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Learning Outcomes - Email Etiquette Training Program (Part A)

By the end of this course, participants will:

Develop a heightened awareness of the potential perils of digital communication Master effective email structures to achieve clarity and successful communication Learn to write for the reader, starting with effective subject lines Make the most of 'email estate' Carefully consider the email recipients Learn to work within principles or 'rules of thumb' to ensure professional, clear &

effective emails

Perfect grammar because it matters Format messages for readability Learn to write professionally and brand Broadcast emails Learn to avoid senders regret by proof reading Understand 'netiquette' Master the inbox using some core principles and email functions

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Program Outline Email Etiquette Training Program

Topic 1 Introduction

As with any form of communication, there are certain rules of behavior which should be

considered when using email.

Email is written communication, but it does not have the formality of earlier writtenforms. It has a much more immediate, less formal feel than paper, pen, and stamp mail.Email is also essentially one - way communication. There is no immediate feedback and

interaction. Also, written communication by definition allows far fewer context clues toits meaning as face - to -face and telephone conversation. Any written communicationmust be carefully considered so that it is not misunderstood, but email lends itself tocasual interaction. The potential for real misunderstanding is clear.

When you compose an email message, pause and read over it again before you send it.

Once it is sent, you can't get it back. Remember that your grammar, spelling, and

vocabulary send a message as clear as the words.

Be very careful about using humour in email.

Email etiquette is the way in which you communicate via email. There are two types of

communications, one a personal email, to friends, family, etc..., and the other isbusiness. Of course the way you address your best friend is the same as you would yoursuperior. Do not type in all caps, that is considered shouting. When sending a business

email, make sure you use correct grammar and punctuation. Keep in mind whom youare addressing when sending an email.

Email etiquette is the skills and techniques necessary for managing emails and writing

professionally with effective email structures.

Evaluate your Email usage

Workshop Objectives

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Topic 2 - Introduction to Email Etiquette

Email is never secureWe send some of our most personal and private information through email.

Shouldn't we have 100% trust in our email system?Unencrypted, plain-text emails can easily be intercepted, read, and edited. In

fact, sending an unencrypted email is a bit like sending a postcard written in

pencil: whoever intercepts it can read it with ease. Until now, the process of

encrypting email messages was lengthy, difficult, and cumbersome, even to the

most tech-savvy PC user. Of course, security systems that, however necessary,

are a chore to use will never be adopted on a large scale.

You may already know that email is insecure; however, it may surprise you to

learn just how insecure it really is. For example, did you know that messages

which you thought were deleted years ago may be sitting on servers half-way

around the world? Or that your messages can be read and modified in transit,

even before they reach their destination? Or even that the username andpassword that you use to login to your email servers can be stolen and used by

hackers?

Productivity is lost when cyber-slackers log onBusinesses should crack down on workers who visit recreational Web sitessuchas Fantasyfootball.com and Facebook.comon company time. Pro or Con?

It sounds simple enough to say that employers need not tolerate recreational

Web browsing by their workers. Work is for work; do your personal cybersurfingon your own time and your own computer, right? This seems eminently

reasonableuntil you actually stop and think about it. A rule of zero or near-zerotolerance for cyberleisure on the job might make sense in a workplace populated

exclusively by robots, but its impractical and unreasonable in the real world ofreal humans at real jobs.

The Internet isnt just a business tool; its an information and communicationsnecessity. Cracking down on recreational surfing means making difficult,potentially intrusive, and mostly unnecessary decisions about the kinds of

information employees are allowed to consume at the workplace. Do employersreally want to go there?

So its acceptable to spend a break reading an online article at BusinessWeek.com

but not playing online computer games? Its reasonable to e-mail a colleague toarrange lunch but not to post a comment on his Facebook page? Will I be fired formaking a passing reference to last nights game in an interoffice e-mail?

This isnt about recreational Web surfing. The issue here is freedom ofexpressionan employees ability to think and read and communicate on mattersthat have nothing to do with workwithout interference from the employer.Whats really relevant to the manager is actual job performance. Employersshould certainly feel free to discipline workers who abuse the privilege of Internetaccess to the detriment of their productivity, just as they would show littletolerance for any other behavior that significantly impairs performance.

Smart employers know that talented, motivated people want to work where theyare evaluated on their performance, not within a zero-tolerance tyranny where

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they are judged by the private expressive choices they make in filling their idlemoments.

Poorly written emails today suffer the same consequences as poorly writtenmemos and letters of earlier times. So, when writing emails to your colleagues

and clients, remember to create a professional image by following these simpleguidelines. As you do, you will help others meet important deadlines and keepprojects on target.

Keep It Short and Sweet

Avoid rambling as you type one idea after another.

Instead, be clear in your thinking, use one of the three models of Writing to GetThings Done and finesse with tone.

Make the Organization Visually Apparent

Avoid presenting one paragraph after another with no clear visual connectiontying them together. Instead, make the organization of your emails apparent toyour readers. Here are two simple, yet powerful, ways to do this:

Organize a list of key points under a forecasting sentence in a bullet -pointparagraph format. (Like were doing here.)

Use headings to forecast the content of your paragraphs. (Like were doingwith the paragraphs in this article.)

Write in the Style of Educated Professionals

Avoid thinking that good writing rules dont apply to emails. Instead, followStandard American English rules for grammar, sentence structure, punctuation,word usage, spelling and capitalization. Remember:

Few readers notice good grammar. When was the last time you thought, Gosh,I like the way she used that semicolon! Super choice of punctuation!

All readers notice bad grammar. It knocks readers off message and makes thewriter look uneducated and careless.

Must we also say?

AVOID ALL CAPS. Readers will think youre yellingwhich you are. Or is it justlaziness?

Avoid the use of smileys. Reserve these for fun between friends and family. Inbusiness, they can easily be interpreted the wrong way.

Avoid text-messaging language: BTW, IMHO, J/K, LOL, BAK, MTFBWY, etc. Theseare great shortcuts in texting and should be reserved for texting. In business,they, as with smileys, can be misinterpreted and detrimental to your message.

Avoid using colored type, freaky styles and sizes, colored backgrounds andunnecessary logos and graphics. These distract readers from your message.

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Do a Final Revision

Avoid firing off your email as soon as youre finished typing. Take a minute to addsome finishing touches:

Engage your reader with a forecasting subject line that describes the topic ofyour email.

Include a friendly salutation or greeting, such as Good morning Brenda, ifappropriate.

Check that you have a professional, positive tone that encourages cooperation.

Proofread each sentence carefully, even after doing spelling and grammarchecks. As we all know from experience, a spelling check will miss the error ofusing to when we mean too.

Forward with Care

Avoid automatically relaying email from others. Respect the privacy of themessages you receive.

Consider confidentiality before you forward, and use the Reply to All" functionwith care.

Ask permission before forwarding someones private email on to others.

Consider attaching only the last email in a chain of emails and deleting prioremails.

Make it Media-Ready

Avoid thinking that just because you respect the privacy of others, they willreturn the favor. Avoid putting things in your email that you wouldnt wantanyone to see. Your email could end up on the desk of your boss, on the frontpage of the New York Times or in a court of law. And in such cases, you want tolook your best.

Keep it Professional

Finally, avoid taking people to task via email. Conflict is often better addressedface-toface or over the phone. Be aware that every email you send becomes awritten record of your performance. It also reflects on those you representyourwork group, your department and your company.

Email misuse and abuse may get you firedMore than a quarter of employers have fired workers for misusing e-mail and one

third have fired workers for misusing the Internet on the job.

The vast majority of bosses who fired workers for Internet misuse, 84 percent,said the employee was accessing porn or other inappropriate content. Whilelooking at inappropriate content is an obvious no-no on company time, simply

surfing the Web led to a surprising number of firings. As many as 34 percent of

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managers in the study said they let go of workers for excessive personal use ofthe Internet, according to the survey.

