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REVIEW OF BUSINESS LETTER STRUCTURES AND STYLES (TOPIC 7)Letter FormatBefore we begin to discuss letter content, we must examine letter appearance, for it is the physical condition of a letter that makes the first impression on your reader. Before reading even one word you have written, the reader has formed an opinion based on the way your letter looks the arrangement, the print quality, and so on.When you have composed the body of your letter and are ready to print, keep in mind three things:Typing Letters should be single-spaced with double-spacing between paragraphs. Print should be clear and dark. Errors should not be erased or corrected after printing.Paragraphing. Paragraph breaks should come at logical points in your message and should also result in an EVEN appearance. A one-line paragraph followed by an eight-line paragraph will look bottom heavy. Paragraphs of approximately the same length will please the eye.White space. In addition to the space created by paragraphing, leave space by centering the body of your letter on the page. An ample margin of white space should surround the message, top and bottom as well as both sides. If a letter is brief, avoid beginning to type too high on the page; if a letter is long, do not hesitate to use an additional sheet of paper. (See Figure 1 for recommended spacing between letter parts.)Note: Although preparing your letter on a word processor will facilitate the job of formatting, you still control the organization of your message and remain ultimately responsible for the final appearance of your letter.Parts of a Business LetterWhile the horizontal placement of letter parts may vary, the vertical order of these parts is standard. 1. LETTERHEAD: This, of course, is printed and supplied by your employer. It is used only for the first page of a letter.2. DATELINE: The date on which the letter is being prepared is typed a few lines below the letterhead.3. INSIDE ADDRESS: The address of your reader is typed as it will appear on the envelope.4. ATTENTION LINE: This is not always required. It should be used when the letter is addressed to a company, organization, or department as a whole, but you want it to be handled by a specific individual within that unit. It should be underlined or typed in capitals.5. SALUTATION: While "Dear Sir," "Dear Madam," "Dear Madam or Sir,'' "Gentlemen," "Gentlemen and Ladies"are acceptable in cases of extreme formality, you should otherwise use an individual's name whenever it is known.When the reader's name is not known, the person's title is the next best term in a salutation.6. SUBJECT LINE: Like the attention line, this is often omitted, but its inclusion is a courtesy to your reader. Byalerting him to the content of your message, you enable him to decide whether the letter requires immediateattention. It should be underlined or typed in capitals.7. BODY: This is the actual message of your letter.8. COMPLIMENTARY CLOSING: This is a polite, formal way to end a letter; standard forms are "Yours truly" or"Truly yours," "Sincerely yours," "Respectfully yours," and so on. Excessively familiar closings should be avoided,except in special situations. "Best wishes," for example, could be used when the reader is well known to you.Expressions such as "Fondly" or "Love" should, obviously, be reserved for private correspondence.9. COMPANY SIGNATURE: Another item often omitted from less formal correspondence, it should be used whenthe signer of the letter is writing as a spokesperson for the company, not as an individual. Since this informationappears in the letterhead, some companies omit it altogether.10. SIGNER'S IDENTIFICATION: Typed four lines below the previous item to allow space for the signature, thisincludes the signer's name and any relevant titles.11. REFERENCE INITIALS: Consisting of the signer's initials in capitals followed by a slash or colon followed bythe lowercase initials of the person preparing the letter, this item serves as a reminder of who prepared the letter.12. ENCLOSURE REMINDER: Consisting of the word "enclosure," or the word "enclosure" followed by a list ofthe enclosed items, this is a practical courtesy to prevent your reader from discarding important matter with theenvelope.13. "CC" NOTATION: Also a courtesy, this tells the reader who has been sent a copy of the letter. Any notes about enclosures or copies. Although it is not essential, it is useful to indicate at the bottom of your letter whether you are enclosing anything with it, and whether any copies are going to other people. The usual abbreviations are:– Enc. This means that the recipient should expect to find an enclosure.– cc, followed by someone’s name. This stands for ‘carbon copy’ and means that a copy is going to the person named.