Cover letters are a formality which explains to the person with whom you are communicating why you are writing. If you are applying for a job, it explains for what job you are submitting a resume and offers the writer a chance to elaborate on their qualifications. When sending a graduate school or summer job application the cover letter may be brief and to the point as the elaboration on qualifications may be included in an essay. Below are a few general rules about the use of cover letters, though there are always exceptions and common sense should prevail.

Cover letters should be:

• Individually laser-printed on high quality bond paper (aka "resume paper" or "business stationery").
• Addressed to an individual along with the correct title.
• Brief, concise, and to the point (never more than one page in length).
• Written in your own words in conversational, but professional language.
• Spelled, punctuated, and paragraphed correctly.
• Slanted toward what you can offer an employer, not toward what they can offer you.
• Closed with a direct request for some sort of action, normally the scheduling of an interview.
• As formal in tone and structure when sent via e-mail as they would be on paper via regular mail.

• Stilted in language or phrasing.
• Gimmicky in an attempt to be original or clever.
• Repetitive (containing the same wording as the resume or loaded with the use of "I."
• Mass-produced (or appear to be).