• Choose your audience carefully. Send messages only to those who need to read them. Limit the number of copies you send. But always remember, you audience can easily forward your email to anyone.
• Don't randomly send carbon copies. Readers will note where the other copies are going. (If you must send copies and don't want readers to know, use the blind copy - Bcc: - feature.)

• Creating meaningful subject lines. Readers use them to gauge the importance of the message, and often delete or delay reading messages with vague or unhelpful subject lines.

• Use high-priority flaggings when necessary to alert colleagues that the message requires immediate attention.
• Begin with a salutation (Dear Professor Jones,)

• Provide adequate context. You can quote the e-mail you are responding to, but include only enough of the previous message to make it clear, not the whole message.

• Use a pattern of organization that fits your purpose.
• Be concise. E-mails are not essays. If you have longer documents, consider using attachments.

Formality

• Think carefully about the entire document (from your user name to your signature). Readers will use the cues you provide to form impressions of you. These cues include your--
• User Name (dwhite, hot&heavy, smartmouth)
• Domain name (vt.edu, aol.com)
• Grammar, punctuation, and spelling. In the workplace, capitalize the first letter in a sentence, even if you write in all lower-case to your friends. But remember that using all capital letters is considered as rude as shouting. Use full caps only for emphasis.

Signatures

• If you use more than one e-mail service, think carefully about which e-mail domain you want your message to come from (vt.edu, excite.com, hotmail.com). Free, Internet-based services always attach an ad for that service and a URL at the bottom of every message you send. Many people, including professors typically don't appreciate advertising when they read their e-mail.
• Create clear and informative signature files. Include your e-mail address, phone number, and post office address.
• If you use the signature function to attach your favorite quotation to the end of every message, consider turning it off for professional correspondence. When the recipient sees the exact same quotation from you in every single message they receive, they will eventually begin to get annoyed, if not irate, no matter how good the quotation is or how personally meaningful the quotation is to you.
• Be patient while waiting for a response. Don't be tempted to assume the worst simply because you haven't received a reply in less than 10 minutes.

Format/Design Considerations

• Design your message to make it readable and clear.
  • Keep paragraphs short.
  • Keep lines under seventy-five characters long.
  • Keep messages under twenty-five lines long.
  • Double-space between paragraphs.

  • Use lists to keep messages short and direct.

• Limit emoticons or other symbols for gestures and intonation. They may be necessary to help the reader understand the tone, but you should avoid them altogether in formal communications with employers and professors. Common "emoticons" include:

  • : - ) Smileys (indicates humor)
  • : - ò Asterisks (impish grin)
  • ; - ) Wink
  • : - ( Sad

  • : - / Mixed Feelings

• Use abbreviations sparingly, much the same way you would use jargon. Common abbreviations include:

  • BTW By the way
  • CUL See you later
  • IMHO In my humble opinion
  • F2F Face to face
  • WYSIWYG What you see is what you get

Review: Exercises and Summary -->

Sources:

Locker, Kitty O. Business and Administrative Communication, 4th ed. Boston: Irwin, 1998.

Hairston, Maxine, Ruszkiewicz, John, and Christy Friend. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers, 5th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.