Email Format (Student Summaries)

Mandy's Summary

Evidence of Knowledge of E-Mail

Introduction

E-mail has rapidly become the most frequently used medium for business communication today. it is also common use of the Internet. Nowadays, although we still send and receive printed letters and memos, they are becoming rarer and are often transmitted as e-mail attachments rather than as hard copy. Since e-mails are fast and immediate, they can be easily distributed to one or many people. Also, they can create a permanent electronic trail.

E-mails follow a format similar to that of a memo, but they do have some special guidelines that we should follow to ensure they are effective.

Guidelines for E-Mails

1.Take the time to write them well.

2.Take special care in the subject line.

• Tell recipients why they should open and read.
• understand people have no time for e-mails require no action on their part.
• Know the context of the e-mail will influence people's inclination to open.

3. Pay attention to organizaiton and format.

4. Be particularly careful with the tone and content of the e-mails.

• Tone is easy for audience to misinterpret sender's intention in an e-mail.
• A harsh tone will be perceived even more harshly in an e-mail than in a hard-copy memo.
• The content of an e-mail can be easily forwarded to the world, accidentally or on purpose.
• The content can become permanent, easily accessed record.
• Discoverable in litigation

5. Think carefully about all of your possible audiences before hitting"Send".

6. Take the time to proofread each e-mail.

• Read the e-mail aloud or read to someone else to ensure the e-mail will not offend the audience or come across as negative, harsh, or insensitive.
• Print out important ones to easily see mistakes.

7. Treat E-mails with care.

Ten Most Common Mistakes of Business E-Mail Correspondence

1. Unclear subject line.
2. Poor greeting (or none at all).
3. Unfamiliar abbreviations.
4. Unnecessary copies (CCs)
5. Sloppy grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
6. All caps in the message.
7. No closing or sign-off.
8. Rambling, unformatted message.
9. Unfriendly tone.
10. No clear request for action.

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Connie's Summary

Email format use the following six items at the top of the email:

1. To:
2. From:
3. Subject:
4. Cc:
5. Bcc:
6. Attached:

Beginning:

The “ To” line generally includes the receiver’s electronic address. If you include the receiver’s name, enclose the address in angle brackets. The “From” line you can type your name and electronic address, if your program does not insert it automatically. In the “Subject” line, it will provide a clear description of your message. Insert the addresses of anyone receiving carbon or blind copies.

Body:

Include a salutation (such as Dear Marilyn; Hi, Marilyn; or Greetings) or weave the receiver’s name into the first line

The body of an email message should be typed with upper- and lowercase characters—never in all uppercase or all lowercase characters. Cover just one topic, and try to keep the total message under three screens in length. To assist you, many e-mail programs have basic text-editing features, such as cut, copy, paste, and word-wrap. However, avoid boldface and italics because they create a string of control characters that may cause chaos on the recipient’s computer. Use the word-wrap rather than pressing Enter at line ends. Double-space (press Enter) between paragraphs

Conclusion:

Conclude an external message, if you like, with a closing such as cheers or all the best followed by your name and email address (because some systems do not transmit your address automatically). If the recipient is unlikely to know you, it’s not a bad idea to include your title and organization.

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