Assignment Overview
Almost all projects end with you handing your work over to someone else: a boss, another writer, a printer, etc. But it usually is not enough just to hand over the finished document. You also need to give the person receiving your work a few directions about how to read it. In most businesses, these directions are written in the form of a cover letter.
So as you finish up your individual project for this semester, I would like each of you to write a cover letter that can accompany your finished project. This assignment should help you to think about the way you need to represent yourself professionally when completing a project. It will also help me in reading your final project to know how things turned out. As usual, you will want to put a positive light on the outcome of the project, even if you did not accomplish all of your original proposal goals.
This type of letter could be printed or sent on email. But either way, it should be a detailed, formal letter. Even on email, don’t just say “here’s the project. hope you like it.” Writing an overly short email/letter means you are missing the opportunity to show off what a great worker you are.
Assignment Guidelines
Your project delivery letter should be about 1 page in length and should include the following information:
Letter Format
- use a standard business format
- include your address
- include your client’s name and address (if you have one) or use Dr. Pagnucci and my IUP address (110 Leonard Hall)
Project History (Set the Context)
- give the title of your project/final document or website
- explain why you are sending this document to this person at this time (for example, “I am turning our new employee manual over to you so that you can coordinate its printing and distribution.”)
- explain who you are and mention (also mention any team members if this was a group project)
- describe the original goals of the project and its intended audience
Give Project Highlights
- discuss 3 or 4 main highlights of the project
- discuss any problems or difficulties that you had with your project as well as any problems that still remain regarding the project
Project Evaluation
- provide an overall assessment of how the project turned out (how successful do you feel the project was?)
- discuss the quality of your own performance in completing the project
- mention any outside evaluations of the project (if you had someone review the document, discuss what they said about it)
- finally, discuss why this project was valuable for you to work on as a student and what you learned from working on it (this is required for letters done as educational projects at IUP though you would not do this at most businesses)
Recommendations for Action
- what should be done with the document next? (how many copies should be made? who should be given copies? should the website be advertised?)
- is there work that still needs to be done on the project?
- what project would logically follow this project (what’s the next step to take on the project?); is there another document that needs to be created to accompany this one?
- how soon should this document be reviewed for possible revisions/updates (six months, one year, or maybe two years?)
Delivery Method
- if you created a print document, then mention that the document is attached and describe the document briefly (for example: “You will find enclosed the 20-page employee manual with a clear plastic cover and black binding”)
- if your document is electronic, then provide the URL address for your web site or mention that the document is enclosed on CD-ROM, floppy disk, etc.
- it is often helpful to attach your document in more than one format
Salutation
- thank the person for the opportunity to work on this project
- ask about your next assignment
- conclude the letter with any other necessary information
The overall goal of this letter is to inform your boss, Dr. Pagnucci, of how your project turned out. You want to show both that the project was successful and that it has improved your skills as a worker.
Be sure to print a copy of this letter to turn in to Dr. Pagnucci.