Cover Letter : RC 2001-156

To my audience,
Welcome to my portfolio. I’m Madison, a student at Appalachian State
University majoring in Exercise Science with a minor in Psychology. My goal for a
future career is to become an Athletic Trainer for a collegiate-level football team.
During this class, we learned how to use literature to expand our knowledge within
our discourse community. Literature has always been an important part of my
education. From learning about rhetorical strategies in high school to writing
full-blown essays in college, I have always admired the importance of literature.
At the beginning of this semester, I didn’t think that literature played a major
role in my field. Turns out, like other fields, we use it more than one would think.
When it comes to the Athletic Training field that I am looking to go into, my field
utilizes literature and collaboration when discussing key information among the
community. We have to write papers with colleagues to make sure the information
that we are giving is accurate and acceptable for a scientific paper.
When writing about my specific field, I learned that communication is a
major component of our research. Athletic Trainers communicate with others when
spreading key information throughout the community. While their main forms of
communication are by text and email, they often utilize scientific articles when
providing the public with more in-depth information. Collaborating with my fellow
students on research projects gave me the opportunity to view the data from
several angles. Because no one in my group shared my discourse community, I was
able to see the various interpretations that a work of literature could have.
My field’s discourse focuses on the health and safety of athletes. The Athletic
Training community is notorious for utilizing literature to highlight the significance
of keeping athletes safe and preventing injuries. When my discourse community is
writing to an audience, the audience usually consists of other members of the
community. They do make use of acronyms and common expressions to make
things easier for "outsiders" to understand.
Visual advocacy improves the understanding of information for all audiences.
In my specific field, we use visuals like graphs to describe statistics involving the
health of athletes. When information is presented visually rather than only through
words, the audience is able to see it.
When it comes to collaborating within my community, I like to think of
myself as a key contributor to literature. I'm a fantastic organizer and possess many
leadership traits. My primary goal is to ensure that my group members remain
focused and organized throughout collaborative learning.
I hope this letter helps you see how my viewpoint on literature, which
incorporates my discourse community, could be useful in specific fields.
Thank you,
Madison Holman