LLD 100A San Jose State University Graduating in 2020 Cover Letter Portfolio Instructions for the Cover Letter For ENGL and LLD 100A Portfolios Instructi

LLD 100A San Jose State University Graduating in 2020 Cover Letter Portfolio Instructions for the Cover Letter

For ENGL and LLD 100A Portfolios

Instructions

Write a short cover letter that introduces your portfolio to the readers who will review your work.The main purpose of the cover letter is to identify which assignment you chose as your best work, and to explain to the readers why you consider this your best work.Your letter should be between ½ to ¾ of a page, single-spaced.

Sample outline

Date

Salutation

Short introduction telling the reader which assignment you chose as your best and second best (2-4 sentences maximum).

One paragraph explaining why you chose your (RA or DI) as your best work.What makes it your best work?What are you especially proud of in this paper?Provide 2-3 reasons why it is your best.

Closing salutation,

Your signature

Your name (typed) Running head: DISCIPLINE INVESTIGATION PAPER
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Xiaochuan Zheng
Pro. Boyd
LLD 100A Sec. 10
4/18/2020
Discipline Investigation Paper
Introduction
The need to choose the right career path is one of the challenges that young graduates
face in their quest to achieve their personal and professional aspirations. Also, the knowledge
and information that is derived from such interactions can inspire young professionals to address
the weaknesses that could limit their chances of success in their chosen occupation. It is the
reason why a discipline investigation paper provides students with the chance to learn and
identify the background career paths, the roles and responsibilities, and the communication skills
for their chosen occupation. Therefore, this report is derived from my interview with Mr. Zhang
Zhao, who is a financial controller at the Sinopec Group on his journey into financial analysis,
the role and responsibilities for the position, and communication practices that are critical to a
successful career in this field.
As a finance student, this interview session with Mr. Zhao would provide me the
opportunity to reassess my passion for generating information that supports the investment
decision of different stakeholders, and love for numbers and calculations would contribute to my
success. Also, the discussions with this highly experienced financial expert would affirm my
decision to ignore other business courses for this major was the right one. Hence, the
interviewee’s fifteen-year experience in financial control and analysis would assist in
DISCIPLINE INVESTIGATION PAPER
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understanding how my finance degree, training, and education would enable me to venture to ecommerce in the future and become a successful business owner.
Furthermore, my plan to use the interview as the right preparation tool for my future
career made to structure the interview questions according to professional and personal
aspirations. In this regard, the questions were designed to provide information on the typical
work environment, the entry-level positions, pre-employment knowledge and competencies that I
need to succeed, and communication skills for the financial analysts. Finally, I ensured that the
questions investigated the roles and responsibilities and personal attributes that have made Mr.
Zhao and other professionals succeed in this discipline.
Background & Career Path
Mr. Zhao was born and raised in China and wanted to become a renowned accountant
due to his interest in managing money and love for calculations. According to the interviewee,
his performance in basic and advanced mathematics during high school was excellent, which
inspired him to pursue a course that would enable him to solve problems with numbers.
Although Zhao experienced some challenges during high school with understanding some
complex mathematical problems, he did not allow this to discourage him from pursuing a degree
in accounting or finance after obtaining his O level results. Interestingly, his results qualified him
to study both accounting and finance, but he chooses the latter because he was interested in
exploring a new field. Zhao stated that finance is not different accounting regarding the use of
skills, but he was fascinated by the depth of the opportunities available to a finance graduate.
Also, his decision was based on a documentary on the jobs of the future and how technology
would have a major influence on the employability of accountants. Hence, the decision to switch
from accounting to finance major was based on the future prospects of the occupation.
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When Zhao was asked to describe his career path to his financial controller position at
Sinopec, he stated that he began his career as an entry-level financial analyst because the position
required only a degree in finance, economics, or statistics. He added that the career of the
individual from the junior financial analyst to associate position depends on his or her ability to
organize and sort financial information and data to generate reports that support the decisionmaking processes of different business units. Similarly, Zhao noted that the proper application of
