To: Nancy Myers

From: Max Toillion

Date: February 19, 2022

Subject: APLED-121-Chapter 9 Summary

Chapter 9
Routine Correspondence

Routine Correspondence

The Importance of Routine Correspondence

On a day-to-day basis, employees routinely write memos, letters, e-mail messages, instant messages,
reports, and text messages. A Survey of Business Leaders, states that e-mail is common in the American
workplace. Over half of the companies had surveyed report that communication channels frequently
included technical reports.

Which Communication Channel Should You Use?

Memos, letters, and e-mail messages are three common types of communication channels. E-mail is
considered a convenient communication channel. However, e-mail might not be the best
communication channel to use because an e-mail isn’t as secure as a sealed envelope. A memo posted
in the break room, or a text message sent to their handhelds would be considered better choices of
communication channels.

The Difference Among Routine Correspondence Channels

To clarify the distinctions among memos, letters, e-mail, instant messages, and text messages the list
goes as follows:

Memos: Written to colleagues within a company

Letters: Written to people outside the business

Email: Correspondence written to friends and acquaintances, coworkers within a company, and clients
and vendors

Instant Message/ Text Messages: Correspondence written to friends and acquaintances, coworkers
within a company, and clients and vendors
Reasons for Writing Memos, Letters, and E-mail

You will write memos, letters, and e-mail to a wide range of readers. This includes supervisors, co-
workers, subordinates, vendors, stakeholders, customers, and multiple combinations of these
audiences. Because of their frequency and widespread audiences, routine correspondence could
represent a major component of your interpersonal communication skills within your work
environment. Memos, letters and e-mail are flexible and can be written for many different purposes,
these include:

 Documentation. Expenses, incidents, accidents, problems encountered, projected costs, study

findings, hiring, and reallocations of staff and equipment.
 Confirmation. A meeting agenda, date, time and location; decisions to purchase or sell; topics
for discussion at upcoming teleconferences; conclusions arrived at; and fees, costs, or
expenditures.
 Procedures. How to set up accounts, operate new machinery, use new software, or solve a
problem.
 Recommendations. Reasons to purchase new equipment, promote someone, award a contract
to a vendor, or develop new software applications
 Feasibility. Changes in the workplace
 Status. Daily, weekly, monthly quarterly, biannual, and yearly statements about where you, the
department, or the company is regarding many topics such as sales, staffing, travel, practices,
procedures, or finances
 Directive. Assignments to subordinates of their designated tasks
 Inquiry. Questions about upcoming processes or procedures
 Cover. The preface to a proposal, long report, or other attachments.

Using an All-Purpose Template for Memos, Letters, and E-mail

Memos, letters, and e-mail contain the following key components:

 Introduction
 Discussion
 Conclusion

Introduction

Write one or two clear introductory sentences which tell you’re the readers what topic you are writing
about and why you are writing.

Discussion

The discussion section allows you to develop specific content. Readers might not read every line of your
routine correspondence. The longer your paragraph is the less likely the audience will read it. Make your
text more reader friendly by itemizing, using white space, boldfacing, creating headlines, or inserting
graphics.
Conclusion

Conclude your correspondence with a thank you or a direct action. A good conclusion will motivate your
readers.

Essential Components of Memos

Memos must have identification lines. These include the date on which the memo was written, the
name of the writer, the name or names of the readers, and the subject line, all followed by colons.

Essential Components of Letters

Your letter should be typed and printed on 8 ½” x 11” paper. Leave 1” to 1 ½” margins at the top and on
both sides. Select a professional looking font such as New Times Roman and Arial (12 point).

Writer’s Address

This section contains either your personal address or your company’s address. If the heading consists of
your address, include your street address, city state, zip code and the acronym of the state in which you
or your company reside in.

Date

Document the month, day, and year when you write the letter. Place the date one or two spaces below
the writer’s address.

Reader’s Address

Place the reader’s address two lines below the date.

 Reader’s name
 Reader’s Title
 Company name
 Street address
 City, state, and zip code

Salutation

The traditional salutation, placed two spaces beneath the inside address is dear and the readers last
name, followed by a colon.

Letter Body
Begin the body of the letter two spaces below the salutation. The body includes the introductory
paragraph, discussion paragraphs, and concluding paragraph. The body should be single-spaced with
double spacing between paragraphs.

Complimentary Close

Place the complimentary close, followed by a comma, two spaces below the concluding paragraph.

Signed Name

Sign your name legibly beneath the complimentary close.

Typed Name

Type your name four spaces below the complimentary close. You can type your title one space beneath
your typed name. You can also include your title on the same line as your typed name with a comma
after your name.

