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Jonathan Kelly 4496 Ruggles Court Annandale, VA 22003 March 15, 2007 |
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Dr. Byron Hawk English 505 George Mason University 4400 University Drive Fairfax, Virginia 22030 |
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Dear Dr. Hawk: I am interested in creating a professional Web page showcasing the different types of writing that I have done in the past. The purpose behind this site is to describe my previous experience in professional writing in order to market myself to potential employers who may need professional writers in their organizations. Introduction This site should display some of my important writing samples as a portfolio, and it should also explain why I enjoy writing and why I have the skills to serve as a writer for an organization. Visitors to the Web page will see that I have experience in both journalistic and technical styles of writing. I want to make a professional site highlighting my personal writing background because I care about making myself a skilled writer. The interest in improving my skills in this area stems from my interest in composition and publications, and it is what led me to select Professional Writing and Editing as my concentration for a graduate education in English. Problem The basic problem that the Web page will address is the question of how to disseminate my writing skills to a professional audience. My objective is to demonstrate to those seeking to employ professional writers that I have a sufficient background in the field. My online identity should be that of an experienced writer. Furthermore, I want to make sure that employers see that I have enough experience and versatility that I can compose many types of documents. This means that I want to organize my past writing samples into categories and publish them online where a professional audience can view them in a comprehensive way. For example, if the employer is a publishing company that puts out various publications on education, I want that employer to know that I am able to write competently on education issues and on academic subjects. The audience, however, is not limited to any one specific topical focus. My Web page will communicate to an audience that is concerned with polished, skilled composition in general and wants to recruit new writing talent. Many potential employers from publishing firms, newspapers, magazines, technical publications, etc. will find the site useful for examining my personal writing skills. Solution The solution to the problem will be the identity of the Web page. The page will communicate my skills and background in writing and publications in a way that is clear and comprehensible. I will include several key features in the display: · The Web page will be titled “My Career as a Professional Writer” using a large serif Times Roman typeface in bold. To make sure that the site addresses the needs of its audience, mostly potential employers, I will post content that helps them to read everything relevant to my publications background. These include lists of my written materials, categorized according to what types of professional writing they are. Categories including journalistic writing, academic writing, technical writing, etc. will be shown on the website because I want employers so get the impression that my writing skills can make a positive difference to their organization’s mission. · My home page will display a column of options to visit on the left side of the screen. One link option titled “About” will lead to a part of the site discussing who I am, what my background in writing is, and why I am interested in writing. The next four options will take the user to other parts of the site displaying specific types of writings that I have composed. These options will be titled "My Educational Magazine Articles," “My Newspaper Writing,” “My Technical Writing,” and “My Academic Writing.” The text of these titles will also be a serif typeface, possibly in bold, but with a smaller size than the home page title. The home page will also provide links to my personal resume and my contact information. I will also create a page displaying links that lead visitors to some of the places where I worked so that they will understand the organizations in which I did writing and editing work. These links will help the audience understand who I am with regard to professional writing and why I have an interest in it. · I also want the site to look attractive and to be easy to navigate. To do this, I will select a green color for the background that is easy on the eyes and reflects the sober, professional identity of the website. I will also include appropriate and appealing images throughout the site that have to do with writing. These images may include clip art of appropriate writing symbols such as pens, books, keyboards and pencils. I may acquire some public domain pictures and clip art that would be appropriate to a writer’s website. Displaying quotations about writing or by famous writers might also be good for decoration on the pages. Finally, I may write a site map and post it on the home page to help make the site sufficiently navigable. The link to the site map will be located at the bottom of the home page along with links to my contact information, my personal resume, and my links page. Resources Some of the resources that the website will require include basic html and basic copy-and-pasting to put the content I want on the site. I might also look into the possibility of learning other types of software that might help me to develop the content. Dreamweaver and Photoshop might be helpful if I can learn to use them more effectively. Qualifications I believe that I am qualified to establish an online identity as a skilled writer because I have previous experience and helpful writing samples to showcase. These assets will help to establish credibility as a professional writer. Some of the important parts of my professional writing career include my previous work as a technical writer at the U.S. Coast Guard and my journalistic writing for the college newspaper at James Madison University and for the Times Community Newspapers. It can also include some of my academic writing and my current experience as an editorial assistant at The World & I Online. When I make the website, I can include writing samples from each of the areas of my relevant experience so that visitors to the site will see that I am indeed a writer who can compose many types of texts. Conclusion A website outlining my professional writing background is important to me because I think that would help to market my writing skills to potential employers. It would allow them to observe my previous types of writing, as well as my general interest in writing and in publications. I believe that I can disseminate this information more widely with a Web page and attract more of the attention that I want. This will open new opportunities for me to find more writing jobs that are interesting, challenging and rewarding. Thank you very much for considering this proposal. Sincerely, Jonathan Kelly |
Learn as much by writing as by reading --Lord ActonBack to Home Page