Among managers who fired workers for e-mail misuse, 64 percent did so becausethe employee violated company policy and 62 percent said the workers' e-mailcontained inappropriate or offensive language. More than a quarter of bosses said

they fired workers for excessive personal use of e-mail and 22 percent said theirworkers were fired for breaching confidentiality rules in e-mail.

Email can be embarrassingSending an email in error can be a minor embarrassment or it can cost you your job.

Yet, with some two-million emails sent globally every second its no wonder that most of

us have, at some time, forgotten our netiquette and committed an email faux pas which

has ended up causing offence, embarrassment, annoyance or even gotten us the sack.

Everyone knows how important it is to double check your e-mailattachments,

especially if youre applying for a job.However, sometimes the wrong file can find its way to an important message.

This nightmare happened to one girl, who accidentally sent a potential employeran e-mail attached with a scary photo of Nicolas Cage instead of her resume andcover letter.Talk about a bad first impression.

As a result of the innocent screw up, she probably didnt even get an e -mail backfor a potential job. Sounds frustrating, huh?

Dont let these careless mistakes cause big embarrassment and

missed opportunities. Here are seven common errors to check for before you hitthe Send button.

Get names right.Nothing is more embarrassing than messing up someonesname, especially if its your boss or potential employer. Always double checknames and spelling!Make sure your e-mail address is appropriate. First impressions are huge.Do you really think a potential employer would respect an applicant whose e-mailhandle was [email protected]? Probably not. Make sure youhave a professional e-mail address for business-related messages.Watch out for typos. We all are guilty of misspelling a word or two every oncean awhile. Its a pretty common mistake, so we tend to brush it off. However, itmight not sit well with a potential employer if your e-mail was peppered withminor typos (especially after all that talk about your attention to detail inyour cover letter!).Be aware of your grammar.Double check your and youre, their, there,and theyre, than and then, and its and its. Each of your little mistakeswill reflect on your employer, no matter how small. If you cant even write agrammatically correct e-mail, how will you represent the company?

Avoid all caps. NO EMPLOYER WILL APPRECIATE AN E-MAIL FROM AN

APPLICANT THAT DOESNT HAVE THE COURTESY TO TURN OFF CAPS LOCK. Notonly does it look like you are shouting, but its also incredibly annoying.Ditch the slang, bro. Make sure to avoid using slang words and phrases in e-mails, especially professional ones. Even if you are sending a casual message toa co-worker, practice good e-mail habits so things like thx, gr8, or LOL dont

slip into an important e-mail.

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Try not to use emotions. Although it can be hard to convey emotion through e-mail, try not to use smiley faces in work-related e-mails. Though there are worse

things you can put in an e-mail, some people find them to be annoying andunprofessional. Sorry :-(And above all, make sure Nicolas Cage doesnt creep into an attachment.

Email abuse impacts revenues and also reputationsOutbound abuse has a long list of consequences that affect not only subscribersexperience but also the mailbox providers operations, brand image and

revenues.

These issues are:

Operational DisruptionMailbox providers can have their email traffic blocked atother mailbox providers due to the outflow of spam, something Return Path often

finds out as we mediate and help resolve disputes between providers. The

common cause for such a disruption is outbound spam, though infrequently, it

can be the result of a misconfigured email server. Bounced emails contribute to

user dissatisfaction and other factors listed below.

Loss of TrustOnce a mailbox providers IP range is blocked by other mailbox

providers due to spam generation, subscribers will experience message sending

issues since the IP addresses are identified as spam generators. Note a

subscribers email account does not necessarily need to be compromised, rather itis guilty by association as a few compromised accounts generate the IP block,

and all messages using the blocked IP addresses suffer the consequences. If this

happens frequently a user will lose trust in her mailbox provider, which brings us

to the next point.

Customer ChurnIn this day and age changing personal email accounts is veryeasy. Once a subscriber loses trust in her mailbox provider she will look for

alternatives, which there are plenty of, and eventually she will pick another one.

If left unchecked, outbound abuse could be not only a significant contributor to

customer churn but also a main driver of it.

Revenue LossThe barriers to leave a mailbox provider are very low. A user inthe average US metropolitan area has at least seven choices for her email needs:

she can get an email account from one of the major webmail providers, Yahoo

Mail, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail and Facebook or through her DSL or cable provider.

Revenue stream generated by users that move to a competitor will be very hard,

if not impossible, to bring back.

Brand ImageNo mailbox provider wants to see its IPs blocked and be

identified as a generator of outbound spam. However, in the past year more than

40% of global mailbox providers have had some IP ranges blacklisted due to

outbound abuse reasons. If such a block remains in place for a while or happens

multiple times and customer churn increase, the mailbox providers brand imagewill be damaged in the eyes of the consumer.

Productivity LossOutbound abuse has been receiving more attention relatively

recently and, as such, does not have a comprehensive solution available. Mailboxprovider abuse groups are therefore forced to create their own manual solutions

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or to repurpose some existing tools that were not originally created to solve the

outbound abuse problem. In the case of homegrown solutions the abuse group

embarks in a long project (months and, in some cases, years) that might not

provide complete visibility and therefore partial or no relief. Similarly, inbound

spam solutions are ineffective for outbound spam remediation and log

aggregators, while useful, are also a multiple month proposition with incompletevisibility. As a result, an abuse team loses productivity by first trying to keep up

with the amount of outbound spam and then by using solutions that were not

created to solve the problem.

Email is easily misinterpretedPeople overestimate both their ability to convey their intended tone in e-mails -be

it sarcastic, serious or funny - when they send an e-mail, as well as their ability

to correctly interpret the tone of messages others send to them.

The reason for this communication disconnect, is egocentrism the well-established social psychological phenomenon whereby people have a difficult time

detaching themselves from their own perspectives and understanding how other

people will interpret them.

Theres nothing new about text-based communication; people have been writingletters for centuries," they explain. "But what's different in this medium is the

ease with which we can fire things back and forth. It makes text-based

communication seem more informal and more like face-to-face communication

than it really is." People are better at communicating and interpreting tone in

vocal messages than in text-based ones.

As a web writer, it's important to write emails and other web copy that can't

be misinterpreted. When youre writing to clients, the last thing you want is for

them to think youre disrespectful or entitled. But many times, our emails can

come across exactly how we dont intend them to.

A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found people could

only correctly interpret the tone and mood of an email half the time. That means

if youre happy all the time, your clients could think youre upset, irritated, or

annoyed half the time.

Since we only have a 50/50 chance of our emails being properly understood, we

should make every effort to be as clear as possible when emailing. Here are

seven ways to make sure your emails arent misread:

1. Take your time.

Its safe to saywere all in a rush these days. Thats why its not surprising many

of us send emails without thinking them through.

Taking a few moments before hitting the Send button to double-check the email

message and make sure that it cant be taken the wrong way can help avoid a lotof headaches.

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If you dont have time to think about what you want to say, and how you want to

say it, save your email as a draft and come back to it later.

Of course, one way to save time is to keep your emails short.

2. Say less.

Writing brief emails lowers the chance of having your email misinterpreted

because there are fewer things to say wrong or for your reader to take the wrong

way.

Remember, its easier on you to read shorter emails as well and by keeping your

messages short, you encourage the reader to respond with a short email.

Of course, if they arent taking your hint, you could always usethis trick, and

limit the number of sentences in every email you write while encouraging othersto do the same.

3. Stick to one topic.

If your emails are long, its probably because youre trying to cover more than

one thing at a time. This leads to confusion, unanswered questions, missed steps,

frustration, and email misinterpretation.

One of the easiest ways to say less and to get your question answered quickly

is to stick to one topic. There will be less to misunderstand and your reader

can quickly get to the point.

4. Dont start with pleasantries.

In a Creative Mornings talk, Simon Sinek explained that when you have a request

for something, its best to ask for it first and then include pleasantries. When you

start with pleasantries, it comes across as a ploy to get what you want. But, when

the kind words come after the request, they seem more genuine because they

dont seem like part of your agenda.

