1. Creating a Business Letter
Business Technology Applications

2. 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

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 retype it
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

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
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

5. 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#,
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)

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)
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.

7. 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.

8. 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 (Enter Key twice)
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.

9. Complimentary Close Sincerely, Yours truly, Respectfully yours,
Followed by three lines (Enter Key 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

10. Signature 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.

11. Optional Parts Typist Initials Enclosure
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)
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

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
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)

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,
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”

14. Understand that parameters can be mixed and matched –8 Possibilities

15. Example: Block/mixed punctuation

16. Example: Modified Block/Open Punctuation

17. Letterhead