Résumés and Job Applications — 411 RSP Sere, I training and pe Re see — cere Ba you a cate an cere omen wih praca] eypOnORGOT pole man demenll Would be tinaiohn @ rediffmail.com, esting. My telephone number is (033) 265343788 and my e-mail address is. This is to request you t eS interview. For the time ee © an interview. | would discuss my qualifications in detail during the training, and experiences, fie &m enclosing my résumé that contains the details of my education, possess all he qualifications avqj0>,UDt about the fact that | am quite fit or this position because | Contact me by telephone at assonean are essential for the service engineer position in your firm. 3 between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 u want additional ir i :00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. @ Ee tomy enclosed ee regarding my education, experience, and references, you should Teel you want to dscuse ry ee to restate that | want to join your organisation. You can talk to Suitability for this posit " my mobile number is 9835412476. a this position. My telephone number is (0326) 2301589 and : }ot call me before 6: fm? ‘ uy email address is prateekr@yanoo eo fore 6:00 p.m. You can contact me via e-mail also, See ips Final Writing Tips for Resume | CV . A letter of job application is an important employment-seeking document and it should be made as persuasive as possible. The following aspects should be taken care of: Give ae Letter 2 fie Look: A standard business-letter format should be used. The letter shoul *, easil y ‘ad. One-inch to 1.5-inch margins should be provided all the way around the letter, Jeaving adequate spacing between paragraphs and between the components of the letter. Moreover, the layout of the letter should also be pleasing, Use a Positive Tone: The tone of the letter should be consistently positive. Show ‘Confidence: The letter must reflect the applicant’s confidence in his/her capabilities. However, sounding over-confident or complacent should be avoided, Show Genuine Interest: Showing interest and concern is important. Care should be taken to avoid sounding indifferent, stiff, or too reserved, Use Specific Details: Specific details of the applicant’s education, taining, experience, references, and skills should be emphasised. Be Factual and Objective: Facts that demonstrate the applicant's skills and capabilities should be stressed. Care should be taken to use correct numbers, dates, names, and references. Organise the Letter Well: Care should be taken to organise the letter properly. Follow Consistent Style: Utmost care should be taken to ensure that grammar, usage, vocabulary, spell- ing and punctuation, are correct. Some sample application letters are given below. Figure 22.7 shows a solicited application letter. The writer is attempting to get an interview for the Position of a flight operations IT officer. In the opening paragraph of the letter, the writer indicates the source of the information, cites the specific job title, and draws a clear connection between the job and hishher qualifications. In the body of the letter, the writer summarises relevant experience. The closing of the application letter contains information about contacting the applicant and an implicit request for a Personal interview.19 Paragraph Writing Developing the ability to write effective paragraphs is essential because all technical documents contain a series of related paragraphs LEARNING OBJECTIVES © Understanding paragraph structure Knowing the principles of paragraph writing, * Learning how to adjust paragraph lengths to your readers, to your content, and to the con ations of variety and emphasi # Understanding the concept of unity ina sentences: ‘agraph and discuss how to write and develop t « Knowing how to connect ideas logically within a paragraph @ Understanding the logical development of a paragraph, PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE A paragraph can be defined as a distinet section of a piece of writing. It consists of |, pyagaph els ih several related sentences and deals with one controlling idea. This controlling idea 4 sing controling dea. is called the topic or the theme of the paragraph. The main function of a paragraph isto develop, support, exemplify, or explain this theme, Read the following paragraph and examine its structure; “There are many important characteristics of compounds having ionic bonds, An ionic compound is acollection of an equal number of positive and negative ions arranged ina three-dimensionall lattice. Tonic compounds can be dissociated into their constituent ions with little effort. Further, they can be electrolysed to produce elements oF Co" valent molecules of the constituent atoms. NaCl. upon melting or upon dissolving in water produces Na+ and CL- ions, Electrolysis of molten NaCL gives Naand CL 2 Water also weakens the attraction between the ions in an ionic compound. This is why many toni compounds dissolve well in water. Moreover, ionic compounds ean conduct electricity. Most ionic com- Pounds are made of metalPRINCIPLES OF PARAGRAPH WRITING It is essential to develop the ability to write effective paragraphs as all longer pieces of technical compo- sition contain a series of related paragraphs. In longer pieces of writin, @ such as reports and proposdls, paragraphs help to develop the core idea of the document, Infact, writing any technical message involves writing paragraphs. As the writing need: e and reader or- Wing an effective ae Paragrap! ig needs to be purposeful, precise woe ad pacagroh laaiied ented, it is important to compose Paragraphs that are clear, cohesive, concise. ‘adopting a careful result-oriented. wating plan thet ensures Paragraph writing is a significant Productive skill, integrating both compositg Peake and organising skills. In order to write an effective paragraph, a careful watt eveoprentoféess, Plan should be adopted to ensure proper length, unity, coherence, logical develo?” ment, and organisation of ideas: fee peel paces sr the bs Vary in length, Paragraph length should be adjusted accor” © needs and requirements of the readers, Subject matter, wring, style, variety, and emphasis.Paragraph Writing 339 Unity Unity should be maintained within a paragraph. Only one idea should be developed and every sentence in the paragraph should be used to support and expand that idea. Deviations or useless digres- ions should be avoided. Coherence Coherence shows the logical relationship between the elements and the construction. While ~ unity is concerned with singleness, coherence is concerned with relatedness: this is how the sentences in a paragraph are connected. Logical Development of Ideas A paragraph should be developed in a logical manner. It should be organised in such a way that one sentence leads on naturally to the next. An appropriate method of development, which depends on the nature of the topic discussed, may be used. Each of these points will be discussed