For example, instead of saying, Dear Becky, I loved your article today. It wasgreat! Please read the attached web copy and give me your feedback.

You should say, Dear Becky, Please read the attached web copy and give me

your feedback. By the way, I loved your article today. It was great!

5. Avoid Emoticons.

Studies show we misinterpret positive emails as more neutral than the sender

intended. We also misinterpret neutral emails as more negative. Sadly, jokes are

rated less funny by readers than senders.

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If you write something you think might be offensive to the email recipient, adding

a winky face doesnt make it okay. And, if a comment requires a smiley face to be

understood, then its probably best to eliminate or rephrase it.

6. Put yourself in their shoes.

Its a good idea to re-read your emails and consider how the other person will

feel. It can be difficult because the reader will interpret it based on their mood

and expectations, but consider if there is a way your email could be

misunderstood? If so, you might want to rewrite it until there is only one clear

meaning.

Ive received quite a few emails where people use ellipses (the three dots)

incorrectly. They might say, Thank you But because I agree with the

Wikipedia description, ellipses can be used to indicate an unfinished thought, I

feel like these emails are saying, Thank you, but or Thank you for nothing.

I try to remind myself that they probably didnt intend it that way and may not

know what ellipses mean, but it can still be hurtful and is an example of email

misinterpretation.

7. When all else fails, make a phone call.

It might be faster and better to call if you dont have enough time to type a

thorough email and read it twice before clicking Send.

If youre concerned your email might be misunderstood, or if youre strugglingwith what you want to actually say, pick up the phone. You can talk it out and

both reach an understanding. This works best with touchy subjects or if youre

already in a confusing conversation.

However, there is a bright light at the end of the email misinterpretation tunnel.

Familiarity between email senders and receivers reduces the problems of email

misinterpretation. The better you know someone, the less likely you are to

misunderstand what he or she typed.

Topic 3 - Create Structure for Success

Forward-To-CC-BCCWhen you write an email, you write it to someone (or, of course, to someone

special).

Yet the To: field is not the only place to put an addressee. Two more fieldsaccept recipients. They are called Cc: and Bcc:, and you probably have already

seen them.

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Cc: Carbon Copy

"Cc" is short for "carbon copy". Those naming and designing this emailfeature probably had the real world counterpart to email in mind: letters. Carbon

copy paper made it possible to send the same letter to two (or even more if you

hit the keys really hard) different people without the onerous task of having to

write or type it twice.

The analogy works well. An email is sent to the person in the To: field, ofcourse.

A verbatim copy of the message is also sent to all the addresses listed inthe Cc: field, though. Yes, there can be more than one email address in this field,

and they all get a copy. To enter more than one address in the Cc: field, separate

them with commas.

The Shortcomings of Cc:

When you send a message to more than one address using the Cc: field,both the original recipient and all the recipients of the carbon copies see

the To: and Cc: fields including all the addresses in them.

This means that every recipient gets to know the email addresses of allthe persons that received your message. This is usually not desirable. Nobody

likes their email address exposed to the public.

Full Cc: fields also don't look all that good. They can become quite longand grow big on the screen. Lots of email addresses will overshadow little

message text.

Bcc: Blind Carbon Copy

The long version of "Bcc" is "blind carbon copy". If this gives you theimage of an empty sheet of paper a carbon copy without text , that's notquite what email's Bcc: is up to.

The Bcc: field helps you deal with the problems created by Cc:. As it is thecase with Cc:, a copy of the message goes to every single email address

appearing in the Bcc: field.

The difference is that neither the Bcc: field itself nor the email addressesin it appear in any of the copies (and not in the message sent to the person in the

To: field either).

The only recipient address that will be visible to all recipients is the one inthe

To:field. So, to keep maximum anonymity you can put your own address inthe To: field and use Bcc: exclusively to address your message.

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Bcc: lets you send a newsletter, too, or send a message to "undisclosedrecipients".

Cc: and Bcc: Etiquette

Bcc: is a nice and powerful tool. But you still should limit its use to caseswhen it is clear that the message was sent to multiple recipients whose addressesare protected using Bcc:. You could mention the other recipients at the end of the

email by name, but not by email address, for example.

UrgentNeed to keep track of an important message? Or do you want to make sure that

e-mail recipients immediately understand that your mail is urgent and needsattention.

The important indicator is available to you on the toolbar and is a fast way to letrecipients know that you have sent them an important mail.

A message flag can mark that mail and make it easy to scan the Inbox and find itagain, either as a reminder for you or to catch a recipient's attention.

! High Importance Low Importance

As you go about your daily e-mailing, you know that some of the e-mails

you send out are much more important than others. For instance, e-mails you

send out to clients at your business are more important than sending a joke toyour best friend.

Setting your e-mails as high priority, or even low priority, will help your receiversunderstand if the e-mail needs to be read as soon as they get it or if they can letit go for a couple hours. Im not saying you should mark every e-mail you send ashigh or low priority, but sometimes its nice to let your readers know whats goingon. High priority is much more common than low priority, because it just letseveryone know how important the e-mail is. Okay, so setting your e-mail priorityis very simple to do, so lets get started.

In Outlook Express, create a new message just as you would for any other e-

mail. Along the toolbar buttons at the top, look for the button that says Priority.Click on it once to get High Priority, click on it twice to get Low Priority or three

times to have no priority. There is also a down arrow on the button, so you canclick on that to choose either high, low or normal (none at all) priority as well.

A red exclamation point is used for high priority and a blue down arrow is

used for low priority. Once you choose your priority, a message will appear at the

top of the e-mail saying which status that e-mail is set to. Then just compose thee-mail like you normally would and send it off. When your receiver gets the e-mail, they will see either the exclamation point or the arrow beside theirmessage, so they will know instantly if they need to read the e-mail right away or

not.

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If you use Netscape mail, click on the New Message button and look for the pulldown menu that says Priority. When you click on the menu, a list of priority

settings ranging from lowest to highest will come up and you can select whichone you want. Then just compose the e-mail like you always do and send it.

For Hotmail, click on New Message and look for the little red exclamation point

and the little blue down arrow. (Theyre small, so really keep an eye out forthem). Click which priority you want and then write the e-mail and send it

normally. You wont see any sign of your priority, but it will show up for yourreader.

SubjectA subject like the headline above can irresistibly pull readers into opening your

message and reading its every hypnotic word. Often, it will not and what if youdon't have anything to sell?

Your email's subject line is, next to your name, the first thing the recipient sees.

It is important.

In your email subject, do not:

Arouse interest and curiosity. Say "Hi". Be wordy. Respond without giving context. Be vague or general.

Write a Good Email Subject

To compose the perfect email subject:

Give the message's bottom line. If your email comprises multiple topics, consider breaking it into multiple

messages.

Summarize the message why you are writing and what you want to be

different after the recipient has read your email instead of describing it. If you invite somebody to a conference, use "Invitation: Email Efficiency

Conference, Bangalore Aug 14-16" instead of a plain "Email Efficiency

Conference".

Be precise.

Include detail that allows the recipient to identify what you are talking aboutquickly and unambiguously.

If your message requires the recipient's action, say so; preferably with the

first word.

Leave out unnecessary words.

If the action associated with your message includes a date or deadline, do

include it in the email subject.

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Email subjects need to be concise. Skip articles, adjectives and adverbs.

SalutationA salutation is a greeting used in a letter or other written communication, suchas an email. Salutations can be formal or informal. The most common form of

salutation in a letter is Dear followed by the recipient's given name or title. For

each style of salutation there is an accompanying style of complementary close,

known as valediction.

The salutation "Dear" in combination with a name or a title is by far the most

commonly used salutation in both British and American English, in both formal

and informal correspondence. It is commonly followed by either by an honorific

and a surname, such as "Dear Mr. Smith," or by a given name, such as "Dear

John," However, it is not common in English to use both a title of address anda

person's given name: "Dear Mr. John Smith" would not be correct form.

A comma follows the salutation and name, while a colon is used in place of a

comma only in American business correspondence. This rule applies regardless of

the level of formality of the correspondence.

