Cover letter
Apply for a role and demonstrate fit through audience-aware writing.
Write for the situation
Audience
a recruiter or programme coordinator
Purpose
Apply for a role and demonstrate fit
Register and tone
Professional, direct and evidence-based
Avoid
Repeating a CV without explaining fit
Conventions that help the reader
Appropriate greeting; identification of the role; relevant evidence; fit with requirements; courteous close. These are adaptable guidance: task, audience and purpose decide the choices.
A flexible route through the text
- 1Name the role and motivation
- 2Show relevant experience
- 3Explain your contribution
- 4Request consideration and close
Language to develop
Choose precise verbs and examples. Connect reasons and consequences, qualify claims when necessary and vary sentence forms without forcing unfamiliar language.
Planning question
Which requirement does this example help you meet?
Model extract · Social organization
This original teaching extract shows selected choices. It is shorter than a complete Paper 1 response and is not an IB-marked exemplar.
Dear Programme Coordinator,
I am applying for the volunteer peer-mentor role advertised in the school newsletter. As a club organiser, I have helped new members choose activities and understand unfamiliar routines. This experience has taught me to explain information clearly without making decisions for another person. I would bring patient listening and reliable preparation to the programme. I also understand the importance of referring serious concerns to an adult. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss my application.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Morgan
Read as a writer
Find evidence of the intended reader, purpose and register. Identify a convention that makes the text usable.
Explore the content
Underline an example, reason or practical detail. Explain what it contributes, then develop the next paragraph yourself.
Connect it to each core theme
Identities
You are applying for a student role connected with a multilingual welcome project.
Write a cover letter for a recruiter or programme coordinator. Explain your motivation, develop relevant evidence from experience and show what you would contribute.
Theme connection: how language choices shape belonging.
Planning focus: Which requirement does this example help you meet?
Plan this taskExperiences
You are applying for a student role connected with a student exchange programme.
Write a cover letter for a recruiter or programme coordinator. Explain your motivation, develop relevant evidence from experience and show what you would contribute.
Theme connection: what students gain from an unfamiliar experience.
Planning focus: Which requirement does this example help you meet?
Plan this taskHuman ingenuity
You are applying for a student role connected with an AI-supported language-learning app.
Write a cover letter for a recruiter or programme coordinator. Explain your motivation, develop relevant evidence from experience and show what you would contribute.
Theme connection: how technology helps learners and where its limits lie.
Planning focus: Which requirement does this example help you meet?
Plan this taskSocial organization
You are applying for a student role connected with a school peer-mentoring programme.
Write a cover letter for a recruiter or programme coordinator. Explain your motivation, develop relevant evidence from experience and show what you would contribute.
Theme connection: how a community can support newcomers.
Planning focus: Which requirement does this example help you meet?
Plan this taskSharing the planet
You are applying for a student role connected with a student-led food-waste project.
Write a cover letter for a recruiter or programme coordinator. Explain your motivation, develop relevant evidence from experience and show what you would contribute.
Theme connection: how individuals and institutions can reduce waste.
Planning focus: Which requirement does this example help you meet?
Plan this taskTeach, practise and refine
- Read a real example of this text type and identify its readership and purpose.
- Annotate the model extract, then discuss how a different audience would change its wording.
- Select a theme task. Plan all required actions before writing; develop examples rather than listing them.
- Draft independently, review audience and task coverage, then revise one paragraph.
Teacher language
Which requirement does this example help you meet?
Support without fixing every sentence
Offer an audience–purpose planning grid, a few useful connectors and oral rehearsal. Then remove the paragraph openings and ask for independent wording. Extend by developing an alternative viewpoint or a justified qualification.
Self-check
- Have I addressed every instruction?
- Do the reader, purpose, tone and conventions match?
- Does each main idea have a developed example or explanation?
- Have I checked verb forms, reference, spelling and punctuation?