in detail in the remaining sections of this chapter.Paragraph Writing 341 Unity unity of Thought | Unity is the principle of onen pnts, as Well as the whole, deal with one main idea, thought, or thesis. Any writing, which does not have nity, distracts the reader and ceases to be purposeful. An important way of ensuring unity is to make {ore that the composition is about a single theme. This enables the writer to examine an aspect of a topic jn some detail. Infact, focusing on a single aspect of the topic helps the writer unfold the theme logically. ‘Thus, any effective and purposeful composition should have one controlling idea or theme. ‘A paragraph is a logical division of the central theme of a longer piece of writing. As a unit that marks divisions of thought, a paragraph deals with one aspect of the central theme of the document and no paragraph should be allowed to lead the reader away from the controlling idea. That is, each para- graph should strengthen the main idea by contributing only to that aspect of the topic. Thus, a paragraph develops a single idea related to the central theme. Each sentence in the paragraph is directly related to that idea and contributes to its development. In order to maintain the unity of a paragraph, only ‘one main thought’ should be expressed in a paragraph. The related ideas should be subordinated. There should be no digression and the main idea of the paragraph should not be sidelined or forgotten. Topic Sentence ‘The ‘main idea’ or the ‘theme’ of a paragraph is sometimes expressed by one sen- tence called a ‘topic sentence’. As discussed in Chapter 13, a topic sentence states the gist of the idea to be developed in the paragraph, The other sentences of the paragraph develop, support, exemplify, and explain the central theme. The topic sentence may be placed either in the beginning or at the end of a paragraph, depending on the logical organisation of the paragraph. If general to specific or deductive logical order is used, the topic sentence should be placed at the beginning. However, if specific to general or inductive logical order is used, the topic sentence may be placed at the end of the paragraph. Sometimes a topic sentence may not be included and the main idea is expressed through details only. {As the topic sentence plays a significant role in paragraph structure, it is advisable that it is phrased with utmost care and includes all the relevant information in it. The topic sentence should introduce the paragraph and give the reader a clear idea about the content of the paragraph. The topic sentence should summarise the paragraph. It may be written in the form of a simple, complex, or compound sentence, depending on the need and scope of the paragraph. In order to write an appropriate topic sentence, the writer should concentrate on the theme of the paragraph. Let us see an example. The following para- graph does not contain a topic sentence: “In fuel cells, the intermediate steps of conversion of chemical energy to heat followed by conver- sion of heat to mechanical work are completely eliminated. High temperatures generated because of combustion of fuels, and subsequent processes found in almost all indirect energy conversion devices are non-existent in fuel cells. In these electrochemical devices, the chemical energy of the fuel is directly converted into low voltage direct current electrical energy. Because energy conversion can be carried out isothermally, the fuel cell efficiency is not subject to the limitations of Carnot efficiency. In addition, since it is possible to bypass the processes of conversion of chemical energy to heat, and that of heat to mechanical energy in a fuel cell, its efficiency is very high.” The theme of the above paragraph is the direct nature of energy conversion in fuel cells. So the topic sentence must present this fact. Let us study the following suggested topic sentences for the paragraph: 1, Fuel cells are direct energy conversion devic 2. A fuel cell is no an indirect energy conversion device. Unity in communication means that the compo-sentence Linkers A sentence linker connects two sentences in a paragraph. It may consist of a single word or a phrase. The following paragraph demonstrates the use of sentence linkers (underlined): Airpolluticn has been a major threat not only to the quality of environment but also to human health. Moreover, it was this reason that made scientists and policy makers think seriously about different ways io deal with the problem. Infact, during recent years scientists and policy makers have paid substantial attention to airborne substances that have the potential to threaten human health or environmental qual- ity. There have been a large number of studies of these pollutants, which have provided enough evidence to show that these pollutants may cause serious problems for human beings. This has resulted in a better understanding of health hazards due to airborne substances and has led to the enactment of measures to control them. For example, there have been controls on emissions from automobiles and it has tried to control vehicular pollution. Moreover, controls on industries that burn gasoline, kerosene, or coal have noticeably improved the quality of the air. A growing effort is being devoted to isolation of industrial activities and waste dumps that can release complex chemicals into the air and water. In addition, a substantial and relatively effective regulatory structure is in place to control releases of radioactivity to the general environment. The sentence linkers/transitional signals (moreover, in fact, for example, in addition) used in the above paragraph connect the phrases and sentences together and show the logical relation between them, thus, ensuring coherence, order and continuity of thought. Table 19.2 gives a description of the most common sentence linkers and their functions:344 Technical Communication i ; ce words: Use of Sequence Words The following words/phrases are generally used as seavene® Words ist, firstly, second, secondly, then, next, after that, now, later, finally, lastly, afterwards, scpinaaa Following are some examples: Afier I shut down the computer, I went to sleep. en or First, take a form. Then, fill i form and submit it to the chief ma a il e a form. Then, fill in the form an jum carbonate) into it hold it with a pair of tongs ‘Take a beaker half-filled with water and drop a piece of limestone (calcit You will not see any reaction. Now take another piece of limestone, hi and heat it over a flame for 510 minutes. After it has cooled, drop it in water and observe, The water will have warmed up. a First, take about 200 gram of crushed ice in a glass beaker of 500 millilitre. Next, use a centi- grade thermometer, dip it in the ice and measure the temperature. Using a spirit lamp, start heating the ice on a constant and slow flame. Note the temperature every few minutes and plot the temperature against the time taken.