scientific procedures and critical thinking of the financial is crucial to enjoying career growth at
the junior and middle levels. Aside from these technical, research, and analytical competencies,
Zhao stated that he obtained his Certified Financial Analyst certification five years after
graduation and starting his career. The CFA designation became the springboard for his career as
he moved from Associate Financial Analyst to Senior Financial Analyst and supervised a team of
ten experienced and inexperienced analysts (Smith, Vibhakar, & Terry, 2008). Hence, he
climbed the success ladder for the professional from the bottom through diligence and the
application of knowledge and skills derived from his academic and professional training.
Roles and Responsibilities
Financial analysts perform the analysis of various aspects of a company’s business and
make recommendations to management according to their findings. Zhao informed me during
the interview that his role as junior analyst included the evaluation of market trends, the
company’s financial performance, and assessment of the risks of various transactions and
contracts. He added that his responsibility as a financial controller still includes these duties but
at an advanced level because of the significance of the policies and procedures that he
recommends, implements, and enforces to the sustainable growth of Sinopec. Also, I learned
from the interview that financial analysis entails the development and application of financial
DISCIPLINE INVESTIGATION PAPER
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models that stimulate the outcomes of business decisions before they are made by management.
As a senior employee of Sinopec, Zhao explained that the aggregated financial data that are
created by the financial analysts are critical to management’s decision for operations, marketing,
sales, and capital projects. For example, he stated that reports on the financial transactions for
previous projects that are created by financial analysts are different accounting reports because
the latter does not consider trends and forecasts through the application of several variables. In
other words, the role of the financial analyst is categorized into data collection, trend analysis,
risk identification, and recommendation.
Zhao’s experience in financial analysis and control helped me to learn during our
interview session that professionals in this discipline need to have general and industry-specific
skills to succeed. The general ones are data analysis, financial modeling, trend analysis, risk
assessment, forecasting, planning, communication, and technology skills. Regarding the
industry-specific ones, the individual would need to apply his critical thinking, investigative, and
problem-solving capabilities to perform financial reports that are needed by relevant units to
make their decision (Brown, Call, Clement, & Sharp, 2015). For example, a financial analyst in
the retail sector would not only need his analytical skills but might require his experience in sales
and marketing to project consumer behavior and engagement strategy. Thus, financial analysis is
a broad discipline that supports various functional components of the organization. Finally, I
learned from this interview with Zhao that some of the challenges that financial analysts face
include is the need for constant learning due to the dynamic nature of the financial data. As the
professional who analyzes and interpret reports and data, the burden of making accurate
projections and recommendations that could impact several stakeholders increases the job stress
that analyst experience on the job, In this regard, Zhao said adherence to ethical standards would
DISCIPLINE INVESTIGATION PAPER
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assist the analyst under this situation by avoiding falsification of data or misrepresentation of
projections. Hence, financial analysis requires the person to have high integrity to avoid
unethical practices when placed under undue pressure by other stakeholders.
Communication
While financial analysts are data specialists, Zhao claimed that the job requires the
individual to have excellent written communication to present complex ideas and information in
simple ways. Also, the dependency of colleagues and management on the reports from the
financial analyst increases the need for the person to know how to integrate charts, tables, and
other visual aids into emails and memos (Brown et al., 2015). Aside from these components of
the reports and financial statements, Zhao stated that the analyst must include statements and
symbols that explain the importance of some of the data to help the decision-making process.
Finally, verbal communication is needed as the professional progress into senior positions where
presentations to the board of directors and investors are part of the duties or during the training
of new employees.
Conclusion
In summary, the conduct of this discipline investigation interview helped me to learn a lot
about my future career and the responsibilities that I would perform in my role as a financial
analyst. While I was surprised that written communication was one of the major skills for this
profession, my perspective on the need for me to develop my analytical and critical thinking
