SPECIFIC PURPOSE: I will ______________ you that
(gp)
_________________________________________________ SO THAT THE
(subject and opinion of subject=thesis base)

AUDIENCE WILL______________________________________________.
(desired audience action or thought=actuation)

I will convince (GP verb) the audience that year round school is a bad idea (thesis base) so that the audience will attend the next school board meeting and help me oppose the idea and sign my petition against it (actuation).

I will motivate (GP verb) the audience to purchase the amazing and inexpensive new Zingmaster 3000 (thesis base) so that the audience will buy one or consider buying one (actuation).

I will inform (GP verb) the audience that school pride at Lewis Central needs to be improved (thesis base) so that the audience will show more school spirit at all school events (actuation).

I will inspire (GP verb) the audience to spend their extra time in the worthwhile activity of volunteerism (thesis base) so that the audience will look for a worthwhile charitable organization to donate his/her time (acutation).

AUDIENCE ANALYSIS STATEMENT: Several (at least three) sentences that analyze your audience and predict your success or failure in accomplishing your goal. Predict what the audience thinks of the subject and how they will react to the speech and/or your opinion of the speech.

(1) What does this audience think of this topic;
(2) How will the audience react to the information in my speech;
(3) How is it that I will accomplish my GP & my SP
(4) What might get in the way of me accomplishing my goals;
(5) What prejudices, biases, filters or previous experiences might get in the way of the audience agreeing with me.

I believe that this audience believes that school spirit is pretty good at Lewis Central High School. However, when I share examples with them that demonstrate the behaviors of students at LC during concerts, plays and some athletic events that they will understand that they should support the students who try to represent our school with pride. Some students who show great school spirit can find some value in this speech by having an influence on their friends. Students who are unattached to our school in terms of competitions, performances and pep rallies need to understand that these activities are a positive reflection on all of us. Hopefully, after hearing about the time and commitment that their fellow students demonstrate in these activities they will be inspired to demonstrate more school spirit.

I believe that this audience believes that year-round school is a bad idea because they really don't understand the idea. By informing students that year round school actually has as many days off as our current calendar, students might reconsider their opinion. I also think that the research that I share with them will prove to them that year-round school will improve their learning, their skills and make them more competitivie for scholarships, boost their ACT scores and improve retention The major prejudice that students have with this topic is that they enjoy the long break at summer. However, several breaks during the school year will be really appealing to some of them. Getting them to reconsider their opinion on this topic is really what I'm out to achieve.

THESIS STATEMENT:

This (morning, afternoon, evening) I will _______________ you that
general purpose

______________________________________________by _________________-ing
subject & opinion of subject (keep it short—bumper sticker”ish”)

(1)__________________________________;
(2)__________________________________;
(3)__________________________________;
(4)__________________________________.
preview of your main points—mini subject and opinion