Sample Cover Letter For A One-Year Position

Candidate’s Address Date

Dr. Name Department of Philosophy and Religion Teaching College Address

Dear Dr. Name,

I would like to be considered for the one-year replacement position in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, as advertised in the January 10, 1996 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. I am a doctoral candidate (ABD) in Ancient History at the University of X. My major field of study is Assyriology, and my minor field is biblical history and literature.

Your advertisement mentions a General Education course on the origins of Western Civilization. My academic background, teaching interests, and experiences have dwelt on the first 3,000 years of civilization (beginning a little before the invention of writing in Sumer). I have read, in cuneiform, significant parts of such great, ancient literary works as the Gilgamesh Epic and Enuma Elish, and of course I am familiar with the Hebrew Bible. The course which I taught at Syracuse University College (“A Dozen of the World’s Firsts: History Began at Sumer”) utilized this knowledge and additional facets of life at that time, such as architecture, mathematics, and recipes. Comments (written anonymously) from course participants mentioned my knowledge, enthusiasm, and humor as its most positive aspects. I have also taught Bible history for three years at a private college-prepatory high school.

I have had coursework in the ancient history of Anatolia, Syro-Palestine, Egypt, and Greece. At Princeton Seminary, I had several courses on the history and structure of the biblical text, including a year of Greek. Last fall, to update my knowledge of later periods of Western Civilization, I sat in on a course on the Renaissance, at Syracuse University.

With respect to the course you describe, “Introduction to Religion,” I regard my seminary education and my life experience as an excellent place from which to study, analyze, and compare other belief systems (and I know that extensive library in Chapel House!) My years of work on the Arab-Israeli conflict have given me not only an intellectual but also a “visceral” understanding of the various styles of belief (and non-belief) in modern Judaism and Islam.

I note that you do not specifically request letters of recommendation or transcripts. Should you desire any of these or copies of my published articles, please do not hesitate to contact me at [phone number]. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Alice Applicant

From The Academic Job Search Handbook, second edition. Reprinted with permission from the University of Pennsylvania Press.