– bcc. This stands for ‘blind carbon copy’, and is only typed on copies of the letter, also followed by someone’s name. It indicates that you are sending a copy to the person named without the original addressee knowing.Note: Kindly refer to Figures 1-6 of the handouts on LETTER PARTS AND ARRANGEMENT STYLES.Arrangement StylesAs previously noted, the horizontal placement of letter parts is flexible within the limits of five basic styles. Often,however, a company will have a preferred arrangement style which employees are required to use.FULL-BLOCKED (Figure 2): All letter parts begin at the left margin. It is therefore the fastest traditional arrangement style to type.BLOCKED (Figure 3): Like full-blocked, all letter parts begin at the left margin, except the dateline, complimentary closing, company signature, and writer's identification, which start at the horizontal center of the page. (Options: the dateline may end at the right margin; attention and subject lines may be centered or indented five or ten spaces.)SEMI-BLOCKED or MODIFIED BLOCKED (Figure 4): This is the same as a blocked letter with one change:the beginning of each paragraph is indented five or ten spaces.SQUARE-BLOCKED (Figure 5): This is the same as a full-blocked letter with two changes: the date is typed onthe same line as the start of the inside address and ends at the right margin; reference initials and enclosure reminderare typed on the same lines as the signature and signer's identification. As a result, corners are squared off. Thisarrangement saves space, allowing longer letters to fit onto a single page. (Be sure to use a line at least 50 spaceslong so that the inside address won't run into the dateline.)SIMPLIFIED or AMS (Figure 6): Designed by the Administrative Management Society, this style is the same asfull-blocked, except: (1) no salutation or complimentary closing is used; (2) an entirely capitalized subject line(without the word "subject") must be used; (3) the signer's identification is typed in all capitals; and (4) lists areindented five spaces unless numbered or lettered (in which case they are blocked with no periods after the numbersor letters). This style is extremely efficient, requiring much less time to type than other styles. However, it is alsoimpersonal. For this reason, the reader's name should be mentioned at least once in the body.Punctuation StylesRegardless of punctuation style, the only letter parts (outside of the body) to be followed by punctuation marks arethe salutation and complimentary closing. Within the body, the general rules of punctuation apply.OPEN: No punctuation is used, except in the body. (See Figure 2.)Note: The salutation and closing should be punctuated consistently: either both are followed by punctuation or neither is followed by punctuation. Note, too, that a comma is NOT used after the salutation. (This practice is reservedfor private correspondence.)STANDARD: The salutation is followed by a colon; the complimentary closing is followed by a comma. (See Figure3.)PostscriptsIt is advisable to avoid postscripts; when a letter is well planned, all pertinent information will be included in thebody. However, when a postscript is required, it is arranged as the other paragraphs in the letter have been, precededby "P.S." or "PS":P.S. Let me remind you of our special discount on orders for a dozen or more of the same model appliance.Special ParagraphingWhen a message contains quotations of prices or notations of special data, this information is set in a specialparagraph (see Figure 7), indented five spaces on the left and right, preceded and followed by a blank line.Writing a Business MemoA business memo helps members of an organization communicate without the need for time-consuming meetings. It is an efficient and effective way to convey information within an organization.Use memos rather than letters when you are communicating within your organization, including members of your department, upper management, employees at another company location, etc.Memos solve problems either by introducing new information to the reader like policy changes or new products being introduced, or by persuading the reader to take an action, such as attend a meeting, rinse the coffeepot when empty, or change a current work procedure.The writing style of a business memo is somewhat formal but it doesn't have to sound intimidating. Your aim in writing a memo is the same as with other correspondence: You want to effectively communicate your purpose to your reader.Memos are most effective when they connect the purpose of the writer with the interests and needs of the reader. When planning your memo, be sure to think about it from your reader's perspective: Pretend you are the recipient and ask yourself:How is this relevant to me?What, specifically, do you want me to do?What's in it for me? Heading SegmentBegin the memo with a heading segment, following this format:MEMORANDUMTO: (readers' names and job titles)FROM: (your name and job title)DATE:SUBJECT: (specifically what the memo is about)Make sure you address the reader by her or his correct name and job title. Courtesy titles are not necessary but make sure you spell everyone's names properly and don't use informal nicknames.Use a job title after your name, and hand write your initials by your name. This confirms that you take responsibility for the contents of the memo.Be specific and concise in your subject line. For example, "computers" could mean anything from a new purchase of computers to a mandatory software class for employees. Instead use something like, "Turning Computers off at Night."This also makes filing and retrieving the memo easy.Opening SegmentBegin your memo by stating the problem--that is, what led to the need for the memo. Perhaps a shipment has not arrived, a scheduled meeting has been canceled, or a new employee is starting tomorrow.After stating the problem, indicate the purpose clearly: Are you announcing a meeting, welcoming a new employee, or asking for input on adopting a new policy about lunch hour length?Discussion SegmentIn the discussion segment, give details about the problem, Don't ramble on incessantly, but