E-mail Writing Workshop SEAMEO May 31st 2012 Presented by Kaan Ustun

Workshop Outline Introduction What is an E-mail? What is a Business Letter? Needs and Goals of an E-mail Common idioms, expressions and language usage in E-mails Examples & Exercises Questions & Answers Conclusion

Introduction Full Name Area of Business Writing One concern in Business Writing – Communication – Memos – Friendly Mails Types of E-mails Writing Process: Planning Drafting Reviewing Editing

What is an E-mail? What is a Business Letter? An E-mail is…? A Business E-mail is…? What do you know? What is your experience? What are the most important aspect of writing for you? Communication of message Structure: Where Exhortation to the reader Sign off Information

Needs and goals of an E-mail Why write an e-mail? Who writes an e-mail? When do we write an e-mail? Group work, questions and answers. Other ideas: Brainstorming, organizing ideas, drafting, actual writing, proofreading, editing.

Stages to write an e-mail Stage 1: Choose a topic (Tourism, business,…) Stage 2: Information gathering Stage 3: Planning e-mail (Inclusion, conclusion) Stage 4: Draft Stage 5: Checking effectiveness, correctness and mistakes Stage 6: Final e-mail (Harmer, 2007, p.117) If not sure Feedback from someone

Common idioms, expressions, and language usage in English Letter writing Chapter I : The layout Chapter II: Enquiries and replies Chapter III: Quotations and orders Chapter IV: Complaints and replies Annexe Exercises ( Beatrice Gay 23, Letter Writing script document)

Examples & Exercises Group work

Conclusion 1. Requesting Make sure your tone is appropriate for your reader. Consider your relationship: are you asking for something from a friend, your boss or your direct report? Every relationship will require a different tone. Always be polite and follow up gently. It’s best to ask for one thing, or several things related to that one thing. Keep your focus clear. If you are requesting several unrelated things, write separate emails. Make sure your request stands out. Put it up front—don’t bury it at the end of your message. Be direct and respectful. 2. Responding Put your response up front, even if it’s bad news. If you are embedding several responses, use a different colour. If the email will be printed and filed, the colour won’t show up, so use a different font. If you need time to respond, let the reader know. Use an out-of-office auto responder if you are away for a day or more. 3. Informing Email is ideal for sharing information. To let your reader know it’s just information and there’s no need to act, use an FYI in the subject line. Being cc’d in an email similarly means you need to know about but not act upon the message.

Conclusion ( Zakir Hossain, M.A.) 4. Thanking It’s polite to thank someone who does something for you, and it’s nice to be thanked. However, beware of never-ending thank you/you’re welcome chains. Make sure your reader wants to be thanked. Some don’t! If you don’t want your inbox cluttered up with thank you’s, use NRN (no response necessary) in your subject line. And remember to let people know what it means the first few times you use it. 5. Apologizing If you’re apologizing for a big blunder, maybe email isn’t the best medium. Pick up the phone, or pay a visit instead. 6. Connecting This is one thing email excels at. The best emails have a friendly tone and use the beginnings and endings to make a personal connection. ( Zakir Hossain, M.A.)