Optional Components of Letters

In addition to the letter essentials, you can include the following optional components:

 Subject Line Place a subject line two spaces below the inside address and two spaces above the
salutation
 New Page Notations If the letter is longer than one page, cite your name, the page number, and
the date on all pages after page 1. Place the notation with the left margin at the top of the pages
or across the top of the subsequent pages
 Writer’s and Typist’s Initials. If the letter was typed by someone other than the writer, include
both the writer’s and typist’s initials two spaces below the typed signature. The writer’s initials
are capitalized, the typist’s initials are typed in lowercase, and the two sets of initials are
separated by a colon unless they are both the same person.
 Enclosure Notation. If your letter prefaces enclosed information, such as an invoice or report,
mention this enclosure in the letter and then type an enclosure notation two spaces below the
typed signature. The enclosure notation can be abbreviated.
 Copy Notation. If you have sent a copy of your letter to other readers, show this in a copy
notation. List the other readers’ names following the copy notation. Type the copy notation two
spaces below the typed signature or two spaces below either the writer’s and typist’s initials or
the enclosure notation.

Letter Formats
Three common types of letter formats include full block, full block with subject line, and simplified. Two
popular and professional formats used in business are full block and full block with subject line. With
both formats, you type all information at the left margin without indenting paragraphs, the date, the
complimentary close or signature. The full block with subject line differs only with the inclusion of the
subject line.

Essential Components of E-mail

To convey messages effectively and to ensure that your e-mail messages reflect professionalism, follow
these tips for writing e-mail.

 Identify Yourself. Identify yourself by name, affiliation, or title. You can accomplish this either in
the from line of your e-mail or by creating a signature file or .sig file. This file acts like an online
business card
 Provide an Effective Subject Line. Readers are unwilling to open unsolicited or unknown e-mail,
due to fear of spam and viruses. Corporate employees receive approximately 50 e-mail
messages each day.
 Keep Your E-mail Message Brief. Reader’s skim and scan. To help them access information
quickly, limit your message to one screen.
 Organize Your E-mail Message. Successfully writing usually contains an introductory paragraph,
a discussion paragraph and a conclusion. Although many e-mail messages are brief, only a few
sentences, you can use the introductory sentences to tell the reader why you are writing and
what you are writing about.
 Use Highlighting Techniques Sparingly. Many e-mail platforms will let you use highlighting
techniques, such as boldface, italics, underlining, computer-generated bullets and numbers ,
centering, font color highlighting, and font color changes.
 Be Careful When Sending Attachments. When you send attachments, tell the reader within the
body of the e-mail message that you have attached a file. Specify the file name of your
attachment and the software application that you have used.

Practice Netiquette

 Be courteous. Do not let the instantaneous quality of e-mail negate your need to be calm,
cool, deliberate, and professional.
 Be professional.
 Avoid abusive, angry e-mail messages.

Criteria for Different Types of Routine Correspondence

You will write many different types of correspondence on a daily basis to both internal and external
audiences including memos, letters, and e-mail messages. Some different types of routine messages
include the following:

 Inquiry
 Response
  Cover
 Complaint
 Adjustment
 Order
 Confirmation
 Recommendation
 Thank-you

Inquiry

If you want information about degree requirements, equipment costs, Performance records, turnaround
time, employee credentials etc.

Introduction. Clarify your intent in the introduction. Until you tell your readers why you are writing. It is
your responsibility to clarify your intent and explain your intent.

Discussion. Specify your needs in the discussion. To ensure that you get the response you want, ask
precise questions.

Conclusion. Conclude precisely. Explain when you need a response. Do not write respond as soon as
possible.

Response. In a response provide information, details or answers to an inquiry.

Introduction. Begin with a pleasant reminder of when you spoke with a person or heard from the
audience

Discussion. Organize your discussion section into as many paragraphs as you need.

Conclusion. End your response in a positive and friendly tone.

Cover. Cover or transmittal correspondence precedes attached or enclosed documents, informing the
reader by giving an overview of the material that follows.

Introduction. What If the reader has asked to send the documentation? Do you need to explain? The
answer is yes.

Discussion. In the body, accomplish two things. Either tell your reader exactly what you have enclosed
or what value is within the enclosures.

Conclusion. Your conclusion should tell your readers what you want to happen next, when you want this
to happen, and why the date is important.

Complaint Messages. To write a complaint message, include the following:

 Introduction. In the introduction, state the problem. To strengthen your assertions, include
supporting details, names of salespeople involved in the purchase.
 Discussion. In the discussion paragraphs explain in detail the problems experienced. This
includes dates, contact names and information about shipping.
 Conclusion. End your letter positively. You want to ensure cooperation with the vendor or
customer.
 Adjustment Messages

Responses to complaints, also called adjustment messages, can take three different forms

 100 percent yes. You could agree 100 percent with the writer of the complaint.
 100 percent no. You can disagree 100 percent with the writer of the complaint.

Partial adjustment

You could agree with some of the writer’s complaints but disagree with other aspects of the complaint.