1. Professional Correspondence – Unit 10
M. W. Shealy
Technical Writing ENC 6413 online
Fall 2016

2. Unit 10: Objectives
Refer to your textbook, The Agile Communicator, chapter 10, pp
After working this unit, you should be able to
Distinguish between personal and professional correspondence.
Identify the two most common purposes for professional correspondence.
Describe common features of professional correspondence.
Identify and compose responses and requests to correspondences.
Choose an appropriate correspondence format.
Explain the affordances and constraints of print and electronic correspondence.
How presentation will benefit audience: Adult learners are more interested in a subject if they know how or why it is important to them.
Presenter’s level of expertise in the subject: Briefly state your credentials in this area, or explain why participants should listen to you.

3. Unit 10: Outline Lesson 1 (Introduction)
Key Concepts
Assignments
Take-away Questions
Lesson 2 (Common Types of Professional Correspondence)
Lesson 3 (Writing and Formatting Correspondence)
Lesson 4 (Writing Correspondence)
Lesson descriptions should be brief.

4. Lesson 1: Introduction KEY CONCEPTS from pages 191-193 of textbook
Originally meaning “to communicate with letters,” the term “correspondence” has been used since the 16th century to describe communication between individuals through hand-written or printed letters.
Correspondence used in organizations includes
letters to correspond with individuals outside the organization.
memos to correspond with individuals inside the organization.
electronic messages such as and texts to communicate both inside and outside the organization.
Individuals and organizations store and keep these communications for legal and historical documentation.
Example objectives
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Save files to the team Web server.
Move files to different locations on the team Web server.
Share files on the team Web server.

5. Lesson 1: Assignments
Refer to p. 192 in your textbook. Work the assignment Everyday Correspondence to identify the kinds of correspondence you receive on a daily basis. Post answers to the questions in the Week 10 Lesson #1 (a) assignment forum.
Watch the video (double click) to your right produced by the Encyclopedia Britannica in Post answers to the questions below in the Week 10 Lesson #1 (b) assignment forum.
What details about postal service and communication 70 years ago does the film show?
How do our current attitudes and expectations regarding physical mail differ from those 70 years ago?

6. Lesson 1: Take-away Questions (for class discussion)
Given the importance of retaining important communications for legal and historical documentation, how necessary is it that such business or governmental information be available online for free to the general public? When should such information remain proprietary?
Since corresponding with printed letters and memos has a quaint, old- fashioned feel, what sort of situations today still require printed letters in business settings? In personal situations?
What is your personal attitude or belief about the US Post Office as an entity? Toward PO workers? About getting physical mail?

7. Lesson 2: Common Types of Professional Correspondence
KEY CONCEPTS from pages of textbook
Most professional correspondence is designed
to request the reader do something OR
to respond to a request.
Most correspondence includes an introduction, a middle section, and a conclusion.
Introductions provide context for the correspondence, introducing the writer and stating the reason for the contact.
Middle sections provide explanation for the contact.
Conclusions restate the purpose and offer information for further contact.

8. Lesson 2 continued (a)
Writers use correspondence to communicate many kinds of requests or actions. While each type of request will vary, the general content of a letter of request is simple:
In the introduction, open with a few sentences of background explaining why you are writing.
In the middle of the message, detail the request and explain the reasoning behind it.
The closing section of the request is a “Call to Action” that directs the reader to take the requested action.

9. Lesson 2 continued (b)
While forms and wizards are helpful for gathering information for your request, you will need to know how to modify examples for a specific communication need.
At work, you will likely find that your organization has its own conventions, formats, and recommended organizations for requests.
Because there is no set form for every situation requiring you to write a request, you need to be able to find examples online and in print to critique their effectiveness.

10. Lesson 2: Assignments
1. Refer to p. 192 in your textbook. Work the assignment Critiquing Letters of Request. Post answers to the questions in the Week 10 Lesson #2 (a) assignment forum. 2. View the humorous video to the right (double click). Which fails do you find funniest? What fails have you been guilty of? Post answers to the questions in the Week 10 Lesson #2 (b) assignment forum.

