The typeface is the design; the font is how that design is delivered. Typeface + style + size = font A font is what you use; a typeface is what you see. The distinction dates back to traditional printmaking with metal type. The unique style or design of the alphabet that we identify by name — say. The letters you choose don’t have to be those suggested here. They should simply have the characteristics being discussed. So, for instance, you may want to use “a d h e s i o n” to start with. This set of letters is what’s used in the type design MA course at the University of Reading, UK.
- Introduction
- Cover Letter Basics
- Do You Need a Cover Letter?
- When to Send a Cover Letter
- Cover Letter Types
- Cover Letter Format
- Best Font and Size
- Cover Letter Length
- Cover Letter Spacing
- Paragraphs and Margins
- Cover Letter Bullet Points
- Email Format
- Write a Cover Letter
- Cover Letter Parts
- Contact Info Format
- Salutation and Greeting
- Opening Paragraph
- Cover Letter Body
- Matching Job Qualifications
- Closing and Signature
- Cover Letter Keywords
- Customize Your Cover Letter
- What Not to Include
- Review Your Cover Letter
- Emailing Your Cover Letter
- Templates & Samples
- Examples for All Situations
- Cover Letters by Job
- College Grad Jobs
- Internal Positions & Promotions
- Career Change Jobs
- Unadvertised Jobs
- Jobs With Referrals
- Apply for Multiple Jobs
- Part-Time Jobs
- Summer Jobs
The following cover letters and cover letter templates are designed especially for high school students, as well as for college students and recent graduates seeking employment.
If you're a student or a new grad, you may not have much experience in the workforce. This can make building a resume and writing a cover letter challenging. After all, if you haven't worked previously, what information can you include in these two documents?
What to Include in Your Cover Letter
Fortunately, on-the-job experience is not the only thing that shows your abilities. You can also mention volunteer work, academic achievements, participation in clubs or activities (particularly those in which you held leadership roles), and internships. Your academic background is also an asset. Include details that are relevant to the position you want (use the job description as your guide to the qualities and training the employer seeks).
If you are an honors student with a GPA higher than 3.5, it is a good idea to mention this on a cover letter as well, along with any honors societies you have been inducted into.
Other things you can mention are soft skills – interpersonal “people” skills like creative thinking, communication, teamwork, or time management that will help you to adapt easily to the people and clients or customers you will be working with.
Your goal in this cover letter is to show how you would be an asset to the company, describing the skills you bring that would allow you to perform well in the position. Below, you'll find a list of student cover letters, listed by position and level of experience, to help you develop your own cover letter.
Watch Now: 7 Tips for Finding Your First Job
College Graduate Cover Letter Example
You can use this sample as a model to write a college graduate cover letter. Download the template (compatible with Google Docs and Word Online), or read the text version below.
Download the Word Template
College Graduate Cover Letter Example (Text Version)
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State Zip Code
Your Phone Number
Your Email
Your Address
Your City, State Zip Code
Your Phone Number
Your Email
Date
Contact Name
Title
Company Name
Address City, State Zip Code
Title
Company Name
Address City, State Zip Code
Dear Mr./Ms. Lastname:
I am writing to you to express interest in the graphic design position as advertised on Indeed.com. As a recent graduate with experience in 3-D animation software and the Adobe suite of software, I believe I am a strong candidate for a position at Kansai Collaborative Arts.
During my time at the University of Northern State, I was awarded the top prize in the student design competition for my version of an app that would allow students to learn Japanese characters on their own time.
In addition to graduating with a 3.75 GPA, I spent a semester at a university in Japan, and I have strong conversational skills in the Japanese language. I believe this would be an asset, as I know your studio does a lot of collaborations with major design studios in Japan.
Although I am a recent college graduate, my maturity, artistic skills, ability to work with others, and knowledge of the Japanese language and culture will make me an asset for your studio.
I have enclosed my resume and will email you within the next week to see if we can arrange a time to speak further. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Signature (hard copy letter)
Typed Name
Student / Recent Graduate Cover Letter Templates
Before you can begin writing your cover letter, it's important to know the guidelines governing these letters. Unlike a casual email to a friend, there are set standards for how to greet recipients, organize the letter's content, and much more. That's where templates can help: they allow you to know what information to put where, and they help you format your letter correctly. Review the templates below:
Student and Recent Graduate Cover Letter Samples
These lists of cover letters include both general examples that will help you format your letter, as well as sample cover letters used to apply for specific positions, such as roles as a nanny or a marketing assistant.
Do not copy these sample letters — instead, use them as a guide to help you know what kind of information to include, and how to format your letter.
Entry-Level Cover Letters
Have a look at these samples to see how best to present your experience when applying for an entry-level job.
Student Cover Letters
As a student, the information you should emphasize in your cover letter will vary depending upon your level of education. Here are examples of effective cover letters created for students at the high school, college, and graduate levels.
