Writing Cover Letters

What are cover letters?

Most people would answer that question with only two words: “Application letters.”

Is a cover letter simply another name for an application letter? Well, believe it or not, my research revealed otherwise.

For a start, I looked up the term in the dictionary. I found two definitions:

“A letter sent with another document or package, providing necessary or additional information.” –Encarta Dictionary.

“An explanatory letter sent with an enclosure.”—Oxford Concise Dictionary.

It is already clear from these definitions that this type of letter is an explanatory letter sent with an item to provide necessary information about the item being sent.

The fact that an application letter is usually accompanied by such enclosures as resumes is perhaps the reason why application letters are regarded as a cover letter. It is certainly true that they provide some information about the enclosures. We could tentatively say that an application letter is a type of cover letter, but it is not the only type that exists.

However, application letters are not written primarily to explain the accompanying enclosures; they are written to advertise oneself as suitable for a certain job or position.

Also, consider a case in which you may need to send an invoice or a receipt to a customer. Obviously, in such a case, you may need to send an explanatory note. Such a note is a cover letter. In it, you will include information on why the document is being sent and to whom it is being sent.

How to write them

To understand the basics, let us consider an example.

Imagine that you work as an engineer for a certain imaginary company we shall call Digitcom. You specialise in installing telecommunication devices.

On a certain day, another company we shall call TI Hardwire hires you to upgrade their telecommunications system.

After you complete the work, the Manager of TI Hardwire requires that you compile a report on how the work was done and the components that were upgraded.

Upon finishing the report, you enclose it in an envelope addressed to the Manager of TI Hardwire. Are you done? Well, not quite. There’s one more thing…

A letter that explains what you are sending and why.

So how can you set about writing the letter?

Here are a few points to keep in mind:

It should be brief and straight to the point.
Indicate in your letter, the document(s) enclosed that your reader should find.
If necessary, summarise important information that your enclosure contains.
Provide necessary contact information.

Now let us get to work.

Indicate in your very first sentence what it is that you have enclosed and why you are sending it:

Enclosed is a report on the upgrade that we carried out on TI Hardwire Telecommunications system.

After this you don’t really need to say nothing more. However, if there is something in the report that you may want the manager to give careful consideration to, you may mention it. Or perhaps, if you encountered some difficulty in preparing the report, you could mention it:

We would like you to revise the amount of the funds that you allocated us for the project. This is because, as shown in the report, there were more components that needed to be upgraded than initially estimated.

In your concluding paragraph, you should by all means include contact information:

For further information, or queries, call me on this number: 094 332211.

At the end of the letter, after you sign off, remember to include a section indicating what is enclosed:

Enclosure: Report

That’s about it, actually. So now, let us put our letter together and see how it looks like: