| The Writing Center Guide to Business Letters Business Letters have a variety of uses. Organizations use them to contact outside parties. They are also used to respond to requests, motivate some kind of action, request or provide information, and to sell goods and services. A good business letter is brief, to the point, straightforward and polite. If possible, it should be limited to one typewritten page. Because they are so brief, such letters are often judged on very small, but important, things: grammar, punctuation, openings, closings and formats. A business letter is not the place to try out fancy fonts or experimental writing styles. A direct, conservative style works best. Listed here are the elements of standard business letters and their functions. Date - This goes on the first line after the return address. Always spell out the month and include the day, a comma and the year. Return Address - Your address (or the address of the company you represent). If you are using preprinted stationary, there is no need to retype the information. Salutation - Type Dear followed by the person's first and last name. The line should end with a colon. If you don't know the person who will read your letter, use a title instead i.e., Dear Editor. If you like, the salutation may be omitted entirely. Body - This is your actual message. Each paragraph should be even with the left margin and one line of space should appear between each section. It is important to make sure that each paragraph is clear and concise. Closing - Leave one line of space after your last body paragraph, then use a conventional closing followed by a comma i.e., Sincerely, Sincerely Yours, Respectfully, Yours Truly. Signature - After the body of the letter, a handwritten signature should appear on the line following your closing. Unless you have established a personal relationship with the person you are writing use both your first and last name. Typed Name and Position - Four lines after the closing, type your full name. Do not include a title i.e., Mr.or Mrs. If you are writing on behalf of an organization, your title should appear on the next line. Abbreviations - Sometimes, abbreviations at the very end of a letter are used to signify additional information. If you send a copy of your letter to someone other than the person addressed, use cc: followed by the name of the person or organization receiving your copy. If you are sending additional documents in the same envelope, use Enc.or Enclosure.If the letter is being typed by someone other than the person who wrote and signed it, the writer's initials should be given in capital letters, followed by a slash and the typist's initials in lower case letter: MT/fjr. When using multiple abbreviations, each one should appear on a separate line. There are two main styles of business letters: the full block style and the modified block style. When using full block style, all the elements are aligned to the left margin. With modified block style, the return address, date closing, signature, and typed name should be aligned along an imaginary line that runs down the middle of the page. All other elements are aligned at the left page margin. |