yes, companies accept cover letters. In fact, I know someone who won't bother calling anyone who doesn't send in a cover letter, because he figures they aren't really interested.

What sort of rules?

i always have a cover letter, it allows me to reinforce the stonger points of my resume. i have a sleek, minimal submission package, and a concise cover letter that follows the same format.
i don't follow too many rules (other than grammatical) and it's worked wonders at getting interviews... though, i am awful at the interview.

it also adds personality to a somewhat dry package if you only submit a resume and teaser (unless you've got kim jong il ps'd into your teaser like i do) - i try to add a touch of humour and that seems to go a long way.

and it really looks a lot more professional.

I always include...

1. Cover letter
2. Resume
3. A few work samples (optional)

And rules are made to be broken!

stuff like
-Use large wide spaces between paragraphs
-Identify characteristics of your reader (find out what they like)
-create vital headings that introduce text and concepts of the
topic such as backround, purpose, scope, and organization.
-create arrangement that enhances coherence
-deterimine a proper contrast

things like that, it gets worse too
i cant even beleive they made this
a class. sure there is some stuff
that will help me later on, but not
enough to make a class of it

No way man. We're designers, we make the rules.

Those aren't rules, they're guidelines meant to help you. It all seems to be meant to help you create a resume that the reader will be able to read with ease and pick out the information they want from quickly, which is a good thing for you. No, you don't have to follow them in the real world, but I bet you'd do better if you did.

i assume that the technical writing class in not within the school of architecture, so the rules/guidelines are meant more for stuffy, conservative, business/lawyer type people...

obviously, being in a creative field like architecture, we have much more flexibility... nothing drives me more crazy than seeing an architect's resume that looks like it came straight from a MSWord template...

that being said, the rules that you describe are about creating clarity and hierarchy so that the resume and cover letter are easy to read... which of course is part of a well designed presentation...

oh, and ALWAYS include a cover letter unless the job advertisement specifically says not to...

cool, thanks guys

i write a cover letter specifically for each position i apply for and base it on what the firm is looking for, why i want to find out more about them/interview, and to tie some things together that i just can't get done efficiently on my resume

for my resume it's set up for three levels (or so) of interest and ease for the reader
1. titles, types, dates...simple things are set off to one side and description of responsibilities are paragraphed to the other with a nice amount of white space but not too much, this way they can get a quick feel for the roles i've played in an office and make some quick judgements based on that
2. i bold specific things i think they might be looking for w/in my description of responsibilities so that as they scan the page looking at the titles, etc if they want more they can easily pick these things out
3. then there's the paragraphs for the people that actually want to know what the responsibilities have been

it works okay. i'm not sure if i'm just poor at writing, reading what people are looking for, responding to the wrong ad's or what, but the people that do respond respond well