1. WRITING A LETTER OF INTENT
November 21, 2016
Sinem Bezircilioğlu, PhD.

2. WHAT IS A LETTER OF INTENT?
«statement of purpose»
«letter of motivation»
«personal statement»
«cover letter»

3. Information about your
Educational background
Personality
Past&Present
Future career plans
Abilities
Extracurricular activities

4. STARTING TO WRITE LOI Focus on the questions below
What is your career goal?
What skills do you have?
What is unique about you?

5. STEPS OF WRITING LOI Know about your audience
Be clear about your goals, personality
Focus on your writing ability
Brainstorm about the qualities required by the institution
Be to the point
Be unique

6. STYLE & TONE
Sentence structure
Vocabulary
Verb-tense

7. Tone (Too Informal/Casual?)
«You see what I mean?» «I’m the right man for the position.» «I think this is a good program for me.» «Lots of things affected my success.» «It seems to me that I have the qualifications the position requires.» «I strongly believe that the program will facilitate my long term career aspirations.» «There were many factors which enabled me to achieve my goals.»

8. Avoid Clichés
«When I completed the project, I realized I had learned the value of hard work .»
«This experience broadened my horizon.»
«I’ve always wanted to live abroad to experience a new culture.»
«I really want to study at X university.»

9. EDITING
Content
Structure
Style

10. EDITING CHECKLIST Is your LOI relevant to your purpose?
Does it acquire all the information expected from you?
Does it have repetition of the information?
Is your LOI interesting enough?
Are there any unnecessary details about yourself?
Does your LOI reflect your self?
Do you show evidence to support your statements?

11. 8. Do the paragraphs follow each other smoothly. 9
8. Do the paragraphs follow each other smoothly? 9. Are the sentences clear and well-organized? 10. Do you connect the sentences & paragraphs using transition signals? 11. Does your LOI say everything directly? 12. Are there various sentence structures in your LOI? 13. Have you avoided passive voice? 14. Are there unnecessary adjectives? 15. Is your tone too formal? 16. Is your tone too informal?

12. THINGS TO DO Be accurate Be confident Be clear and to the point
Be sure your letter of intent does not have any technical errors (Spelling, punctuation, format,etc.)

13. THINGS TO AVOID Do not use complicated sentences
Do not use too many adjectives without support
Do not use Passive Voice all the time
Do not mention that the position/programme has always been your dream

14. WORDS TO AVOID WITHOUT SUPPORT
Important
Satisfying
Useful
Interesting
Good
Like
Love
Exciting
Excited
Significant

15. References

16. Sinem Bezircilioğlu, PhD. School of Foreign Languages
THANK YOU!
Contact Information:
Sinem Bezircilioğlu, PhD.
School of Foreign Languages