If the name of the intended recipient is unknown, acceptable salutations are:

Dear Sir/Madam or Dear Sirs (If the gender of the reader is unknown).

To Whom It May Concern (If the writer wishes to exclude the gender of the

reader from the salutation and/or to convey that the reader should forward the

copy to one more suited to receive or respond appropriately).

Dear Sir (If the reader is Male).

Dear Madam (If the reader is Female).

Dear Reader: Dear Reader, Dear Ms. Reader: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Reader:Dear Sir or Madam: Hi, Reader, Reader,

This s all about the etiquette of salutations (greetings) for business letters andemail.

Introduction Body ConclusionIntroduction

A good introduction will surely give the reader a good impression. There are

several types of introduction to start your email:

Definition - According to the English dictionary, Internet is a computer system

that allows millions of computer users around the world to exchange information

Question - Do you know that the invention of the Internet has revolutionized the

business world? What are the pros and cons of the Internet? Fact - A recent survey on the Internet suggested that more than 60 per cent of

the users receive spam emails daily

Dialogue -Son, can you please help me to pay the bills online? The use of the

Internet benefits not only the Internet-literates but also the illiterate onesQuotation - No man is an island. Everyone needs friends in his life

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Body

Now you need not worry about running out of points, so you can focus on

paragraphing. A good paragraphing is essential for a good email.

Include only one topic sentence which contains one main idea in one paragraph.Support the topic sentence with some elaborations, examples and further details

or information. You should write your essay until you have nothing to write

anymore.

Be specific in your email and avoid generalization. A too general sentence is hard

to support your topic sentence. Maintain the right tone and coherence in your

email. If a piece of writing is coherent, it is easy to understand because it is clear

and reasonable.

Use logical connectors to join sentences and maintain coherence. Here is a list of

useful logical connectors:To add another related point: and, also, too, besides, as well, in addition (to),

furthermore

To add a similar point: similarly

To connect two statements or phrases when the second one adds something

different or seems surprising after the first one: but, however, nevertheless,

nonetheless, on the other hand, yet, whereas, while, except

To show connection between actions and consequences: so, therefore, so that, as

a result, consequently, then, thus

When a particular fact does not prevent something from happening: although,

though, in spite of, despite

Conclusion

End your conclusion carefully and clearly. Do not give the reader a vague idea

about the email you have just written. Do not end your email like this: There are

some advantages and disadvantages of the Internet. Your can include your point

of view or your thoughts on the email in the conclusion of your email. Try to start

your conclusion with one of these words.

SignatureA signature is some text that appears at the end of any email messages you

send. You could include your name, work address, home address, website

address, marketing message or any other information you would like on youremails.

An e-mail signature is a block of text appended to the end of an e-mail message

often containing the sender's name, address, phone number, disclaimer or other

contact information. Most e-mail clients, includingMozilla

ThunderbirdandEudora, can be configured to automatically append an e-mail

signature with each new message. A shortened form of a signature block

(sometimes called a "signature line"), only including one's name, often with some

distinguishing prefix, can be used to simply indicate the end of apostor

response. Most e-mail servers can be configured to append e-mail signatures to

all outgoing mail as well. However, when multiple replies to the same post occur,

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care should be taken to prevent multiple signatures from building up so that

message lengths remains legible and message size manageable.

Email Signature Tips

1. Keep it as short as you can while providing all of the information you deemmost important (four lines is the accepted standard).

2. Condense information into fewer lines by using pipes (|) or colons (::) toseparate the text.

3. Remember that simple plain text is best; skip colors, special fonts andgraphics.

4. Use the accepted signature delimiter (-- ) to help your signature get

recognized as such by email clients.

5. Be careful with HTML formatting because it may not appear how you want it tofor everyone.

6. Test your signature with as many email clients as you can, especially if you useHTML.

7. Optimize your logo or other graphics, upload the files to your server, and usean absolute URL.

8. Consider using an email signature service if you have specific formatting needsor want to include graphics and other design elements.

9. Provide written out URLs instead of using hyperlinks in your email to ensurethe link will go through in the sent message.

10. Avoid including multiple phone numbers and email addresses. Pick yourcontact preference and get rid of the rest.

11. Only include IM details and Skype account information if you want to be

contacted that way by anyone who sees your message.

12. Skip your mailing address not every recipient wants or should have accessto that information.

13. Include links to your most important social media profiles, only if they areappropriate.

14. Include your email address. You cant rely on various email clients to includeheader information in replies and forwards.

Examples of Email Signatures

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John SmithPresident | Top Web Design USA

555-555-5555 | [email protected] | http://www.websiteurl.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/twittername | LinkedIn:http://linkedin.com/in/linkedinname

Kumar

Business Executive

Global Solutions Private Ltd

444-555-6666

DraftNot ready to send your message? You can save a message as a Draft to reviseand send later.

Save Draft

1. Compose your new message (or Reply to an existing message)2. Click Save Draft on the toolbar3. Close the message tab

Edit and Send Draft

1. Click the Inbox tab2. Use the Filter pane on the left to open the relevant mailbox3. Click the Drafts folder in the left pane4. Existing message drafts will appear in the list5. Click to select the draft you wish to edit6. In the Preview pane, click Edit Draft7. Make any desired changes8. Click Send on the message toolbar to send the edited draft

The edited message is now part of the relevant conversation, and can be found inthe Archive or Sent folders instead of the Draft folder.

Time Delays

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Occasionally you may need to delay or postpone delivery or sending or

an email message. Normally, when you click on Send button, the email will besent immediately, no matter youre using desktop email clients such as Outlook,Outlook Express or Thunderbird, or web-based email services (of course, not

when you disconnect from Internet when using offline desktop mail client where

email cannot be sent out). The ability to delivery delivery of mail message will be

useful in such a case where you want a mail to only be delivered to recipients on

future date such as birthday wishes, appointment reminders, anniversary

celebration, holiday or ocassion greetings, or simply to avoid sending mail to

person on vacation when you know that he or she wont back before certain date,and etc. Microsoft Outlook provides such a feature called Do Not DeliverBefore to postpone sending of email to future date or time, and enable all POP3,IMAP, HTTP or Microsoft Exchange Server emailservices.

The email message that is delayed sending in future date will be held in the

Outbox folder after you clicking on Send button. Once the specified assigned date

and time is reached, the email will be sent and delivered, and email been moved

to Sent Items folder automatically, provided youre connected to Internet.

Why is email delayed for a period of time?

The email server could be overloaded. An email server has to make an outgoingconnection to send each email message. When an email server has manyrequests for sending email, the emails are held in a Mail queue and sent out a

one at a time. An overloaded server with many mail requests will cause a delay insending mail. Sometimes a spammer will find an exploit in one of the web siteson the server and start sending massive amounts of spam. This will overload the

mail server. If your mail is being delayed, you should make a trouble ticket withyour host so that they can check the server logs and Mail queue. A good serveradministrator can tell if the Mail queue is overloaded and what is causing it.

here are other possible causes like DNS or connection outages that may only betemporary. In some cases of a server that is exploited and sending out spam, theserver IP address may be temporarily banned by other mail servers. Sometimes

your mail server IP address ends up on a SORBS or RBL spammer black list andgets blocked by various mail systems. This may not be your fault because manysites on a web hosting server share the same IP. Maybe a spammer has anaccount there, or a spammer has exploited a script on the server and is sending

spam from it.

Topic 4 - Rules of Thumb

We all know effective email is a key to getting things done. One of thebest tips I ever heard on writing effective emails came from a Microsoft exec. Itwas quite literally a rule of thumb in that he tried to never send an email longerthan his thumb.

If your message has to be longer than your thumb because of the amount

of information you need to convey, consider whether or not it would make moresense to arrange the message into a formal brief. You can then easily addheaders and a table of contents to increase readability.

