“Writing to Acceptance: How Students Learn to Write The Medical School Cover Letter”
by Chloe Stiggelbout | Xchanges 8.2
Introduction
Composition scholars have become increasingly interested in how students learn to write in particular genres, and how students recognize the unique features of a genre and then apply them effectively to their writing. Multiple methods have been researched and assessed to see which is most effective. However a general study is not always a useful approach to learning a specific genre. In-depth studies of different genres are necessary to gain the knowledge and perfect the learning of every genre.
My research delves into writing the genre of the medical school cover letter and how students learn to write in this context. In this article I will argue that genre is flexible. Through a qualitative and quantitative study including a survey of multiple people in the medical field and an interview of a first-year medical student, I will examine the styles and features necessary to write a successful medical school cover letter.
How Genres are Learned
In composition studies, the question “How do people learn to write in different genres?” has been a prominent one. Amy Devitt (2004) argued in Writing Genres that “the historical evidence suggests that people use familiar genres to act within new situations . . . and existing genres serve as powerful antecedents in shaping newly emerging genres” (p. 204). In other words, people rely on what they believe are the rules of existing genres to deal with new situations.
Devitt (1993) argues in “Generalizing About Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept” that “Genre and situation are so linked as to be inseparable, but it is genre that determines situation as well as situation that determines genre” (p. 578). According to Devitt, genre is a social construct rather than a classification. The understanding of genre is shifting away from just layout, format, and other visual cues that mark a type of writing — now, the writer must account for style, content, and most importantly audience because genre is embedded in the social constructs of writing.
Some scholars have disagreed with Devitt’s approach by claiming that genres are better learned through explicit teaching rather than situational experience. For example, Michael Carter (2004) did a case study on the genre of the laboratory report, finding that students who participated in LabWrite, a genre teaching program, scored significantly higher in scientific concept and scientific reading. This implies that genre can be successfully taught with explicit instruction.
However, most scholars agree that explicit teaching of genres is not the most effective way to learn genre. Freedman (1993) argues in “Show and Tell? The Role of Explicit Teaching in the Learning of New Genres” that “explicit teaching may even be harmful since students may misapply what they learn and misdirect their own intuitions and inclinations for effective writing” (p. 193). Teaching students explicitly can open the door to negative transfer — similar to how the five-paragraph essay is transferred to contexts where it does not belong. Freedman believes that people will learn genre on their own through being in the situation rather than through explicit teaching.