11. Lesson 2 continued (c)
The challenge of writing a response is recognizing what kind of response is appropriate.
Some responses, often called “good news” or “bad news,” relay information about a decision to act.
Other correspondence responds to a request for information.
A third type of response, the final message of appreciation or thank you note, comes at the conclusion of a communication exchange.

12. Lesson 2 continued (d)
Cover Letters, or more formally, letters of transmittal, respond to requests for information.
The two most common letters of transmittal are cover letters for resumes and formal reports.
They can also be used with contracts, financial records, requests for insurance documentation, and many other kinds of information requests.
Messages of Appreciation or Thanks are appropriate when someone has considered a request you have made or given you an opportunity.
Depending on how well you know the person you are writing, messages of appreciation can range widely in tone from informal to very formal.
Messages of appreciation are particularly important after job interviews.

13. Lesson 2: Take-away Questions
What sort of response might be both good and bad? Neither good nor bad?
Is there ever a time to be “professionally rude” in business correspondences?
What sort of legal or litigation considerations should you take into account when responding to business requests?
What sort of tone should one strike in messages after interviews? Be specific.

14. Lesson 3: Writing and Formatting Correspondence
KEY CONCEPTS from pages of textbook
If your organization has specific style guidelines for printed letters and memos, you should use them.
Letters have seven typical parts, which are listed and defined below:
The Return Address (your address)
The Date
The Inside Address (with the recipient’s name and address)
The Greeting (where you address the reader)
The Body (the content of your letter)
The Closing (a friendly ending such as “Sincerely,” or “With regard”)
The Signature (where you handwrite or digitally sign your name and type your name below the signature)

15. Lesson 3 continued
While letters are typically used for external communication to others outside of your organization, printed memos are internal office correspondence.
Use of memos for internal office correspondence has decreased in recent years.
Much of the information that was once distributed through memos has transitioned to electronic communications such as messages, which have been designed to communicate essentially the same information in their headings as memos.

16. Lesson 3: Assignments
Complete the Work the Modifying Word Processing Letter and Memo Templates exercise on p.203 of your textbook. Post answers to the questions in the Week 10 Lesson #3 (a) assignment forum.
Watch the video linked to the right (double click). What did you find most helpful in the video? What did you find least helpful? Find another MS Word tutorial and paste the link here for your peers. Post answers to the questions in the Week 10 Lesson #3 (b) assignment forum.

17. Lesson 3: Take-away Questions
How does the formatting of a letter (or any type of correspondence) affect the content?
Explain how writing professional correspondence show a different side of your personality than does personal correspondence. How does professional correspondence show the same side as personal correspondence?
What formatting considerations from print letters remain in correspondence? What considerations no longer matter?

18. Lesson 4: Writing Email Correspondence
KEY CONCEPTS from pages of textbook
has become the standard means of internal and external organizational communication.
The organization you work for will probably have policies regarding use, sometimes limiting use of to business purposes and restricting professional communication to an assigned account that supervisors can monitor.

19. Lesson 4 continued (a)
When policies are not available, the following guidelines can help you write effective and readable s:
Identify your ’s purpose immediately with a specific subject line.
Begin your with your reason for writing.
Limit your message’s content.
Keep messages as brief as possible and segment messages into readable chunks.
Use advance organizers and white space to assist reading.
Take time to revise.
Close all s with a signature.

20. Lesson 4 continued (b)
Also consider potential problems that arise with correspondence:
Note that electronic mail is never really private.
Protect your privacy and your reputation.
Assume that persons other than the recipient may read your .
Avoid unprofessional negativity or questionable language.
Avoid hasty replies.
Think before you hit “send.”