Effective Subject lines: Tell me up front what you want from me

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One of the most important parts of your email message is the subject line. In just

a short amount of space, you must convince your audience to take open your

email and see what you have to say. If the subject line doesn't pass muster, the

next step for the reader is to reach for the "mark as spam" button. "69% said

they make the decision to click on the 'report spam' or 'junk' button using the

subject line," according to the Email Sender and Provider Coalition.

You probably already know how critical good sales copy is to the success of your

business. But how much thought do you put into your subject lines?

When doing e-mail promotions, your subject line can literally make or break your

success -- a critical point that the majority of affiliates and marketers miss.

Think about all of those e-mails you're probably getting on a daily basis with

subjects like:

"MAKE $75,000 EVERY WEEK GUARANTEED!""EXPLOSIVE STOCK PICK AT $0.45!!!!

"newsletter"

"THIS IS NOT SPAM!"

Do you open these e-mails? Because I know I sure don't! The subject line makes

it obvious that the e-mail is spam... that it's from someone you don't know... or it

doesn't offer a clear benefit that makes you want to read it.

Now let me ask you a question... How many of your legitimate newsletters and e-

mails are mistakenly deleted by your subscribers who read your subject lines and

assume it must be spam?

How many potential sales could you have saved simply by rewriting your subject

lines?

Obviously I can't answer these questions for you. However, I can teach you how

to write subject lines that will compel your subscribers to open and read any e-

mail you send them.

When you write your subject lines, you basically have 3 choices:

1) You can make an announcement or give news. (i.e. "IMC shows affiliates howto write killer subject lines")

2) You can make the reader curious. (i.e."IMC gives affiliates this secret

marketing strategy...")

3) You can emphasize how the reader will benefit from opening your e-mail. (i.e.

Discover tips for writing subject lines that will increase your affiliate sales.)

Out of these 3 techniques, you will always be most successful if you write subject

lines that state a clear benefit and tell the reader exactly how they are going to

save money, save time, make their life easier, etc... by opening and reading youre-mail.

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1 page view onlyThe email should comprise of a page so that it is easier for the recipient to read

your mail and most of them doesnt have patience and time to view multiple

pages. So if your message is created in one page it will attract the recipient andalso creates interest to read the mail.

Average 15 words per sentenceGenerally, when writing engineering papers, the average sentence length of a

paragraph should be around 24 words. If your average number of words per

sentence is above 25, your writing style might be hard to read. If you have an

average of less than 17, your writing style probably needs longer more complex

sentences: sentences with a main and a dependant clause joined by a

subordinator such as although, whenever, or because.

However, it also depends on the type of writing you are doing. If you are writing

a user manual, then an average of about 17 is probably standard. If you are

writing a business report or a proposal for a general audience, then an average of

around 20 words is probably fine. Research writing, especially in the social

sciences and humanities, tends to have a longer average number of words per

sentence than writing for a general audience. If you are writing for a company

newsletter or a user manual then the average sentence length should be shorter

than for a research article. And when you are writing email it should on an

average of 15 words per sentence.

We have been measuring sentences only in words. But sentences have threeunits of measure: words, syllables and characters. And so we may take the

following as the new guideline: Over the whole document, make the averagesentence length 15-20 words, 25-33 syllables and 75-100 characters.

As short as possible no extra wordsEmailing is an alternative to picking up the phone or meeting face to face,

therefore emails should be used to quickly send small bits of information. Be

careful not to intimidate the reader with paragraphs and paragraphs of run on

sentences. If you have a lot of information, try organizing your email in a more

efficient or quick way, such as bullet points. If you still have an overwhelmingamount of information, perhaps you should pick up the phone instead.

How to write short email?

1. Who are you? This might be skipped if you already have a relationship with therecipient; otherwise, in as little space as possible, explain the relevantfacts about

yourself.

2. What do you want?Explain why youre writing the email, what you expect yourrecipient to do about it, and any relevant information they need to respond with the

appropriate action.

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3. Why should you get it? Or, more to the point, why should they bother? Explainwhy your request is important, and if relevant, whats in it for them.

4. When do you need them to act? Open-ended requests get open-ended responses that is, they get responded to whenever the recipient gets around to it. Be as

specific as possible, so that your recipient a) has a sense of urgency, b) feels that

their response is important to you, and c) feels inspired to act.

So, for example, emailing a professor to ask for an extension on an essay (that must

be at least10 pages long) might look something like this:

Professor Richard,

Im a student in your Thursday afternoon anthropology class, and Im having some

trouble finding enough references for my term paper. Could you please give me an extra

week to complete the assignment? I realize this might affect my grade, but I really want

to give you the best paper I can, not just 10 pages of filler to make up for the missing

information. Please get back to me by tomorrow morning so I can plan my writing

schedule.

Thanks,

Robin

2 3 lines per paragraph

Some tips for writing your email so it will be read, understood and acted upon.

Keep to one subject per email wherever possible to avoid confusion.

Try to match your message length to the tenor of the conversation e.g.

keep quick replies short.

Be concise and to the point. People are less likely to read everything in a

long email and may miss important things.

Keep your sentences to 20 words at most. Theyre easier to read

onscreen.

In email you dont need to read the words. In fact, you wouldnt read the words if thatwas an email. The wall of text is a barrier that few will bother scaling.

No matter how good the writing, how valuable the information, how trusted the source,

response is sacrificed because the paragraph length demands more reading effort than

some are prepared to commit.

Break up the paragraphs and a wall becomes a series of gentle hurdles.

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Just as we break big projects into bite-sized chunks that are easier to tackle, so it is with

paragraphs. (My rule of thumb is typically 1-4 lines per paragraph and never more than

six).

Topic 5 - Grammar Perfect

Using spellcheckerDue to the increasing number of people who use incorrect grammar and spelling, users

are beginning to place more emphasis on the importance of using correct spelling and

grammar at all times.It's easy to check your spelling while composing mail messages.

Spell check is a handy tool available for checking the spelling and grammar.Most of

email clients have it onboard.Spellchecker operates in the same language you've

selected for your interface.

Check for simple sentencesE-mail takes too long to respond to, resulting in continuous inbox overflow for

those who receive a lot of it.

Treat all email responses like SMS text messages, using a set number of letters

per response. Since its too hard to count letters, we count sentences instead.

Use the Active VoiceP a s s i v e v o i c e i s v a g u e a n d p u t s a d i s t a n c e b e t w e e n y o u a n d

y o u r r e a d e r . I t m a k e s y o u r s e n t e n c e s m u c h l o n g e r , a n d i td o e s n t s h o w a n y r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . U s i n g a c t i v e v o i c e c a nc o n s i d e r a b l y i m p r o v e y o u r w r i t i n g s t y l e .

U s i n g a c t i v e v o i c e w i l l :

M a k e t h e t o n e m u c h m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g a n d l i v e l y s o u n d m o r e p e r s o n a l a n d n a t u r a l p u t p e o p l e b a c k i n t o y o u r w r i t i n g s h o w o w n e r s h i p a n d r e s p o n s i b i l i t y m a k e y o u r w r i t i n g c l e a r , s p e c i f i c a n d f o c u s e d m a k e y o u r w r i t i n g s h o r t e r

H e r e a r e s o m e e x a m p l e s o f c h a n g i n g p a s s i v e t o a c t i v e v o i c e :

Y o u r o r d e r w a s r e c e i v e d b y u s t o d a y . ( X ) T h a n k y o u f o r y o u r o r d e r , w h i c h w e r e c e i v e d t o d a y . ( )

T h e s e m i n a r w a s c o n d u c t e d b y R o b e r t S i m . ( X ) R o b e r t S i m c o n d u c t e d t h e s e m i n a r . ( ) S a l e s o f X 1 0 1 h a v e e x c e e d e d a l l e x p e c t a t i o n s . ( X )

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X 1 0 1 s a l e s h a v e g o n e t h r o u g h t h e r o o f ! ( )

Use of punctuationWhen you speak, the listener is helped by the intonation in your voice, pauses, emphasis, aswell as body language. When you write, punctuation carries out all the same functions.

