818 Lancaster Avenue

Syracuse, NY 13210
February 3, 2015
Professor Faith Plvan
Department of English
Syracuse University
239 HBC
Syracuse, NY 13210
Dear Professor Plvan:
I am writing this letter to be considered for the opportunity to join your professional
writing class on Tuesday nights. My roommate Gerald Smith, one of your former
professional writing students, referred me to this particular class section because of
your skills. He said that you conveyed the course material concisely, and created an
enjoyable interactive environment. The ability to apply this material to projects such as
the Onboarding Project, will be the true test of meeting your high standards.
Being a senior Civil Engineering student with a minor in Construction Management,
and having worked in the construction industry for 9 years, has taught me hard earned
skills and lessons. One lesson is to always be present. Being present in a class with only
15 sessions is important because every minute is valuable. My developed skill set
includes leadership and work ethic. In group projects at school, I have been nominated
to be leader in 75 percent of the projects. My teammates reviewed me as hard working,
trustworthy, organized, and a knowledgeable individual. At my engineering internship
at BME Associates, my work ethic awarded me the entire companys project oversight
due to my performance and efficiency; this allowed another employee to help the
company perform other work.
I am thoroughly looking forward to this opportunity to develop my professional writing
skills. I hope you find my qualifications will meet your needs. You can contact me by
phone or email at (585) 465-2116 or dmdanks@syr.edu. I am looking forward to
speaking about my qualifications with you further, and figuring out exactly what role I
can play in your class. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Dylan Danks

Rhetorical Analysis
The target audience for this letter is Professor Plvan, but may also be read by her
supervisors. Professor Plvan is well organized, loves interaction, and has high standards
for her students writing. She uses multiple projects that can relate to real world
applications to evaluate the writing skills of her students. She pays attention to the little
details, so every word and punctuation has meaning. The most important project that
she values is the feasibility project, because she weights this grade at 40 percent of total
grade. This project is a team project, so she would enjoy knowing about teamwork and
experiences with groups. If this letter would go on to her supervisors they would want
to know our reason for wanting to join, as well as our qualifications. Any related school
or work experience could potentially be the deciding factor.