Creating a Business Letter Business Technology Applications

What is a Business Letter? Why write one? Written to give information Written to serve as evidence in cases of dispute Written to build goodwill Written to remember facts Written because they are convenient To Whom is one written? What should be in one? What is proper format? 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

What are the types of Business Letters? Formal Business Letter Most Often typed on Letterhead Letterhead Already contains your company’s return address You don’t retype it Personal Business Letter No Letterhead You can create your own Put your own address 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

What are the Required Parts of a Business Letter? Letterhead or Heading (Return Address or Your Address) Dateline Inside Address (Where the letter is going) Salutation Body Complimentary Closing Signature Block 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

What’s in The Heading (your information) Single Spaced – followed by four lines Always includes the date As the last entry Business Letter (no letterhead) Your return address Only abbreviation is Postal Code - NJ May include Phone#, Fax#, Email@ Date Formal Business Letter (on letterhead) Date only 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)

What is the Inside Address (addressee’s information – Who the letter is going to) Person’s Name, Title Company Name/Department Company Address Single Spaced Followed by one blank lines (Enter Key twice or Double Space) 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.

What is the Salutation? (a greeting) Dear Mr. Sloan Dear Dr. Smith Dear Ms. Jones Gentlemen Dear Sir or Madam 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.

What is the Body? (The actual letter) Brief and to the point! Strictly Business Guideline – 3 paragraphs (at least) Brief Introduction Contents - What I want Conclusion and Thank you Each paragraph: Single Spaced Followed by one blank lines (Double Space) 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.

Complimentary Close Sincerely, Yours truly, Respectfully yours, Followed by three lines (Quadruple Space – Hit enter 4 times) After printing you will sign the letter here These are samples of acceptable closing statements. Always allow four spaces after your close, so you can sign the printed letter in ink

Signature Block Your Full Name Your Title (if appropriate) Mrs. Regina Sikorski Your Title (if appropriate) Computer Club Moderator Followed by one lines (Enter Key twice) If optional parts are required 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.

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 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)

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, 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”

Understand that parameters can be mixed and matched –8 Possibilities

Example: Block/mixed punctuation

Example: Modified Block/Open Punctuation

Letterhead