Punctuation helps the reader to make sense of your writing.

Sentences are complete thoughts

Full stops, question marks and exclamation marks are used to mark the end of a sentence. A

sentence contains a subject and a verb, and expresses a complete thought.

Commas

Commas provide pauses in sentences, and they help to manage the flowof thought. Commas

are used:

when three or more items are listed:To connect to the Internet you will need a telephone line,a modem, a computer and an

Internet service provider.

to show where there would be a short natural pause if you were speaking:I believe this candidate has the relevant qualifications,but the other one has more

experience.

to show where something has been added, like names, designations or otherexplanatory details:I will ask our Customer Service Manager, Robert Chan, to call you. Fauziah Suki, my assistant,

will speak to you soon about this. Please switch off all electronic devices, including

mobile phones, during the flight

Colons

Colons are used:

to introduce a list:Many items are on sale today: telephones, computers,printers, fax machines.

to separate two clearly related ideas:Semi-colons

Semi-colons are most commonly used to represent a pause longer than a comma and

shorter than a full stop. However, it is possible to write perfect English without any semi-colons. Here are some examples of their use:

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We must buy the new book for all staff; it will be useful for reference. These questions dont

require answers; they are just intended to make you think.

Apostrophes

Apostrophes seem to cause the most confusion, but they really arent asdifficultas they may seem. An apostrophe is used:

To indicate omission of a letter or letters. To show ownership or possession.

Use of emoticonsA l t h o u g h e - m a i l i s g e n e r a l l y t h o u g h t o f a s i n f o r m a l , i t i s

u n f o r t u n a t e l y d e v o i d o f t h e n o n - v e r b a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n

t h a t i s s o o f t e n t a k e n f o r g r a n t e d i n r e a l c o n v e r s a t i o n s .

F a c i a l e x p r e s s i o n s , b o d y l a n g u a g e a n d v o i c e i n f l e c t i o n s

a r e o f t e n u s e d i n s p e e c h t o c o n v e y a l o t o f o u r m e a n i n g .

F o r e x a m p l e , c o n s i d e r h o w y o u m i g h t i n t e r p r e t t h e

m e a n i n g s o f t h i s s t a t e m e n t a s t h e s p e a k i n g e m p h a s i s

v a r i e s i n e a c h c a s e :

Y O U t o l d h i m t h a t ? You TOLD h im tha t? You to ld HIM tha t? You to ld h im THAT?

I n p e r s o n a l e - m a i l m e s s a g e s w e c a n o v e r c o m e t h e l o s s

o f t h i s n o n - v e r b a l e x p r e s s i o n b y c o n v e y i n g e m o t i o n s

u s i n g e m o t i c o n s . A n o t h e r n a m e f o r e m o t i c o n s i s

s m i l e y s .

E x a m p l e :

: - ) S m i l i n g

: - ] S a r c a s t i c s m i l e

: - / P u z z l e d o r C o n f u s e d

Use of text talk

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It takes so long when you use proper grammar and spelling! So, learn how to talktext.

Words that have a number in them could be replaced by an actual number. For example,

forever could be 4ever. Or too cool could be 2cool. Later could be L8R.

In some words you could remove letters, for instance vowels, and still have the word makingsense. "Tlking" would be talking.

If you are using a long phrase, take the first letter of each word and put them together. ASAP

is a perfect example.

Some words with "ck" or "ing" at the end can have the last letter removed. Rock would be

roc and running would be runnin.

Topic 6 - Formatting your Email Message

When you're sending an email about a job or applying for a job or far any

other task, it's important to format your email as professionally as you would any

other business letter.

Here's what to include when sending job search correspondence and the email

message format you should use when you are sending employment related email

messages.

Email Message Format

Subject Line

Don't forget to include a Subject Line in your email. If you forget to include one,

your message probably isn't even going to get opened.

Salutation

If you have a contact person, address your email to Dear Mr./Ms. LastName. If

you don't, address your email to Dear Hiring Manager. Another option is to not

include a salutation and to simply start with the first paragraph of your message.

Email Message

When you're applying for a job via email, copy and paste your cover letter into

the email message or write your cover letter in the body of an email message. If

the job posting asks you to send your resume as an attachment, send your

resume as a PDF or a Word document.

When you're inquiring about available positions or networking, be clear about why

you are writing and the purpose of your email message.

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Format Your Email Message

Your email message should be formatted like a typical business letter - with

spaces between paragraphs and with no typos or grammatical errors. Proofread

it, just like you would any other correspondence.

Review this email message template and sample email messages to see what

your message should look like.

Include an Email Signature

It's important to create an email signature and to include your signature with

every message you send. Include your full name, your email address, and your

phone number in your email signature, so the hiring manager can see, at a

glance, how to contact you.

Email StyleThe email that you sent to outside audiences like prospective students or

community partners or important. Researchs hows that, in addition to conveying

necessary information to your readers, your emails also shape the perceptions

they have about.

To write an effective mail and to accomplish your goals and enhance your

reputations, following steps should be followd.

Be consistent. Keep subject lines short and clear. Put your key message in upper left corner. Use atleast 12 point font. Use colour carefully. Make sure email is the right way to reach your audience. Keep it brief. Use spelling and grammer check wisely. Test all emails before sending. Commas. Time. Numbers. Seasons. Use a common language in communication.

Writing the Email

Please note and follow the guidelines below concerning the writing of e-mail

messages.

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1. SubjectsGive the message a subject/title. E-mail messages without a subject may not be

opened because of a fear of viruses and especially note that it is very easy toforget to type this important information.

2. Subject contentsKeep the subject short and clear but avoid such headings as:

Good News, Hello, Message from Mary. These headings are common inmessages containing viruses. Short but specific headings are needed,

e.g. Order No. 2348X

Delayed Shipment

Laboratory Equipment Order

3. GreetingsStart the message with a greeting so as to help create a friendly but business-liketone. The choice of using the other name versus the surname will depend on whoyou are writing to. If you have communicated with the receiver previously andhe/she is at a similar level to you, then the use of the other name would beappropriate. If the receiver is more senior to you, or if you are in doubt, it would

be safer (particularly in the first communication) to use the personssurname/family name together with a title,e.g. Dear Mr Smithson, Dear Ms Stringer.

It is also becoming quite common to write the greeting without a comma,e.g. Dear Miss Lawsone.g. Dear KK

4. PurposeStart with a clear indication of what the message is about in the first paragraph.Give full details in the following paragraph(s).

Make sure that the final paragraph indicates what should happen next.e.g. I will send a messenger to your office on Tuesday morning to collect thefaulty goods.e.g. Please let me have your order by the beginning of the month.

5. ActionAny action that you want the reader to do should be clearly described, using

politeness phrases. Subordinates should use expressions such as 'Could you...' or' I would be grateful if...'. Superior staff should also use polite phrases, forexample, 'Please...'.

6. AttachmentsMake sure you refer, in the main message, to any attachments you are addingand of course make extra sure that you remember to include the attachment(s).As attachments can transmit viruses, try not to use them, unless you are sendingcomplicated documents. Copy-and-paste text-only contents into the body of thee-mail. If you use an attachment, make sure the file name describes the content,and is not too general; e.g. 'message.doc' is bad, but 'QA Report 2012.doc' isgood.

7. EndingsEnd the message in a polite way. Common endings are:Yours sincerely, Best regards, Best wishes, Regards,

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If you did not put a comma after the greeting at the beginning of the message,then do not put a comma after the ending either,

e.g. Best wishese.g. Regards

8. NamesInclude your name at the end of the message. It is most annoying to receive anemail which does not include the name of the sender. The problem is that oftenthe email address of the sender does not indicate exactly who it is from, [email protected]

Please follow these guidelines with all e-mail messages that you send.

Selecting your format settings

Even if youve created messages in Mail before, you might not realize that mailhas a whole set of formatting tools that you can use to format your e-mail

messages. Formatting e-mail messages makes them more attractive and easier

to read. E-mail is the cornerstone of online communication; with Mail you can

format your message so that they present you in the best light.

