I see writing as an art. I am into creative writing, but when it comes to writing a paper or anything “serious” or “professional,” I procrastinate having to write. I feel that my writing style is not good enough or can be confusing. However, as GRF Sam mentioned, writing is a muscle. It takes time to improve one’s writing skill and style, but it is possible. As we advance in our professional careers, our writing is expected to reflect our educational background. This is why, I found the tips given at the writing seminar effective. The writing examples Sam provided helped us analyze what could be useful to integrate in our writing and what common mistakes to be aware of. I plan to use what I learned as I start to draft cover letters and personal statements when applying to internships and later on jobs. These drafts might just start off on in a notepad or in a voice recording, but they will be the first steps to organizing my writing.

I attended the writing workshop with GRF Sam hoping to just gain some insight into how to effectively write a cover letter; however, I walked out of the lesson with a variety of useful writing tips. Writing has been a hobby that I have held dear since I was in elementary school, so I always seek out opportunities to make my writing better. Some of the advice Sam gave us included writing in a journal everyday at the same time, and not starting an essay with the introduction, but rather the section that is easiest to write . I liked how interactive the session was, as I had the opportunity to both answer and ask questions pertaining to other kinds of writing, such as personal statements. At the moment I am trying to decide whether I should pursue graduate or professional study, so it was interesting to see what a sample essay might look like for graduate admissions. Overall, I gained a lot of insight into how I can improve my writing and make things a little easier for myself in the process.

I realized after attending this session that as an engineer, I have not written and read on my free time in a long time. It is actually really helpful to set away some time for writing and reading so that I could relay my thoughts and writing clearly and concisely. Also, I have never written a cover letter and coming to this session really helped me learn what format guideline is needed when applying for internships. I also learned that my extracurriculars that are not related to my major builds character and traits to their impression on me.

This past Thursday I attended GRF Sam’s writing workshop on cover letters and grant proposals. This mini-seminar began with me telling Sam my usual writing method- making an extremely-detailed and long outline and then tweaking this outline into my actual paper. I was grateful to hear from Sam some examples of other writing approaches that could be more helpful. He told us about the Pomodoro method, which entails setting a certain amount of time to work straight without any distractions, such as thirty minutes, then taking a little break, such as five minutes, and then continuing writing again without any distractions. Sam also suggests to give oneself setting changes and breaks during an intense writing session. He also highly recommends to have a set time every day dedicated for just writing and to never skip this session. A technique suggestion he gave us that I have never thought about doing is to write the part of the essay that I feel most comfortable with first. This tip will be extremely helpful for me in future essays because I often find myself staring at a blank screen for a long time before beginning my essay; sometimes it is difficult to start with an introduction before even writing the meat of the paper. 

We also read an example cover letter and grant proposal, which were really helpful. Although I will not be needing a grant proposal any time soon, I am currently writing cover letters for internship applications for next summer. Reading an example letter and hearing other scholars’ and Sam’s opinion on it was super helpful. I am so glad I was able to attend this workshop, helping me see writing as not something to fear but something to conquer!

When applying for jobs, we can be intimidated by and shy away from opportunities that require a set level of experiences we may not have. However, this isn’t always the case because the way we portray ourselves in writing may be the differentiator that pushes our resumes through to the next step. For instance, I realized that most cover letters can come off as dry, and it’s important to tell your story. You can be very accomplished and have the qualifications, but if your story isn’t compelling, that could possibly work against you instead of in your favor. The mini-seminar was really helpful in teaching us how to be better writers when it comes to cover letters as well as personal statements/grant proposals, and it definitely emphasized the value of writing and opened me to new perspectives in my own professional job search.

During the seminar on how to write cover letters and personal statements, GRF Sam broke down the key points to writing a good personal statement. As someone who intends to go onto graduate school, I found this seminar very informative about what makes a good personal statement. When I was writing my personal essay for college, I struggled to find a good balance between making my writing personal and conveying my accomplishments and goals. What I found most helpful about his talk that clarified this balance of personality and objectivity was the example essay that he passed around. The example was meant to be an average essay, with both positive and negative aspects, and I found this really helpful to reinforce what he was saying about the purpose of personal statements. The biggest takeaway for me though, was that a personal statement should generally start with a personal anecdote that is relevant to your interests, and culminate with how those interests/experiences have prepared you for the future. In addition to personal statements, Sam also went over cover letters. This was a new concept for me as I have never had to write a cover letter before. He used the analogy that a cover letter is similar to the first time you meet someone; you want to make it professional, yet also show some of your personality. Similar to the personal statement, I also found the example cover letter useful for illustrating these concepts. Overall, I found this seminar very helpful, and although I do not need to write a personal statement at the moment, I will definitely remember these important lessons for the future.

I’m not gonna lie, I joined this event because it was the only one that fit my schedule this week, but I’m glad I went.  Sam taught us valuable tips for writing over letters and personal statements.

For example, he mentioned the importance of cover letters and personal statement in distinguishing yourself from other applicants; these writings “humanize” you to the recruiters.  Looking at a typical resume, you see the typical list of experiences, skills, etc.  Nevertheless, you could remove your name from the resume and slap another name, and it wouldn’t be much different, meaning you need a cover letter or personal statement to stand out to the recruiter.

During the seminar, we read and critique a sample cover letter and personal statement.  I particularly enjoyed this part, since we had concrete material to work on. We were able to apply the tips that Sam taught us about writing quality information.  Thing he emphasized included the importance of weaving personal anecdotes to show your personal development and how you’re a good fit for the company.  Additionally, the cover letter that we analyzed was able to show different qualities of themselves (being responsible, determined, ambitious) in an efficient manner.  I tend to ramble whenever I write, but I will definitely keep these tips in mind, since there are often word limits on cover letters/personal statements.

Honestly, I have yet to write a cover letter for any job or internships, but applications for summer internships are already up, so I have the opportunity to apply these tips.