Assignment 3: Personal Statement First Draft

 

Assignment - Personal Statement (First Draft)

 COURSE GOALS

  1. •Create a personal statement that highlights students' skills and abilities for employers and college admissions officers.

 

OBJECTIVES

  1. •Write a personal statement highlighting CRLS skills for employers and school admissions officers.

 

INSTRUCTION

The personal statement is specifically designed to highlight your goals, experiences, achievements, skills and abilities. It is a selling tool to convince the reader to offer you an internship, hire you for a job, or admit you to college. It is NOT a creative writing assignment and does not require a physical description of you.

Spelling, grammar, syntax and usage should be perfect and the statement should be well organized. Writing should be concise and pointed as well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Activity - Personal Statement

MEMO

DUE DATE: Rough Draft due Monday October 15, 2012

TO: Technical Writing Students
FROM: Helen Haberman, Instructor
SUBJECT: Writing a Personal Statement

Background/Overview

A personal statement introduces you to people who review your portfolio or application for school or employment. By reading your personal statement, employers and college admissions officers will learn about your ability to communicate, organize ideas and reflect on your own skills, achievements and goals.

Assignment (Rough draft 30 points )

Rough Draft: This week, a rough draft of your personal statement is due. Complete the following steps and submit a first draft of your personal statement as per the requirements below.

Step 1: Spend time thinking about your skills, experiences, achievements, and goals. Refer to your resume assignment or letter of introduction assignment. Brainstorm a list of these.

Step 2: Review the Career Related Learning Standards (CRLS) by exploring this link.

Step 3: Decide which experiences and achievements best show your CRLS skills.

Step 4: Write a first draft of your personal statement. This draft should be typed and sent via the textbox below or delivered into your folder in the classroom handwritten or typed and double-spaced.

Requirements Your personal statement must be:

  1. •Complete, including all of the following:
    – career and education goals
    – special experiences
    – achievements that show your CRLS skills

  2. •No more than two pages, typed or word processed

  3. •Neat, clear, and well organized

  4. •Free of spelling, grammatical, and typographical mistakes

The following outline may be useful if you need help organizing this assignment:

I. Paragraph One:

  1. •Who am I? Focus on what kind of person you are and what is important to you.

  2. •What are my Goals? These could be career or post high school.

II.-IV. Paragraphs Two - Four:

  1. •These paragraphs should highlight a specific skill, ability or personal trait you have and give an example of an experience you've had that illustrates the specific skill, ability or personal trait you are highlighting.

  2. •Examples include: communication skills, leadership ability, a significant travel experience, a project you've completed or a job you've had.

V. Paragraph Five:

  1. •Include a conclusion tying it all together


Final Tips

  1. •Have a clear focus-know and state the main points

  2. •Be honest and concise. Good writing is writing that is easily understood.

  3. •Emphasize what you have learned.



Examples Click on the link to review examples of personal statements. Do not copy them.

 

Submit your personal statement into your folder in the classroom or email it to me as a formatted attachment in a MicroSoft Word document.

haberman@4j.lane.edu

Evaluation

Your Personal Statement will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  1. •Required elements present(60%)

  2. •Well-organized, concise, focused writing (30%)

  3. •Evidence of careful proof-reading (10%)

Help

If you have questions about this assignment, send them to haberman@4j.lane.edu.