Job-Specific Cover Letters
These cover letter samples target specific career fields. They demonstrate how to incorporate industry-specific keywords into your narrative.
Cover Letters for Summer and Part-Time Jobs
Being able to write an enthusiastic and informative cover letter will set you apart from your competition when you apply for summer or part-time jobs while you’re still in school. Make sure you send your cover letter and resume as soon as possible after a job is announced – these opportunities are snatched up quickly. The samples can be modified to both summer and part-time work.
How to Write a Cover Letter
This guide to writing a cover letter will walk you through everything you need to know to write a cover letter, including what to include in the letter, how to write it, and the proper cover letter format. Plus, find out about how to write a targeted cover letter and browse through additional cover letter samples and examples.
Cover Letter Format and Presentation Tips
Here are cover letter tips and techniques for writing top-notch cover letters to send with your resume, including information about cover letter format and presentation, choosing a type of cover letter, writing custom cover letters, and cover letter examples and templates.
Thereare three main ways to use Drop Caps and Nested Styles feature:to apply a character style to a drop cap, to apply a nested styleto text at the beginning of a paragraph, and to apply a nested linestyle to one or more lines in a paragraph.
You can apply a character style to the drop-capcharacter or characters in a paragraph. For example, if you wanta drop-cap character to have a different color and font than therest of the paragraph, you can define a character style that hasthese attributes. Then you can either apply the character styledirectly to a paragraph, or you can nest the character style ina paragraph style.
Drop cap formatted automatically by nested character style
- Create a character style that has the formattingyou want to use for the drop-cap character.
- To apply the drop cap to a single paragraph,choose Drop Caps And Nested Styles from the Paragraph panel menu.
- To nest the character style in a paragraph style,double-click the paragraph style, and then click Drop Caps And NestedStyles.
- Specify the number of drop-cap lines and characters,and then choose the character style.
- If the drop cap is aligned too far away from the leftedge, select Align Left Edge.Selecting this option uses the original left side bearingof the drop-cap character rather than the larger value. It’s particularlyuseful for drop caps formatted in sans serif fonts.
- If the drop cap character overlaps the text below it,select Scale For Descenders.
If you want to apply a different nested style to anycharacters after the drop cap, use the New Nested Style option.(See Createnested styles.)
You can specify character-level formattingfor one or more ranges of text within a paragraph or line. You canalso set up two or more nested styles to work together, one takingover where the previous one ends. For paragraphs with repetitiveand predictable formatting, you can even loop back to the firststyle in the sequence.
Nested styles are especially usefulfor run-in headings. For example, you can apply one character styleto the first letter in a paragraph and another character style thattakes effect through the first colon (:). For each nestedstyle, you can define a character that ends the style, such as atab character or the end of a word.
In this example, the Number character style formats the firstword, and the Run-in character style formats text through the firstcolon.
Michael Murphy provides an article onnested styles at InDesign's Nested Styles Auto-Format MultipleParagraphs. He also provides a series of video tutorialsthat starts at Nested Style Sheets.
- Createone or more character styles that you want to use to format text.
- To add nested styles to a paragraph style, double-click the paragraph style, and then click Drop Caps And Nested Styles.
- To add nested styles to a single paragraph, choose Drop Caps And Nested Styles from the Paragraph panel menu.
Note:For best results, apply nested styles as part of paragraph styles. If you apply nested styles as local overrides to a paragraph, subsequent editing or formatting changes in the nested style can produce unexpected character formatting in the styled text.- Do any of the following for each style, and then click OK:
- Click the character style area, and thenselect a character style to determine the appearance of that sectionof the paragraph. If you haven’t created a character style, chooseNew Character Style and specify the formatting you want to use.
- Specify the item that ends the character style formatting.You can also type the character, such as a colon (:) or a specificletter or number. You cannot type a word.
- Specify how many instances of the selected item(such as characters, words, or sentences) are required.
- Choose Through or Up To. Choosing Through includesthe character that ends the nested style, while choosing Up To formatsonly those characters that precede this character.
- Select a style and click the up button ordown button tochange the order of the styles in the list. The order of the stylesdetermines the sequence in which the formatting is applied. Theformatting defined by the second style begins where the formattingof the first style concludes. If you apply a character style tothe drop cap, the drop-cap character style acts as the first nestedstyle.
Youcan apply a character style to a specified number of lines in aparagraph. As with nested styles, you can set up two or more nestedline styles to work together, and you can create a repeating sequence.
Attributesapplied by nested line styles can co-exist with attributes appliedby nested styles. For example, a nested line style can apply a colorwhile a nested style can apply italics. If both set conflictingsettings of the same attribute, such as red and blue, the nestedstyle takes precedence over the nested line style.
- Createone or more character styles that you want to use to format text.
- To add nested line styles to a paragraphstyle, double-click the paragraph style, and then click Drop CapsAnd Nested Styles.
