Cover letters are very important . A few carefully worded sentences can entice the reviewers to thoroughly review the rest of your application.
Research is important, even at a small liberal arts college.
The strongest applications leave the reviewers with no doubt about the applicant's scholarship. The fact that research is very important to reviewers leads to four pieces of advice. First, prepare and submit for publication your papers as soon as is humanly possible. It is important that this part of your application be very clear and focused. Keep in mend that most of the faculty reading your application will know almost nothing about your research area.