Lecture 05 writing a business letter
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The document provides guidance on creating a business letter, including its purpose, format, required parts, and acceptable styles. It explains that a business letter is written to provide information, serve as evidence, build goodwill, or for convenience. The required parts are the letterhead or heading, dateline, inside address, salutation, body, complimentary closing, signature, and optional typist's initials and enclosures. Acceptable formats are block or modified block, while punctuation styles can be open or mixed. Examples of each combination are also provided.
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Lecture 05 writing a business letter
- 1. Creating a Business Letter Presented by: Dr. Akhlas Ahmed Lecture # 05 Preston University
- 2. What is a Business Letter? Why write one? Written Written dispute Written Written Written to give information to serve as evidence in cases of to build goodwill to remember facts because they are convenient To Whom is one written? What should be in one? What is proper format? 2
- 3. What are the types of Business Letters? Formal Business May or May not be typed on Letterhead Letterhead Already contains your return address You don’t need to retype it. You may write if want to send letter on blank paper. 3
- 4. What are the Required Parts of a Business Letter? Letterhead or Heading Dateline Inside Address Salutation Body Complimentary Closing Signature Typists Initials Optional: Enclosure Attachment 4
- 5. What’s in The Heading (your information) Single Spaced – followed by four lines Always includes the date As the last entry Business Letter Your return address (no letterhead) Only abbreviation is Postal Code - NJ May include Phone#, Fax#, Email@ Date Formal Business Letter (on letterhead) Date only 5
- 6. What is the Inside Address (addressee’s information) Person’s Name, Title Company Name/Department Company Address Single Spaced Followed by one blank lines (Enter Key twice) 6
- 7. What is the Salutation? (a greeting) Dear Mr. Sloan Dear Dr. Smith Dear Ms. Jones Gentlemen Dear Sir or Madam 7
- 8. What is the Body? (The actual letter) Brief and to the point! Guideline – 3 paragraphs (at least) Strictly Business Brief Introduction Contents - What I want Conclusion and Thank you Each paragraph: Single Spaced Followed by one blank lines (Enter Key twice) 8
- 9. Complimentary Close Sincerely, Yours truly, Respectfully yours, Followed by three lines (Enter Key 4 times) After printing you will sign the letter here 9
- 10. Signature Your Full Name Your Title (if appropriate) Mrs. Regina Sikorski Computer Club Moderator Followed by one lines (Enter Key twice) If optional parts are required 10
- 11. Optional Parts Typist Initials If your secretary typed this for you RES/js Enclosure If something else is in the letter or package Followed by one lines (Enter Key twice) 11
- 12. What are acceptable formats for a Business Letter? Block All parts are Left Justified to the margin Modified Block All parts Left aligned Heading, Close, Signature at tab position 3.25 Indentation – choose either No paragraph indentation All paragraphs first line indent .5 12
- 13. What are acceptable punctuation styles for a Business Letter? Open No punctuation after Salutation or Complimentary Closing Dear Mrs. Smith Respectfully yours Mixed Punctuation after Colon (:) after Salutation Dear Sir: Comma (,) after Complimentary Closing Sincerely, 13
- 14. Understand that parameters can be mixed and matched –8 Possibilities Personal vs. Formal Format Style Punctuation Style Mixed Block Open Personal Business Mixed Modified Open Letter Mixed Block Open Formal Business Mixed Modified Open 14
- 15. Example: Block/mixed punctuation Software Connections 1551 Riverwalk Pensacola, FL 32507 (904) 555-4422 November 3, 2009 Mrs. Edith Neal Pensacola High School 719 Vista Boulevard Pensacola, FL 32501 Dear Mrs. Neal: Are you and your business students in a midyear slump? Do your classes need energizing? Software Connection has the solution to your problem. On Friday, November 20, Software Connection is sponsoring a Soft-A-Wareness seminar for local schools. Students will have an opportunity for hands-on experience with the latest business software. Professional programmers will be available to answer technical and career questions. Drawings for free software will be held every hour—and a free lunch will be served to all seminar guests. Make plans now to attend. Simply indicate on the enclosed postage-free card how many students you will be bringing, and mail it by November 6. We will do the rest! Sincerely, Erin Higgins President sls Enclosure 15