do give enough information for decision makers to resolve the problem. Describe the task or assignment with details that support your opening paragraph (problem).Closing SegmentAfter the reader has absorbed all of your information, close with a courteous ending that states what action you want your reader to take.Should they hand email their reports rather than hand in hard copies? Attend a meeting? Chip in for someone's birthday cake? A simple statement like, "Thank you for rinsing the coffeepot after pouring?the last cup" is polite and clearly states what action to take.Traditionally memos aren't signed. However, it is becoming more common for memos to close the way letters do, with a typed signature under a handwritten signature. Follow your company's example for this.For memos that are essentially informal reports or instructional documents, make the memo no more than one page long. In a memo, less is more.Summary SegmentIf your memo is longer than a page, you may want to include a separate summary segment. This part provides a brief statement of the recommendations you have reached. These?will help your reader understand the key points of the memo immediately.To further clarify your meaning, keep these formatting ideas in mind:Headings help the reader skim for sections of the document. Numbered and bulleted lists make information easy to scan. Be careful to make lists parallel in grammatical form. Font sizes, underlining, bolding, and italicizing make headings and important information stand out. As in all technical and business communications, long paragraphs of dense text make reading more difficult. Therefore, keep your paragraphs short and to the point. E-mailsIn most organizations memos have been replaced by e-mails as the main written form of internal communication, but the same rules generally apply. Of course, the first three elements – writer’s name, addressee’s name and the date – are all inserted automatically, and you will be prompted to insert a subject. The body of the e-mail, however, should be written in the same way as a memo. In personal e-mails it is common not to worry too much about spelling, capital letters or punctuation, to use abbreviations (and sometimes even mobile phone text language), and to include ‘emoticons’, but these have no place in business e-mails. You should be using correct, clear English. And if you are e-mailing someone outside your organization, then the format should be the same as for letters (apart from the inside address), including the correct salutation and complimentary close. Note: Click on the page: Effective Email Communication vi this link: Reports, Proposals and Business Plans (In General)Business writing process has stages: planning, organizing and completing.Step 1- PlanningIdentify a clear purpose toGuideFocus researchStep 2- PlanningIdentify and understand your audienceWhom is your writing directed towards?What are their needs, wants, attitudesStep 3- PlanningGather and research informationIncrease credibilitySupport purposeStep 4- OrganizingOrganize your informationDefine main ideaChoose direct or indirect approachStep 5- OrganizingCreate an outline“Skeleton” of your documentStep 6- CompletingBegin writingDo not neglect any relevant information or ideasRemember to be conciseKeep document as short as possibleAssure clarityStep 7- CompletingKeep audience in mindAdopt a “you” attitudeHow your main idea can benefit themStep 8- CompletingInclude in your document IntroductionBodyConclusion/recommendationAny other relevant sectionsDepending on type of documentStep 9- CompletingComplete your messageEditRewriteStep 10- CompletingProofread several times for errorsSpellingGrammarGeneral paragraph layoutSample ReportSample ProposalSample Business PlanSpecific ReportsReports can serve a wide variety of purposes, and therefore have a number of different formats. Most, however, follow the same basic pattern, regardless of the subject or aim.This pattern is:_ the preliminary pages_ the introduction_ the body of the report_ the conclusion, recommendation or main findingsThese sections are found in almost all reports. In addition, there may be two more sections at the end:_ acknowledgements_ appendicesTypes of ReportThere are three main categories of report, each with a slight variation on the basic pattern.Recommendation reports, as their name suggests, are written with the aim of recommending some sort of action. They may include a conclusion or conclusions as well, but they need not always do so.Conclusion reports are similar in that they probably present different arguments for and against a course of action. The difference is that they do not make recommendations. A feasibility study is an example of this kind of report. You might be asked to look into the feasibility of a certain course of action; you would reach a conclusion as to whether it was a viable proposition or not, but you would not make any rmation reports only present information. You might brief someone or provide background information, and you would probably present your main findings, but because of the nature of this kind of report, it would contain no conclusion or recommendation.REFERENCES: Bennie, M. (2009) A Guide To Good Business Communication. U.K: How To Books Ltd.Geffner, A. B. (2010) Business English: A Complete Guide to Developing an Effective Business Writing Style3rd edition. NY: Barron's Educational Series, Inc. ................
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