Writing E-mails

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Writing E-mails

While writing an E-mail followings points should be noted.

Start with a salutation: Your email should open by addressing the person you’re writing to. Sure, you can get away with leaving out the salutation when you’re dashing off an email to your friend, but business-like messages should begin with:-

• Dear Mr. John or Dear Professor John (for someone you don’t know well, especially if they’re superior)

• Dear Rahul, (in case if you are working relationship with the person)

Write in short paragraphs: Get straight to the point – don’t waste time waffling. Split your email into two to four short paragraphs, each one dealing with a single idea. Consider using bullet-points for extra clarity, perhaps if you are

• Listing several questions for the recipient to answer
• Suggesting a number of alternative options
• Explaining the steps that you’ll be carrying out

Put a double line break, rather than an indent (tab), between paragraphs.

Stick to one topic: If you need to write to someone about several different issues (for example, if you’re giving your boss an update on Project ABC, asking him for a review meeting to discuss a payrise, and telling him that you’ve got a doctor’s appointment on Friday), then don’t put them all in the same email. It’s hard for people to keep track of different email threads and conversations if topics are jumbled up.

Use capitals appropriately: Emails should follow the same rules of punctuation as other writing. Capitals are often misused. In particular, you should:

• Never write a whole sentence (or worse, a whole email) in capitals
• Always capitalise “I” and the first letter of proper nouns (names)
• Capitalise acronyms (USA, BBC, RSPCA)
• Always start sentences with a capital letter.

Sign off the email: For short internal company emails, you can get away with just putting a double space after your last paragraph then typing your name. If you’re writing a more formal email, though, it’s essential to close it appropriately.

• Yours sincerely: (when you know the name of your addressee)
• Yours faithfully: (when you’ve addressed it to “Dear Sir/Madam”) for very formal emails such as job applications.
• Use Best regards, or Kind regards: in most other situations.

Even when writing to people you know well, it’s polite to sign off with something such as “All the best,” “Take care,” or “Have a nice day,” before typing your name.

Use a sensible email signature: Hopefully this is common sense – but don’t cram your email signature with quotes from your favorite TV show, motivational speaker or witty friend. Do include your name, email address, telephone number and postal address (where appropriate) – obviously, your company may have some guidelines on these.

It makes it easy for your correspondents to find your contact details: they don’t need to root through for the first message you sent them, but can just look in the footer of any of your emails.

Below is the sample for a Job Application

Dear Sir/Madam,

I’ve attached my resume. I would be grateful if you could read it and get back to me at your earliest convenience. I have all the experience you are looking for:

• I’ve worked in a customer-facing environment for three years
• I am competent with MS office
• I enjoy working as part of a team

Thanks for your time.

Yours faithfully,

Rohit Rana

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