1. Go to the Internet mail page using your browser.2. If you need to start a new account at this point, click the Sign Up button and go through

the sign-up procedure first.

3.

Sign in and then click the Mail button on the Windows Live screen to go to your Inbox.

4. Create a new e-mail message.

5. Enter text, and then select the text that you want to format.6. Review the options on the message toolbar.7. Use the options to format your e-mail message.8. When you finish the message, check spelling and then click Send.

Choose the Right FontTo get your message across in the best way, you'll often need to consider not just

word selection, but presentation too. So how do you choose the right font, font

size, and color for your words? Here are some basic guidelines.

Although it's impossible to distill a complete study of the art of typography in one

article, design inspiration blog Fuel Your Creativity does have a few tips for styling

your words. These may come in useful for important things like selecting a font

for your resume or text colors and backgrounds for your website.

For example, it's best to match the font to the job you want to get, avoiding

quirky fonts like Curlz or Chalkboard.

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In terms of color, the article advises thinking of it like coloring a room in your

house: for inviting readers in to cozy up to your blog, select reds and oranges.

Colors can be used to frame your text and backgrounds should contrast well with

your font color choices.

For best readability, keep your words large and leave lots of white space on the

page.

Select Appropriate ColoursYou can add color labels to messages in Mail.app (like you can in the Finder). Just

select the message(s) you wish to color, then select 'Show colors' from the

'Format' menu. Click on any color and voil the selected message(s) in Mail is now

highlighted that color.

Enhancing Readability

An email newsletter is a great way for a business to communicate with its

customers. However, its always tempting just to dump a lot of content into the

body of an email. After all, this way the message may appear to be more

substantial and more authoritative.

What marketers need to grasp is that how well they present this content depends

on the readability of the newsletters text. The easier it is to read, the better one

can communicate with subscribers, increasing the value of each newsletter.

Some newsletters are very good in terms of having professional design and good

copy and yet since the content is too dense, the success rate of the campaign

suffers. After all, what good is any marketing email message if people cant read

it and find the information they need quickly?

1. Break up paragraphs with white spaces.2. Use natural alignment.

3. Make the text scannable.4. Moderate line length for optimum reading.

Resist the urge to use All Upper or Lowercase Letters

To draw attention to on-screen messages, some e-mail writers use all capital

letters. Bad idea. A message written in all uppercase letters is more difficult to

read than one written in standard style. The human eye is used to reading a

mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters. When you draft e-mail in all

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uppercase letters, you run the risk of slowing downand annoyingyour reader.

Moreover, using all uppercase often comes across as shouting.

For the same reasonreadabilityresist the urge to write e-mail messages in all

lowercase letters, which can come across as juvenile or cutesy. It may be quickerto write in all caps or all lowercase, but the result will be more difficult to read

and less professional.

Arranging Text into Vertical Lists

Is a bulleted or numbered list punctuated like a sentence or is it something elseall together?

Before the word-processor, writers used outlines, in which prioritized list-itemswere separated by roman numerals, letters, and numbers. Or writers included listitems in text, separated by commas or semicolons. When Microsoft Wordfeatured bulleted and numbered lists, that changed everything! Or did it?

While some rules for punctuating bulleted lists differ, most are the same as thoseused for in-text lists. The differences are the use of the bullet and the useof white space, which provide visual separation, reducing the need for

punctuation. The bulleted lists presented on this page are examples of list("seriation") guidelines from a variety of business and academic style manuals, asnoted in each section. (While the term "bulleted list" is used in style manuals, the

term "bullet list" is more commonly used.)

Sending Attachments with CareOne of the most useful features of e-mail is the ability to attach files. This allows

people to share any file in any format Word documents, JPEG-encoded images,

Photoshop files, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, audio/visual files,

data files, and so on. If something can be saved as an electronic file, it can be

sent along with any e-mail message. This works very well when: you remember

to attach the file.

Frustration can occur with attachments, especially when your correspondent

cannot open the file. One of the main reasons for this is that the recipient does

not have the same version of the software that you use. If this happens you can

often spend ages sending e-mail back and forth saying, It didnt work can you

try sending it again?

Before sending a file, if you are in any doubt at all its best to send a simple e -mail asking if the recipient can accept attachments easily.

When sending an attachment, bear in mind that it may lose some of its formatwhen viewed by your recipient. This has happened to me on numerous occasions

when, for example, I have prepared materials for a presentation and the recipient

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doesnt have the fonts that I have used. As a result your document can end uplooking quite different at the receiving end.

Zip it up

Downloading large files can sometimes take a long time as well as take up a lot of

space. Software is available that automatically compresses files (e.g. WinZip orStuff It) but you will need to ensure that your recipient has the softwarenecessary to decompress them at the other end. WinZip also allows you to sendas many files as you want to attach as one single compressed file.

Post the attachment insteadAn alternative to attaching files to e-mails is to post the file on an intranet server

and tell your recipients where the file can be found. The recipient scan thendecide if and when they actually want to look at it, and then whether or not theywill download it onto their own workstation. This can be particularly useful, forinstance, when you inform members about a staff meeting. You can post all the

presentation materials on your website, then send a message to all participants

with the URL (and possibly the password if the documents are confidential). Theycan then download whatever documents they need or want.

Topic 7 - Proofreading Does Pay

A Proofreading PrimerProofreading refers to the process of reading written work for surface errors.

These are errors involving spelling, punctuation, grammar and word choice.

For successfull proofreading:

Cultivate a healthy sense of doubt. If there are types of errors youknow you tend to make, double check for those.

Read very slowly. If possible, read out loud. Read one word at atime.

Read what is actually on the page, not what you think is there.(This is the most difficult sub-skill to acquire, particularly if you

wrote what you are reading).

Proofread more than once. If possible, work with someone else. Put It On Paper:People read differently on screen and on paper, so

print out a copy of your writing. If you read aloud, your ear might

catch errors that your eye may have missed.

Watch Out for Homonyms:Homonyms are words that share thesame spelling or pronunciation, but have different meanings.

Switching accept with except or complement withcompliment could

be disastrous, so pay attention to them.

Watch Out for Contractions and Apostrophes:People oftenmix their and theyre, its and its, your and youre and so on. If

there is something that can hurt the credibility of your text, it is a

similar mistake. Also, remember that the apostrophe is never used

to form plurals.

Check the Punctuation:Focusing on the words is good, but do notneglect the punctuation. Pay attention to capitalized words, missing

or extra commas, periods used incorrectly and so on.

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How Peer Review Can Help

Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of

evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevantfield. Peer reviewmethods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and providecredibility.The point of peer review is not to help each other feel better! It is to

help each other understand and improve the quality of our work.

Topic 8 - Polishing Your Cybermanners

"Don't stare. Chew with your mouth closed. Quit snapping your gum."

Since childhood, many of us heard these exact demands. Manner minding is

expected everywhere, at school, work, home, and even the Internet. Watching

our cyber p's and q's can allow new users to merge onto the Information SuperHighway without being scorched by any potiential flamers.

Watch your Cyberlanguage

Cyber language, also known as Netspeak, is the language of cyberspace, or therealm of electronic communication. It is commonly used in electronic mail;Internet chat rooms, which allow computer users to communicate with each otherin real time; and in text messages sent between cellular phones using the short

message service, or SMS.

The technology of electronic communication has provided a third medium, whichoccupies the middle ground between spoken and written language, and reflectsthe fact that the Internet is electronic, global and interactive. In other words,

cyber language is written language, but reads as if it is spoken language. Thenature of the language does, however, depend on the technology being used andthe recipient; email messages, for example, may resemble a traditional letter orwritten speech.

