Overview: Email

E-mail is used to communicate in many settings. Effective use of email

requires a clear sense of the purpose for writing, as well as a clear statement
of the message. To explore how to use email effectively, choose any of the
items below:

Email Uses
Email allows individuals and groups to communicate with one another.
Imagine that you've been asked to coordinate work on a proposal to address
a problem in your dorm or Greek organization. You need to get information
and ideas from people living in your dorm or house, from members of the
surrounding community, from university officials, and perhaps other groups.
Once you've established contact with these groups and individuals, you can
gather and share information as well as elicit reactions to on-going proposals
through email rather than face-to-face meetings or repetitive telephone calls.

Information Exchange
E-mail messages can include a wide variety of information that we might
have seen on bulletin boards or flyers in the past. Email makes distributing
this information quick and simple. You can send information directly to:

Individuals
Users can send email to exchange information with just one person. As a
student, you are most likely to ask informational questions of your professors
or classmates. Students often ask for information about:

• Changing a class schedule or assignment deadline

• Setting up an appointment
• Finding additional resources on a topic
• Clarifying a concept or discussion topic

Read more about writing and sending messages to individuals:

Effective Messages to Individuals
As with any email message, make your message clear and direct. But
especially as you write to specific individuals, anticipate what that particular
reader will want or need to know about you and your request or your
information. For example, if you write to a professor to request an
appointment, anticipate that the professor will ask you to come to regularly
scheduled office hours. Explain that you have class during that time but that
you are available at other times you then list.
In other words, remind your reader of the key contextual details that are
necessary for your message to make sense and to get you a quick response.

Email Etiquette
Patrick Fitzhorn, Mechanical Engineering

Email requires appropriateness. For example, one student was hopping mad
about something that happened in class. He fired off an email afterwards and
copied it to the instructors of the course. Clearly, the student should not have
written what he did. If that had happened in industry, he would have been
fired.

How to writing an Effective

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Writing an effective business letter is an important skill for every manager and business
owner. In this brief overview we will examine the five main steps in creating an effective
business letter. With this knowledge you can quickly amend and personalize business
letters.

Main Steps:

· Identify your aims

· Establish the facts

· Know the recipient of the letter

· Create sample Copy

· Decide on Physical layout of letter.

Identify your Aims:
Clearly establish what you want to achieve from the letter- whether it is to win back a
dissatisfied customer or to reprimand an employee. Whatever the aim, create your letter
from these goals.

Establish the facts:

Make sure you have the relevant accurate facts available. For a late payer, this might
include relevant invoices, complaint forms, talks with your sales department and any
previous correspondence from the customer.

Know the recipient of the letter:

Write in the language of your recipient. Try to put yourself in the position of the
recipient. Read it from his point of view. Is the letter clear or open to misinterpretation.

If you know the recipient, use this knowledge to phrase the letter to generate your desired
response.

Create a sample Copy:

Having established your aims, amassed the relevant facts with a conscious view of the
recipient- write down the main points of your letter.

Decide on Physical layout of letter.

The physical appearance of a letter consists of the paper and the envelope.

The first thing a recipient sees is the envelope. It is essential that it is of suitable quality
with the name and address spelt correctly. Quality envelopes and paper suggest a
professional company.

It is wise to make sure the envelope matches the size of the paper. While you will use
81/2 x 11 inches(A4 size) sized paper for the majority of letters - a 4 x 6 inches(A5) can
be used for specific shorter letters. But insist that correctly sized envelopes are used for
this A5 size paper, allowing you maintain and convey an coordinated image.

Technical layout of letter:

The following elements will constitute the formal outlay.

· Letterhead
· Name and address
· Date

· Reference

· Salutation

· Subject matter
· Communication

· Signature

· Enclosures

Letterhead:
This will include your company's name, address, telephone number, fax number and
email address. Include your web address if available. Other information may be required
depending on the legal status of your business formation. Contact your legal adviser for
exact details.

Name and address:

Always include the recipient's name, address and postal code. Add job title if appropriate.
Double check that you have the correct spelling of the recipient 's name .

Date:
Always date your letters. Never abbreviate January to Jan. 31.

Reference:
These are optional. They are a good idea if you have a large volume of correspondence.
These days modern word processors made this an easy task to complete and maintain.

Salutations:
The type of salutation depends on your relationship with the recipient. Always try to
personalize the letter thus avoiding the dear sir/madam situation.

Subject matter:
Again this is optional, but its inclusion can help the recipient in dealing successfully with
the aims of your letter. Normally the subject sentence is preceded with the word Re: It
should be placed one line below the greeting.

Communication:
This will contain a number of paragraphs, each paragraph dealing with one point and one
point only.

Signature:
The signature should be clear and legible-showing you are interested in the letter and
consequently the recipient. Your signature should also be followed underneath by a typed
version of your name and your job title.

Enclosures:
If you include other material in the letter, put 'Enclosure', 'Enc', or ' Encs ', as appropriate,
two lines below the last entry.
A letter's style:
Previously we created the main points of our letter, now we must transform this into a
final version. To do this, four main considerations are necessary.

· Format

· Prose

· Manner

· Accuracy

Format:
There are three main formats: blocked, semi-blocked and indented.

The former has all entries tight against the left -hand margin. The semi-blocked format
sets the references and the date to the right margin for filing and retrieval purposes, with
the remaining entries placed against the left margin.

The indented format follows the same layout as either of the above, but indents each
paragraph by five or six spaces.

Prose:
Clarity of communication is the primary goal. Don't use technical jargon if the recipient
is unlikely to understand it. Short sentences are less likely to be misunderstood or
misinterpreted. Be precise, don't ramble. Check each sentence to see if it is relevant. Does
it add to the point ?

Manner:
Always try to personalize your letters. Always try to be civil and friendly even if the
subject matter is stern and sensitive. Give the impression to the recipient that some effort
and thought has gone into the letter.

Accuracy:
Once the final version of the letter has been created, polish it off with a final spelling and
punctuation check.

Flow in Computer-Mediated Communication

Electronic Mail and Voice Mail Evaluation and Impacts
LINDA KLEBE TREVINO

JANE WEBSTER

This study investigates the effects of multiple variables on user evaluation and perceived impacts of electronic mail and voice mail systems. It
introduces flow as an important construct that characterizes perceptions of employee interactions with computer-mediated communication
technologies as more or less playful and exploratory. Flow is hypothesized to be influenced by the technology (higher for electronic mail), ease of use,
and computer skill. It is also proposed that flow, type of technology, perceived technology characteristics (ease of use), and organizational factors
(management support, communication partners' medium use) positively influence employee evaluations and perceived impacts. A field survey was
conducted at a large health care firm that had recently adopted both electronic mail and voice mail. The LISREL results provide mixed support for the
hypotheses.