Effective Email

Grade Level: High School

Once upon a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, drawings on cave wall were the form of communication. Then came the spoken word. People could express themselves through face to face contact. If you wanted to correspond with someone far away, you would write letters. Then came the telephone. This made the verbal communication possible even though you are world’s apart. Modern technology has given us email. Now we must find safe, effective ways to use email. I have come up with a list of tips and suggestions while using email.

Be aware of your audience. Who and why you are writing an email to will effect how you write.

Your grammar, punctuation, and spelling will effect how the recipient views you. Are you emailing a teacher or are you emailing your best friend?

What does their email look like? Do they use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar? If not, they may not care what your email looks like.

You cannot see gestures, facial expressions, or hear tone of voice in an email. If you do not know the person you are emailing, be aware of your message.

Do not use sarcasm. The recipient may take your words literally.

Make your sentences clear. You do not want them to get the wrong message.

Time management; emails are meant to be short. This is a quick way to communicate with others.

Keep your paragraphs short. Don’t go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about something. Get to the point. (Do you get mine?)

If they want more information, they can ask for it.

Use plain text. Make it easy to read. Stick to one font style.

Keep everything on one page.

Overall, keep it short but sweet.

Greetings and salutations can be informal. You are writing an email, not a letter. Letters are meant to be more formal.

If you know the persons first name, make it your greeting.

Your email address can be used as your salutation.

If you know the person, you do not need to include extra identification.

Be aware of acronyms and common expressions. Lots of people are using them and it can make your email easy and fast.

FYI- for your information.

LOL- (I) laughed out loud (at what you wrote).

ROTFL- (I am) rolling on the floor laughing (at what you wrote).

spam- email sent to you even though you did not ask for it or know where it is coming from; like junk mail.

bounce- when an email gets returned to the sender and never makes it to the person you are sending it to.

Know how to read the URL’s. They give you clues to the association. You will know what kind of organization the email address is coming from.

Top Level Domain (TDL) is the last word.

.com- commercial business, a company.

.net- network provider, Internet Service Provider.

.gov- US government agency.

.edu- US educational institution.

.org- Non-profit institution.

.mil- US military.

Know how to type in URL’s. If not done right, you and anyone else viewing your text can easily become confused.

Always include http://

Remember to keep it lower case letters.

Be careful when used at the end of a sentence. The period for the sentence may read as a part of the URL.

When responding to an email sent to you, be specific. Things can get confusing fast.

Quote from their email first, then respond to the question or statement. That way the recipient will know exactly what you are referring to.

Make it relate clearly.

Avoid pronouns in the first three sentences. State the person’s name first, then use a pronoun. That way the recipient will know exactly who you are talking about.

Everyone’s software is not the same. What you type on your computer may not look the same for the recipient’s computer.

Be careful of white space. It may... ...look like this on your computer.

But

it may..

. ...loo

k like this on the

recipient

‘s computer.

Want to put a little emotion into your email? Here are some tips on how to express yourself through emails. Remember you may only want to use these for emailing someone you know.

Capital letters place strong emphasis on a word. This IS an example.

Use white space for a pause. This is an example.

Use punctuation if you are confused. ?!?!This is an example?!?!

Double parenthesis can be used as your inner voice. This is an example ((of what))!