- To add nested line styles to a single paragraph,choose Drop Caps And Nested Styles from the Paragraph panel menu.
- Click the character style area, and then select a characterstyle to determine the appearance of that section. If you haven’tcreated a character style, choose New Character Style and specifythe formatting you want to use.
- Specify the number of paragraph lines you want the characterstyle to affect.Select a style and click the up button ordown button tochange the order of the styles in the list. The order determinesthe sequence in which the formatting is applied.
You can repeat a series of two or more nestedstyles throughout a paragraph. A simple example would be to alternatered and green words in a paragraph. Or, in nested line styles youcould alternate red and green lines in a paragraph. The repeatingpattern remains intact even if you add or remove words in the paragraph.
- Edit or create a paragraph style, or place the insertionpoint in the paragraph you want to format.
- In the Drop Caps And Nested Styles section or dialogbox, click New Nested Style (or New Nested Line Style) at leasttwice and choose settings for each style.
- For nested styles, click New Nested Style again,choose [Repeat] in the character style area, and specify how manynested styles will be repeated.
- For nested line styles, click New Nested Line Style again,choose [Repeat] in the character style area, and specify how manylines will be repeated.
In some cases, you may wantto skip the first style or styles. For example, an events calendarparagraph may include “This Week’s Events” followed by days of theweek and their events. In this case, you could create five nestedstyles: one for “This Week’s Events,” one each for the day, event,and event time, and a final style with a [Repeat] value of 3, therebyexcluding the first nested style from the loop.The [Repeat]item should be the last in the list. Any nested style below [Repeat]is ignored.
Todetermine how a nested character style ends, select any of the following:
Note:
If you don’t want the character to be includedin the nested style formatted, choose Up To instead of Through whenyou define the nested style.
Periods, question marks, and exclamation points indicatethe end of a sentence. If a quotation mark follows the punctuation,it is included as part of the sentence.
Any space or white space character indicates the end of aword.
Any character other than zero-width markers (for anchors, index markers, XML tags and so on) is included.
Note:
If you select Characters, you can also type a character, such as a colon or a period, to end the nested style. If you type multiple characters, any of those characters will end the style. For example, if your run-in headings end with a hyphen, colon, or question mark, you can type -:? to end the nested style where any of these characters appears.
Any character that does not include punctuation, white space,digits, and symbols.
The Arabic numerals 0–9 are included.
Extends the nested style up to or through the appearanceof the End Nested Style character you insert. To insert this character, chooseType > Insert Special Character > Other >End Nested Style Here.
Extends the nested style up to or through the tab character(not the tab setting).
Extends the nested style up to or through the forced line break.(Choose Type > Insert Break Character >Forced Line Break.)
Extends the nested style up to or through the Indent To Herecharacter. (Choose Type > Insert Special Character >Other > Indent To Here.)
Extends the nested style up to or through the space character.(Choose Type > Insert White Space > [space character].)
Extends the nested style up to or through an inline graphicmarker, which appears where an inline graphic is inserted.
Extends the nested style up to or through the page numberor section name marker.
Inmost cases, a nested style ends where the condition of the definedstyle is met, such as after three words or where a period appears.However, you can also end a nested style before the condition ismet using the End Nested Style Here character.
- Place the insertion point where you want the nestedstyle to end.
- Choose Type > Insert Special Character >Other > End Nested Style Here.
This character ends the nested style at that point, regardlessof the nested style definition.
- In the Drop Caps And Nested Styles dialogbox, or in the Drop Caps And Nested Styles section of the ParagraphStyle Options dialog box, select the nested style and click Delete.
- Apply a different paragraph style.
GREP is an advanced,pattern-based search technique. You can use GREP styles to applya character style to text that conforms to the GREP expression youspecify. For example, suppose you want to apply a character styleto all the phone numbers in text. When you create a GREP style,you select the character style and specify the GREP expression.All paragraph text that matches the GREP expression is formattedwith the character style.
Using GREP style to format phone numbers with a characterstyle
A. Character style B. GREP expression
David Blatner provides real-world examples of GREP styles at 5 Cool Things You Can Do with GREP Styles. Cari Jansen provides a four-part series about GREP styles that begins at Introducing GREP Styles.
- To apply GREP styling to individual paragraphs, select the paragraphs and choose Grep Styles from the Paragraph or Control panel menu.
- To use GREP styles in a paragraph style, create or edit a paragraph style, and click the GREP Styling tab on the left side of the Paragraph Style Options dialog box.
- Click to the right of Apply Style, and then specify a characterstyle. If you haven’t created a character style to use, choose NewCharacter Style and specify the formatting you want to use.
- Click to the right of To Text and do any of the followingto construct a GREP expression:
- Enter the search expressionmanually. (See Metacharactersfor searching.)
- Click the Special Characters For Search icon to the rightof the To Text field. Choose options from the Locations, Repeat,Match, Modifiers, and Posix submenus to help construct the GREPexpression.
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