skills did not change after the interview. Also, I realized from the investigation that financial
analysts are exposed to a lot of pressure that could result in burnout, which supported my opinion
for professionals to engage in regular physical exercise to deal with the emotional and physical
DISCIPLINE INVESTIGATION PAPER
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strain from work. Zhao advised me to always engage in activities that support the proper
functioning of mental and physical state because the mind and body must be synchronized for
me to succeed. He recommended that I participate in meditation and read articles on economic
policy, development, technology, and social policies regularly to maintain my knowledge levels
and contribute to my success in this discipline.
References
Brown, L. D., Call, A. C., Clement, M. B., & Sharp, N. Y. (2015). Inside the “black box” of
sell?side financial analysts. Journal of Accounting Research, 53(1), 1-47.
Smith, R. K., Vibhakar, A., & Terry, A. (2008). Demarcating designations: chartered financial
analyst and certified financial planner. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 12(4),
299-310.
Surname 1
Xiaochuan Zheng
Pro. Boyd
LLD 100A Sec. 10
2/20/2020
The Impact of the Recession on China: Rhetorical Analysis
Introduction
The article “The Effects of the Global Financial Crisis on China’s Financial Market and Macro
economy,” by Linyue Li, Thomas Willett, and Nan Zhang presents a critical discussion of the
effects of the Great Recession on the Chinese economy and how the country reacted to it.
Written in 2012, during recovery from the recession, the paper was based on the aftermath of the
recession as a review of economic policy and effects in China. The intended audience, therefore,
are economists who are interested in macroeconomics and the government policy on the same.
While targeting this audience, the authors’ purpose for this article was to clarify the impact of the
recession and its aftermath on China and highlight how the government reacted to overcome the
economic issues brought by the period.
The article is a review article that is published online in a scholarly journal. The fact that this
article is published online makes it easily accessible to various types of audiences. However, the
authors target economists and analysts to discuss the impact of the recession. The purpose of
writing this article is to inform and educate these economists about how the global financial
crisis affected financial markets in China and the economy as well. The objective of this analysis
to bring into context the rhetorical strategies that these authors employ to convey their message
to the audience. This rhetorical analysis focuses on the organization, format, and language as
well as the authors’ use of process analysis and exemplification strategies and appeal to ethos
and logos as the main approaches to making their article effective.
Organization, Format, and Language
The authors have used the format of a scientific article in order to maintain clarity and formality
when appealing to the professionals in the field. The article has an abstract that is well formatted
and presents the main arguments of the rest of the paper. The authors go ahead to format the rest
of the paper using headings that highlight the main topics discussed. They have formatted the
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article using six major topics in the body paragraphs with an introduction, and a conclusion to
wrap up the article. This approach to formatting allows clarity and a formal structure of the
article hence appealing to the target audience. Since the target audience are scholars and
professionals in business policies, this format is appealing and easy to read for them.
Moreover, the authors use a logical connection of the topics from the first to the last to present a
great, formal, organization of the content which is rhetorically appealing to the target audience.
While looking at the progression of the paragraphs, it is evident that the first topic leads to the
second and so on. For instance, the first body paragraph presents background on the economy of
China compared to others in the world (Li, Willett, and Zhang, p.1, par. 4). This discussion then
leads to the spillover effects on the Chinese economy as the next topic in the body paragraphs (Li
et al., p. 2, par. 6). This transition from one topic to the next creates flow and a great organization
of ideas hence creating logical connections and ease in understanding how the economy was
affected by the recession. This organization progresses to the concluding remarks and hence
presents an overall compelling presentation of the main argument. The format and organization,
therefore, appeal to scholars and professionals who can easily access information and analyze its
validity.
In addition to formatting and organization, the authors use formal language to appeal to the target
audience of scholars and economists. This language is useful because the authors address a
critical business topic and intend to attract an audience who is knowledgeable in the topic.
Additionally, the author uses jargon that makes the documents appear business-related by using
specific business terminologies such as recession, GDP, economy. For instance, they identify
