E-MAIL WRITING

Why Write Emails?

You can send email message around the world in seconds Email allows you to communicate internally to coworkers and externally to consumers and vendors. Email is cost-effective because it is paper-free; it requires no postage Email provides an additional value when it comes to documentation. A virtual paper trail provides a company with an extensive record for future reference.

Though e-mail tends to become much friendlier and less formal than memos and letters this casual tone can lead to problems If your e-mail message is sent to a boss, client, or vendor and will be printed for future reference, a conversational tone can lead to trouble.

Sample of Casual, Unprofessional Email

Thanx for the email helping me with my software problem. B4 I called you I was falling behind in my work and my boss was on my case .. If you know what I mean . Heh heh ;-)
IOW u saved me big time Im gonna D/L the info you emailed me 4 future reference :) C Ya

Recognize your audience Use the correct email address (confirm the address before you hit the send button) Provide an effective subject line Incorrect: Meeting Dates Correct: Meeting Dates for Tech Prep Conference Keep your email message brief (limit your message to one screen if possible) Organize your email: an introductory paragraph, discussion and conclusion Practice netiquette (network etiquette, is the contemporary term for the proper way we communicate and interact with each other using email over the Internet). Lets look at the Yale Universitys guidelines for sending and responding to emails:

 Be courteous: Do not let the instantaneous quality of email negate your need to be calm, cool and professional Avoid abusive, angry email messages: Because of its quick turnaround abilities, email can lead to negative correspondence called flaming. Use good structure and layout. Keep your paragraphs short and place blank lines between each paragraph. This allows your reader to scan your message quickly. Get your most important points across quickly! Place your most important information in the first paragraph. Do not capitalize whole words that are not titles. Capitalizing is generally interpreted as SHOUTING to your reader. Descriptive subject lines get attention. Use bullets or numbers and short paragraphs whenever possible.

Emoticons are no substitute for clear and concise writing. They are not appropriate for formal business communications.
Ask for an action. For example, let your recipient know what you need in order to complete a task

Re-read your message one last time before you send it.

Your (last) email assignment: Checklist

Did you email the assignment to faststudents@gmail.com on time? Did you summarize the main idea in the subject line? Was the appropriate salutation included? Did the body concisely describe each of the required components? Was the body organized so it was easy to read quickly? Did the email end with a summary or closing thought? Was the email single-spaced within and double spaced between the paragraphs? Did you include full contact information after your name? Was the email free of any grammatical errors or typos?

An example of a bad email:

Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:06:12 -0600 (CST) From: HighRoller@hotmail.com To: Neil Hoffman <nhoffman@math.utexas.edu> Subject: i missed ta class yesterday, well honestly because i was out to late and feelin crappy the next day did i miss anything cn i make up the quiz? -matt

An example of a good email: Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:06:12 -0600 (CST) From: Kasey Studdard <leftguard@mail.utexas.edu> To: Neil Hoffman <nhoffman@math.utexas.edu> Subject: Missing TA session Thursday and Question about Talyor Series Neil, This is Kasey Studdard from your 8:30 TA session (57410). I will be out of town this coming Thursday and was wondering if I could take the quiz early. I am free during your office hours on Wednesday if that is acceptable. Also, I had a question about Taylor series. Specifically, I was doing problem 12 in Section 12.10. It asks you to compute the Taylor series for f(x)=x3 where a=-1. I did this and found that my Taylor series only had three terms, but all of the examples I remember from class have an infinite number of terms. Did I do something wrong? Thanks, Kasey