Personal Business Letters and Common documents Document Formatting Personal Business Letters and Common documents

Purpose of Document Formatting In this Unit, we will learn how to format personal business letter, business letters, and memos Regardless of your future occupation, knowing how to communicate effectively with businesses is essential To communicate effectively, there are rules that must be followed on how your documents should look During this presentation, pay careful attention to spacing between document parts (that includes any margin changes)

What is a Personal Business Letter? Is a letter written from a person to a company Can be used for any purpose that requires written communication from an individual to a company Such as: To accompany returned goods Complaint letter Thank you letter Résumé cover letter

Personal Business Letter Parts Inside Address: name and address of the business to whom you are writing Date Line: current date written out as month, day, and complete year Salutation: letter’s greeting – you use the same name you used in the Inside Address – using Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss Body: message or ‘meat’ of the letter Complimentary Closing: letter’s goodbye – using phrases such as Yours truly and Sincerely yours Signature: writer's handwritten signature Writer’s Identification: writer’s typed name and address

Personal Business Letter Order and Spacing 2” Top margin Inside Address and then Date – QS (press Enter 4 times) Salutation – DS (press Enter 2 times) Body – SS the text within the paragraph and DS between the paragraphs Complimentary Closing – QS Writer’s ID (name and address)

Personal Business Letter Styles and Punctuation There are two types of letter styles that are acceptable in business: Block style – all lines in the letter begin at the left margin (no tabbing or indenting) Modified block style – date line, complimentary closing and writer’s identification begin at midpoint Semi-modified block style - date line, complimentary closing and writer’s identification begin at midpoint and all body paragraphs are indented (or tabbed over) ½” There are two types of letter punctuation that are acceptable in business: Mixed punctuation – there will be a colon (:) after the salutation and a comma (,) after the complimentary closing Open punctuation – there will be NO punctuation after the salutation or complimentary closing

What is a Business Letter? Represents a company not an individual Usually prepared on company letterhead Company letterhead is official company stationery that often contains a logo along with the name, address, phone and fax number Follow this link to look at sample letterheads

What are the differences between a Personal Business and Business Letter? Writer’s company name and address should appear in the letterhead, so there is no need to type it again at the bottom of the letter Writer’s business title is usually keyed under the name Reference initials are added a DS (press Enter 2 times) after the Writer’s ID – These initials are of the person who types the letter Used to easily locate who typed the letter Enclosure or Attachment notations are added a DS below the Reference Initials This is a special section that is only added if something else is either physically attached to the letter or accompanying the letter in the same envelope

What is a Memo? Used to communicate information quickly throughout a business or organization Memo parts: TO: - to whom the memo is written FROM: - who the memo is from DATE: - current date of memo SUBJECT: - precise, short point of memo

Memo Spacing 2” top margin Each of the four headings are DS (double spaced) and keyed in all caps followed by a colon (:) After the colon, the Tab key is pressed to line up the text that follows Be sure to check under Document Examples in Unit 7

Report There are many different acceptable ways to format a report Formatting depends upon the type and reason for report Examples are: Academic report Technical report

Academic Report Formatting Use default margins (don’t change margins) Change line spacing to double (entire document DS) Four headings at the top left margin Student’s name Teacher’s name Class or Subject Date After the Date heading, key the title of the report using initial caps (capitalizing the first letter of important words) then press Enter to begin keying report Indent the first sentence in each paragraph by pressing the Tab key

Summary In this Unit, you have learned how to format: Personal Business Letters Business Letters Memos Academic Report

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