that “due to its standout growth rate in the face of the global economic recession, China has set
off a new round of discussions on the decoupling hypothesis (Li et al., p.3, par.5). Then looking
at this sentence, it has economic terms such as ‘recession’ and ‘decoupling hypothesis.’ This
language is clearly targeted to people who already know the basics in economics and hence can
effectively understand it. The authors, however, are careful to use the terminologies’ moderately
in a way that makes the article simple and less sophisticated. The author further presents his
ideas in simple grammar that is less complicated and well-structured sentences. The simplicity
that the author ensures in this article in terms of language is essential in ensuring that audience
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who do not have proper knowledge in issues business and finance are also able to read and
understand this article
Strategies for Idea Development
Throughout this article, it is evident that the primary process that the author uses to develop his
ideas is process analysis. The author analyses how various global encounters have influenced the
positioning of China as a global economic player and how the global environment has affected
business activities in China. For instance, in the second subtopic titled ‘China’s Position in the
World Economy,’ the authors analyze how the Chinese global GDP increased over three decades
from 1978 to place China as a significant player in the worldwide economy (Li et al., p.1 par. 3).
The authors critically examine the global business undertaking that China has recorded from
1978 which as set it in a better position compared with other global players such as the United
States. This approach is effective because it aids in driving the entire point of effects of the
recession in China. By using process analysis, the authors clearly utilize a cause-and-effect
analysis which is effective in delivering the main argument.
Exemplification is also another rhetorical strategy that is highly used for idea development
throughout this article. The authors use several examples to explain and to support their
arguments hence boosting clarity and validity. For instance, the authors mention that China takes
up “more than 20% of world platinum and 17% of world palladium demand” (Li et al., p. 2, par.
5). These examples are highly effective because they put the authors’ argument in context by
using information that the reader can identify with and hence convincing the reader that the
argument is justified. This strategy is effective because of it brings the attention of the audience
through incidences that they understand and can relate to and hence they are likely to agree with
the authors and their argument.
Rhetorical Appeals
In this article, the authors use various types of rhetoric appeals to grasp the attention of their
audiences and to make the audience buy their argument and the first outstanding appeal is the
appeal to ethos. This is a type of appeal that tries to grasp the attention of the audience through
the credibility and character of the author. Ethos appeal is evident in several incidences of the
article as the authors present numerous references and their credentials. For instance, at the top
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of the article, the credentials of the authors and the various institutions in which they work are
listed. This idea of listing the credentials and the institution where the authors of the article are
working is an effective way of communicating to the audience that this article is written by
qualified and specialized individuals who have significant knowledge in the area of their
discussion. Additionally, the authors reference other peer-reviewed and scholarly material listed
in the last page (Li et al., p. 6). As such, the audience feels that the document is serious and
professional and hence will be attracted to read and understand what these authors are
communicating. By using these two strategies, the authors present a commendable scholarly
argument which is not only believable but also trustworthy based on their methods.
Another type of appeal that is highly used in this article is logos which focuses on attracting the
attention of the audience and convince them to accept the authors’ arguments through the power
of logic and reason. In this article, the analyses and examples that the authors give to support
their arguments are examples of their logical reasoning to support their claims. For instance, in
their claim that China is a significant player in the global economy, the authors support this
argument by saying that from “1978 to 2010, the share of China’s GDP in the world economy
increased from 1.7% to 9.5%, when valued at market exchange rates” (Li et al., p.1., par. 3).
Another example is in the concluding remarks where they claim that their analysis has shown a
great economic interdependence (Li et al., p. 6, par. 4). In these two examples, the authors
present sound reasoning and logic. Such kind of arguments that the authors provide to support
their claim are evident throughout the article and hence appeal to the audience as based on logic
and informed reasoning.
Conclusion
After analyzing the article “The Effects of the Global Fin…
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