Correspondence

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Correspondence

• Friendly Letters, Business Letters, and Email

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Email

• Electronic communication, because of its speed,
  is fundamentally different from paper
  communication.
• Because the turnaround time can be so fast, email
  is more conversational than traditional paper
  communications.

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Email

• In a paper document, you must make everything
  clear and unambiguous because your audience may
  not have a chance to ask for clarification.
• With email documents, your recipient can ask
  questions immediately. Email thus tends, like
  conversational speech, to be much sloppier and
  more ambiguous.

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Email

• However, because of the lack of vocal inflection,
  gestures, and shared environment, email is not as
  rich a communication method as a face-to-face or
  telephone conversation.

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Email

• Rules of thumb for good email style
• Provide your audience with adequate context
  Quote the email to which you are responding.
  
• Always include a subject in the subject line.

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Email

• Your correspondent may have difficulty telling if
  you are serious or kidding, happy or sad,
  frustrated or sarcastic (Sarcasm is particularly
  dangerous to use in email.)

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Email

• Find replacements for gestures and intonation
  
• Smileys
• Capitals
• Lower-case letters
• Creative punctuation

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Friendly Letters

• There are 5 parts to a friendly letter
• Heading
• Salutation
• Body
• Closing
• Signature

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Heading

• The heading includes your full address with zip
  code. State names may be written out or
  abbreviated.
• Align the heading along the right side of the
  page.

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Heading

• Here is an example of a heading
• 2403 Marshall Road
• Leander, IL 63052
• October 23, 2005

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Salutation

• The salutation is your friendly greeting and is
  followed by a comma.
• Capitalize the first word and any proper nouns.

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Salutation

• Here are examples of salutations
• Dear Aunt Florence,
• Dear Jim,
• Dear friend of friends,
• Dearest love,

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Body

• The body of the letter includes your
  conversational message.
• Indent the first word of each paragraph.
• Avoid contracted words.

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Closing

• End your letter with a brief, personal closing,
  followed by a comma.
• Capitalize the first word of the closing.

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Closing

• Here are examples of closings
• Love, Andrea
• Sincerely, George
• Fondly, Samantha
• Yours truly, Mike

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Signature

• Your signature should be handwritten below the
  closing.

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Thank You LetterBasic Structure

• Follow the same structure as the friendly letter
  plus
• Say Thank You!
• Mention the gift, favor, or party you attended.
• Talk about how you plan to use the gift or favor.
• Make it personal and close with saying Thank You
  again

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Thank You Letter

• Thank you notes show sincere appreciation and is
  a polite way to show how much you value the
  person or the gift.
• But be prompt! Send the thank you as soon as
  possible.
• Better its late than never always send a thank
  you, even if you received the gift or service
  months ago.

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Business Letter

• There are 6 parts to a business letter
• Heading Closing
• Inside Address Signature
• Salutation
• Body

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Heading

• Line the heading along the left side of the page.
  
• Include your full address, followed by the date.

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Inside Address

• A business letter has a second address, called
  the inside address.
• This is the address of the person who will
  receive the letter.
• Start the inside address 2 to 4 lines below the
  heading.

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Inside Address

• Write the name of the person, if you know it.
  Use Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., etc. before the name.
• If the person has a title, such as Personnel
  Director, or Manager, write it on the next line.

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Inside Address

• Then write the persons address.
• Use the same method of writing the state that you
  used in the heading.

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Salutation

• Start the salutation, or greeting, 2 lines below
  the inside address.
• Use Dear Sir or Madam if you do not know the name.

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Salutation

• Otherwise use the persons last name, preceded by
  Mr., Ms., Mrs., etc.
• Follow the salutation with a colon.

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Body

• 2 lines below the salutation begin the body or
  message of the letter.
• Single space each paragraph and skip a line
  between paragraphs.
• Do not indent at each new paragraph
• Avoid contracted words.

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Closing

• In a business letter, use a formal closing.
• Start the closing 2 or 3 lines below the body.
• Line up the closing with the left-hand edge of
  the heading.

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Closing

• Capitalize only the first letter of the closing.
• Place a comma after the closing, just as you did
  in the friendly letter.

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Closing

• Examples of formal closings for business letters
• Sincerely,
• Sincerely yours,
• Very truly yours,
• Yours truly,

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Signature

• In a business letter, your name is written twice.
• First type or print your name 4 or 5 lines below
  the closing.

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Signature

• Then sign your name in the space between the
  closing and your typed name.
• Do not refer to yourself as Mr. or Ms. in the
  signature.

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Signature

• An example of a closing and signature
• Yours truly,
• Robert Tessler
• Robert Tessler

33
Business Letters

• Make sure your business letter is clearly
  written, neat, and follows the correct form.
• It is a good idea to keep a copy of any business
  letter you send.

34
Writing a Letter to the Editor

• Writing a letter to the editor is a great
  opportunity to share your opinion, educate the
  public, or make a change in your community.
• A letter to the editor may inspire everyday
  citizens to take action that truly makes a
  difference

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How to Make a Difference

• Step 1 Choose an issue.
• Step 2 Choose an outlet for your editorial.
  Newspapers are the traditional recipients of
  letters to the editor, but online blogs have
  become popular.
• Step 3 Write your letter.

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Using Persuasion to Appeal

• Make sure your letter can stand on its own
  meaning provide enough info about your topic.
• Open with a strong statement that will grab the
  editors attention.
• Use a startling fact
• Describe a scene
• Ask a question

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• Be careful about accuracy and avoid personal
  attacks.
• Use support to persuade your audience dont just
  complain.
• Target your audience use support that will
  convince who is reading your article.
• Complete some research to support your ideas.

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• Play on the emotions of your audience (make the
  readers feel sympathy, guilt, admiration etc.)
• Offer a realistic solution to the problem.
• Close with a thought you'd like readers to
  remember.

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The Envelope

• If you type the letter, try to type the envelope.
• Place your name and address in the upper
  left-hand corner.

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The Envelope

• The receivers address, which is the same as the
  inside address in the letter, is centered on the
  envelope.
• Use postal abbreviations for the state and
  include the zip code.

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The End

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