8.1. Business Documents http://www.ck12.org
Refer to the grammar and writing tips throughout this book to be sure that your email is correctly written.
Sentences should be short and well-written. Proof read for clarity. Be sure to follow the grammar rules in Chapter
10 to make the best impression on your reader.
Paragraphs in your email should also be short and to the point. Reading a screen is different from reading a paper;
you want to make your email easy to follow. Short paragraphs with a blank line between paragraphs make for easy
reading.
The tone of your email should be polite and courteous. Be friendly and respectful, but don’t be too familiar with
your reader. Avoid trying to make jokes or using sarcasm. A joke or sarcastic comment is likely to be misconstrued
by your reader because it is difficult to convey “tone” in writing, especially in a brief email. It is better to be too
formal than to be too casual. Remember, you will not get a chance to re-do the first impression you make online.
Below are some tips to help you make a good impression online.
- Avoid the temptation to use “text spelling” such as “ttyl” (talk to you later) “gr8” (great) or “R U going 2 the
mtg?”.
Your reader may not understand your abbreviations; in addition, your reader may feel that you are too lazy to write
the words out or that you don’t know how to spell.
- Do not type your message in all capital letters.
That is interpreted in the online world as screaming, which is most likely not the meaning you intend. THERE IS
NOTHING WORSE THAN AN EMAIL SCREAMING A MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS!!!! It may indicate to your
reader that you are too lazy to take the time to use standard capitalization, or it may also imply to your reader that
you don’t know how to use standard capitalization. In either case, it is not sending the message you intend to send.
- The content of your email should deal with one topic. If you have multiple topics you need to cover, put them
into separate emails.
The following email is an example of an email which covers too many topics. Look at the following email. How
many topics do you see?
Dear Mrs. Radway,
I am writing to you because I am going to be in San Francisco next week for our midterm exam. I am hoping that
you will let me take the test before I leave so that I won’t be behind the class when I return after Winter break.
I also need to talk to you about my research paper on the abolition of slavery. I found several very good resources
that will be useful in my paper, however one of them is an online source and it gives no author or date of publication
for my reference page. Is it okay for me to just list the source with as much information as I can find on the website?
I wanted to find out if we can use the multipurpose room for the Archeology Club’s winter party. We wanted to have
the party on Friday January 18 from 5:30-8:00 PM.
Thank you,
Janna Treefern
- Closing