On April 28th, the third International Session of Qizhen Salon hosted by Honors College (HC) took place in the Room Qixiang of HC building. Mr. Hou Xiaorui was invited and carried out the lecture with the topic “Cover Letter”, mainly addressing the way to contact the professors when we apply for further doctoral-degree study abroad. The salon received very active and positive response from the students because of Mr. Hou’s humorous introduction and specific examples.

To start the lecture, Mr. Hou explained the phrase of “Cover Letter”, which means that students in China are now trying to contact professors to show their interest and academic strength before applying their oversea doctoral-degree study. Then he gave students an example to show the process of the “ Cover Letter ” to showcase the specific information and the efforts students have made about the research topics. Finally, he suggested students to read more academic papers and articles, and learn to identify useful information related to the majors or helping students to contact the professors who will potentially be the desired supervisors for the further study abroad. It is of great importance to send e-mails to professors to build and enhance communication.

After the salon, some of the students talked to Mr. Hou to ask questions and suggestions about the “Cover Letter” and their own applications. It is believed that most of the participants can learn a lot through today’s lecture.

Editor: Zheng Xinyu Photos: Zheng Xinyu Reviewer: Yuan Yun