- 16. Example: Modified Block/Open Punctuation Software Connections 1551 Riverwalk Pensacola, FL 32507 (904) 555-4422 November 3, 2009 Mrs. Edith Neal Pensacola High School 719 Vista Boulevard Pensacola, FL 32501 Dear Mrs. Neal Are you and your business students in a midyear slump? Do your classes need energizing? Software Connection has the solution to your problem. On Friday, November 20, Software Connection is sponsoring a Soft-A-Wareness seminar for local schools. Students will have an opportunity for hands-on experience with the latest business software. Professional programmers will be available to answer technical and career questions. Drawings for free software will be held every hour—and a free lunch will be served to all seminar guests. Make plans now to attend. Simply indicate on the enclosed postage-free card how many students you will be bringing, and mail it by November 6. We will do the rest! Sincerely Erin Higgins President sls Enclosure 16
- 17. Letterhead Software Connections 1551 Riverwalk Pensacola, FL 32507 (904) 555-4422 17
- 18. Thanks 18
Editor's Notes
- A personal letter is written to a friend or family member. A business letter is written to an organization or a company. Business letters should be brief and to the point. They have a proper format which we will discuss. A guideline is three paragraphs, including an introductory paragraph that explains who you are and why you are writing. A main paragraph that includes what you would like the person to whom you are writing to do A final paragraph thanking the addressee for listening
- Personal Business Letters are the ones you would most often write. Formal Business Letters are written on Letterhead, such as NorthenHighlands letterhead. Some folks create their own letterhead. We will learn how to do that in a future lesson. IN the mean time we will concentrate on creating Personal Business Letters, which mean you will put your return address in the heading
- All parts of the letter are required except for Enclosure and Typist Initials. These are only used under specific conditions Click on the hyperlink to show one sample
- There are exact spacing rules for each part of the business letter. The date is always placed in the heading. Your return address (and other optional parts) is mandatory in a Personal Business Letter (not on LetterHead)
- The inside address is required. Try to find the exact name and title of the person to whom you are writing. If you cannot, you might try something like Customer Relations Department Manager.
- It is best if you know the person’s name and title to write Dear “that”. If you do not know the person’s name, use one of the last two choices.
- The letter should be brief and to the point. Ideally, it is no longer than one page. There should not be any unnecessary information in it, but it should contain all important facts. It should succinctly describe your reason for writing the letter, and what you expect the result of your letter to be.
- These are samples of acceptable closing statements. Always allow four spaces after your close, so you can sign the printed letter in ink
- If you are writing in a specific capacity (e.g. Secretary of Freshman Class), use your title. If not, skip the title line. Put your Title (Miss, Ms, Mr) in the signature, so the person replying knows how to address you.
- If there is anything else in the letter or package use Enclosure. If you type this for someone else, or your secretary typed it for you (e.g. Mr. Keenan’s secretary types letters for his signature) the Typists initials should be the last thing on the page
- Block is easiest. There is no indenting. Set your paragraphs to Left Justified, and don’t tab anything. Modified Block – set paragraphs to left justified, and set tabs at .5 and 3.5 Tab to 3.5 for all lines in the Heading, Complimentary Close, and Signature Choose: Either tab all paragraphs to .5, or no paragraphs to .5 (BE CONSISTENT)
- Either Open or Mixed Punctuation is acceptable in both Block and Modified Block Styles. Don’t mix them up. If you use OPEN, there is no punctuation after the “Dear Sir”, or after the “Sincerely” If you choose MIXED, there is a colon after “Dear Sir:” and a comma after the “Sincerely”