Examples

Cyber language contains abbreviations, acronyms, variations on words -- whichmay include common prefixes, suffices or blends -- and graphical icons, known as

avatars. Typical examples of cyber language include well-known abbreviations,such as lol (laugh out loud), omg (oh my god) and l8r (later), to slightly morecryptic contractions, such as paw (parents are watching). In the absence ofavatars, communicators often create their own "emoticons" from basic

punctuation marks; :) or :-) represents a smile, :( or :-( represents a frown and:() or :-() might indicate that the sender cannot stop talking.

Avoiding Sexist Language

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Sexist language is language that is meant to include all people, but inadvertently

excludes either men or women.

Its no longer politically correct to use man as a prefix or suffix for nouns

encompassing both genders. Instead of words such as mankind and fishermen,

use human race or humanity and fishers or anglers instead.

Nor do we usually now refer to females with the suffix -ess. Replace actress,

manageress and waitress withactor, manager and waiter.

policeman police officer

fireman firefighter

Avoid using he to refer to everyone. However, because constructions such as heor she, he/she or s/he are clumsy, its usually better to:

Turn the sentence into the pluralThe claimants read their policies.

Use a you constructionYou must read your policy.

Use the singular theirThe claimant read their policy.

Often you can rephrase the sentence to avoid a clumsy usage.The claimant read the policy.

Chair, chairman, chairwoman, chairpersonThe last bastion of sexist language! There is quite a bit of resistance tousing chair or chairperson, so if you have to pragmatic, use your organisationspreferred title.

Set the Right ToneWhen speaking to someone face-to-face, its easy to alter your tone ofvoice to

convey messages in different ways. Much of what you say isalso interpretedthrough non-verbal clues eye contact, gestures, voiceintonation, etc.This is notpossible with the written word, so good business writers learnto choose their

words very carefully. It is so important to get the tone rightbecause using the

wrong tone could cause real offence to your readerand could lose you an

important business contact or friend.Tone can help to make a message sound

firm or friendly, persuasive orconciliatory, helpful or condescending, according to

the impression youwish to convey. Here are some irritating expressions that you

should avoidin your writing:

YOUR NEGLECT YOU SHOULDKNOW YOU FAILED TO

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YOU CANNOTEXPECT IT IS NOTOUR FAULT YOUR REFUSALTO CO-OPERATE WE CANNOT BEEXPECTED TO WE MUST INSISTWhen writing in business analyse these four important factors and adopt an

appropriate tone that reflects them all:

your status the status of the recipient

your relationship with the recipient the content of the message

Consider the way these expressions come across, and study the betterway:

Your interview will be held on Wednesday 28 August at 1400 hours

(too bossy and unfeeling). (Incorrect)

I hope you can attend an interview on Wednesday 28 August at 2 pm. (Correct)

Your computers guarantee has expired, so you will have to pay for it to be

repaired.

(too blunt). (Incorrect)

The guarantee for your computer has expired, so unfortunately there will be a

charge for this. (Correct)

Problems of this type are quite common with the cheaper model. Next time I

suggest you spend a bit more money.(too condescending). (Incorrect)

Problems of this type are far less common with the more advanced model.

(Correct)

Our phone bills are enormously high. Please stop making so many personal calls.

(too emotive and sharp). (Incorrect)

The companys telephone bills have increased considerably. Please help by

avoiding non-urgent personal calls. (Correct)

We cannot do anything about your problem. Try calling an electrician. (too

abrupt)

I am sorry that we cannot help with this. I believe an electrician would be better

able to help with this type of work. (correct)

Dodging Conversational PitfallsWrite the way you talk is common advice in business-writing manuals. Butcarrying this advice too far can spell trouble. Remember, when communicating

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orally, you have the advantage of vocal variety that is absent in e-mail. The

following are common pitfalls that can spoil your written messages or lessen the

clarity in your correspondence.

Extinguishing FlamesA f l a m e i s a n a s t y m e s s a g e o r a p e r s o n a l a t t a c k o na n o t h e r e - m a i l e r . P e o p l e a r e o f t e n t e m p t e d t o s e n d a no b n o x i o u s m e s s a g e w h e n t h e y r e c e i v e s p a m a n d c h a i n

l e t t e r s . H o w e v e r , s u c h r e p l i e s a l s o t i e u p t h e a r t e r i e s o f t h e I n t e r n e t a n d s h o u l d b e a v o i d e d . S o m e t i m e s , f l a m e r sa t t e m p t t o a s s e r t t h e i r a u t h o r i t y o r e s t a b l i s h a p o s i t i o no f s u p e r i o r i t y o v e r o t h e r u s e r s . O t h e r t i m e s , a f l a m e r i ss i m p l y a n i n d i v i d u a l w h o b e l i e v e s h e o r s h e c a r r i e s t h eo n l y v a l i d o p i n i o n . T h i s l e a d s h i m o r h e r t o p e r s o n a l l ya t t a c k a n y o n e w h o d i s a g r e e s . I f y o u r e c e i v e a f l a m e y o u

h a v e s e v e r a l c h o i c e s :

A p o l o g i s e i f y o u a n n o y e d t h e o t h e r p e r s o n R e s p o n d w i t h y o u r o w n f l a m e a n d s t a r t a w a r I g n o r e i t

I f y o u a g r e e t h a t i t s n o t n i c e t o f l a m e a n d i f y o u w a n tt o a v o i d f l a m e s , h e r e i s s o m e a d v i c e :

N e v e r s e n d u n s o l i c i t e d e - m a i l a d v e r t i s i n g y o u r p r o d u c to r s e r v i c e . T h i s i s n e i t h e r p r o f e s s i o n a l n o r e t h i c a l , a n dy o u m a y b e b l a c k l i s t e d .

N e v e r i n s u l t o t h e r p e o p l e s c u l t u r e , c u s t o m s , r e l i g i o u sb e l i e f s o r t h e i r c o u n t r y . A l l t h e s e t o p i c s a r e v e r ys e n s i t i v e , e s p e c i a l l y w h e n t a l k i n g t o s t r a n g e r s . Y o u m a yb e u s i n g a m a c h i n e t o g e t t h e m e s s a g e a c r o s s , b u tr e m e m b e r t h e r e i s a h u m a n b e i n g a t t h e o t h e r e n d , a n d

h u m a n b e i n g s h a v e f e e l i n g s . B e v e r y c a r e f u l w i t hs e n s i t i v e t o p i c s .

A v o i d a m b i g u i t i e s . M a k e s u r e y o u r m e s s a g e i s c r y s t a lc l e a r a n d a p p r o p r i a t e s o t h a t i t d o e s n t r e s u l t i nm i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g .

N e v e r c o r r e c t a c o r r e s p o n d e n t s g r a m m a r o r s p e l l i n g ,u n l e s s y o u a r e s p e c i f i c a l l y a s k e d . T h e w r i t e r m a y t a k eo f f e n c e . I f y o u a r e n o t s u r e w h a t a m e s s a g e m e a n s y o uc a n a s k f o r c l a r i f i c a t i o n b u t d o s o t a c t f u l l y . R e m e m b e rt h e w r i t e r m a y n o t b e w r i t i n g i n t h e i r n a t i v e l a n g u a g e .

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Topic 9 - Managing Email Overload

T h e t r a f f i c p r o b l e m s e e m s t o b e o n e o f t h e m a i n

i s s u e s w i t h e - m a i l . S o m e m a n a g e r s r e c e i v e h u n d r e d s o f

m e s s a g e s e v e r y d a y , s o w a y s t o d e a l w i t h t h i s o v e r l o a dm u s t b e d e v e l o p e d . I t s t o o e a s y t o f o r w a r d m e s s a g e s o nt o l o t s o f p e o p l e , w h e t h e r o r n o t t h e y r e a l l y n e e d t o s e et h e m , j u s t i n c a s e . T h i s c a n c a u s e e x t r e m e a n n o y a n c ea s w e l l a s o v e r l o a d i n g n e t w o r k s , n o t t o m e n t i o n b e i n g ac o m p l e t e w a s t e o f p e o p l e s t i m e .

Controlling your Inbox Clutter

If you are like many of the internet users out there, you receive a fair amount ofspam and unsoli