21. Lesson 4 continued (c)
Even with capabilities for longer text messages, text messages remain brief and concise and often include abbreviations, acronyms, or emoticons to shorten messages but convey meaning.
While you may be familiar with instant messaging (IM) in your personal life, it is very likely that you will use IM even more at work.
Along with , distributed lists (listservs) are popular means of corresponding, both personally and professionally.
While list management tools are still used today, they are being replaced with social media like Twitter and Facebook, which have features that allow the same kind of targeted distribution to identified readers.

22. Lesson 4 continued (d)
Affordances are features that support your work and professional development, such as networking and keeping up with trends in your profession.
Gauge your voice to an appropriate register or formality for the correspondence.
Invite discussion.
Encourage reading.
When appropriate, incorporate media other than text into your posts.
Use keywords and tags in posts that allow them.

23. Lesson 4 continued (e)
Also consider the constraints that accompany these types of correspondence:
Because electronic correspondence is archived, your posts may be available for decades…if not forever.
Because they are public, easily distributed, and stored on other servers and computers, the message can take on a life of its own to become viral.
Your privacy and organization’s proprietary information can easily be disclosed and distributed in electronic messages.

24. Lesson 4: Assignment
Refer to Things You May not Know about from p. 204 of your textbook. Post answers to the questions in the Week 10 Lesson #4 assignment forum.
Visit The International Center for Integrative Systems website The Lab at
maillab.org/ -lab.asp
After reviewing the contents of The Lab, what have you learned about and its use?
How has the practice of grown from practices of other forms of communication?
What factors affect successful professional use of ?
How are professional and personal s different from one?

25. Lesson 4: Take-away Questions
When do you use non-electronic forms of communication? If you don’t, then why don’t you?
How does your personality change when you communicate via or social media compared to paper communications or phone communications? Is it possible that your personality changes without you realizing that it does?
How concerned are you about privacy issues when ing in a professional setting? When ing in a personal setting?
If you were to “hit send” too soon and send inappropriate in a professional setting, how would you attempt to address the issue?

26. Final Remarks on Unit 10
Corresponding, mostly using electronic delivery, is one of the most common activities performed in the workplace. Everyday workers answer dozens of s requesting information and must respond in a reliably professional manner, so knowing the differences between personal and professional correspondence is a must in today’s workplace.
While most larger companies will have detailed policies regarding electronic communications inside and outside the institution, you will still need to make rational (and often creative) choices based on research, use of templates, and use of examples.
You will also need to keep the issue of privacy and the problem of public access to your correspondence in mind at all times; questions of litigation will also determine how you correspond in professional settings.

27. Unit Quiz & Extra Credit
Take the Unit Quiz located in the Week 10 lesson folder. There are 20 True/False questions.
For Extra Credit, choose ONE of the Chapter Assignments on pp and attach your work to the Extra Credit Assignment drop box under the Week 10 folder. This extra-credit work is not mandatory.
Consider how ideas from this chapter may generate topics for your final semester research paper. See the assignment instructions document for more details.

28. Unit Evaluation (email me answers)
How useful to our class goals was this chapter in relation to other chapters in the book we’ve studied so far?
How interesting was this chapter in relation to other chapters in the book we’ve studied so far?
How relevant to your academic studies or your workplace activities was this chapter in relation to other chapters in the book we’ve studied so far?
Which assignment in this unit did you find most helpful? Which assignment did you enjoy most?

29. Unit 10: Sources
Alexander, Anson. “Microsoft Online Tutorial – 2015 Quick Start.” Online video. YouTube, YouTube, 25 Feb Web. 05 Mar
Baehr, C., & Cargile-Cook, C The Agile Communicator, 1st ed. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Quitney, Jeff. “Mailman 1946 Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Postal Worker's Daily Routine.” YouTube, YouTube, 08 Jun Web. 05 Mar
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Falon. “Hashtags: # Fail.” Online video. YouTube, YouTube, 226 Jun Web. 05 Mar