Technical Letters 1

The Importance of Letters

• Represent your company’s public image and
your competence

• More personal than a report, yet more formal

than memos or e-mail

• More permanent than e-mail

• Constitute an official legal record of an

agreement
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 Writing Effective Letters
• Analyze Your Audience:
– Who is my audience?
– Will my audience be favorably or unfavorably disposed to what I am
going to say?
– What kinds of information will my audience expect me to supply?
– How will my audience use the information I am sending?
– What impression do I want my letter to make on readers?

• Have a clear sense of your purpose and theirs

• Select the best communication strategy

• Draft, revise, and edit your letter

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 Letter Components
• Essential Components
– Writer’s Address
– Date
– Inside Address
– Salutation
– Letter Body
– Complimentary Close
– Signed Name
– Typed Name
• Optional Components
– Subject Line
– New Page Notations
– Writer’s and Typist’s Initials
– Enclosure Notation
– Copy Notation

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Essential Components of
a Letter

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• Personal Address
– Street address
– City
– State
– Zip Code
• Company Address
– Company’s name
– Street address
– City
– State
– Zip Code

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• Full Calendar Date
– May 31,2009
– 31May 2009
• 2-4 spaces

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• Address of the reader
– Reader’s Name
– Reader’s Title
– Company Name
– Company Street Address
– Company City
– Company State
– Company Zip Code
• 2-4 spaces

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• IF you know the reader’s
name, salutation will be
– First / Last Name
– Followed by Colon
– For example
• Dear Mr. Smith:
• Dear Ms. Jones:
• Dear Miss / Mrs. Jones:
• Dear Chris Evans:
• OTHERWISE
– Use title
• Dear Vice President:
– Use department’s name
• Accounting Department:
• 2 spaces 9
• Includes
– Introductory Paragraph
– Discussion Paragraph
– Concluding Paragraph

• 2 spaces below salutation

• 2 spaces b/w paragraphs

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• Place a comma after
complimentary close

• Preferred close is Sincerely,

• 2 spaces below body

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• Sign your name legibly

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• Type your name
• Mention your title (Optional)

• 4 spaces below complimentary

close

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• Must have a topic & focus

• Can be used instead of

salutation

• All CAPS

• 2 spaces below inside address

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Optional Components of
a Letter

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• If writer and typist are two
different persons
– Writer’s initials- ALL CAPS
– Typist’s initials-LOWERCASE

• Separate both initials with a

colon

• 2 spaces below typed signature

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• Enclose information as
– Enc.; OR
– Enclosure; OR
– Enclosures(2); OR
– Enclosure: August Report

• 2 spaces below writer’s and

typist’s initials

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• For a copy of letter, write
– cc (complimentary copy)
– pc (photocopy)

• For copies sent to other

readers, write
– pc: Reader Ma,e

• 2 spaces below enclosure

notation

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 Letter Formats
• Full-block format
– All text typed on left margin
– Spaces between paragraphs
• Simplified format
– Same as full block format except
• No Salutations
• Subject Line introduced
• No Complimentary Close

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Full Block Format

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Simplified Format

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 Classifications of business letters
• Positive
– Customer relations letters responding favorably to a writer’s
request or complaint
– Sales letters promoting a product
• Neutral
– Letters requesting information about a product or service,
placing an order, or responding to some action or question
• Negative
– Customer relations letters refusing a request, saying no to an
adjustment, etc.

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 Types of Letters
• Letters of Inquiry
• Sales Letters
• Good-News Letters
• Bad-News Letters
• Complaint Letters
• Adjustment Letters
• Cover Letters

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Letters of Inquiry

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 Inquiry Letter
• You require information about any matter of
interest to you
• It must
– Contain an effective technical writing style
– Involve audience through pronoun usage
– Avoid grammatical errors
– Must contain the essential letter components

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 Components of Inquiry Letter Body
• Introduction
– Tell your reader why are you writing
– Inform reader about subject matter
• What are you writing about? OR
• What info do you want?
•

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 Components of Inquiry Letter Body
• Discussion
– Specify your needs
– Ask precise questions
– List specific topic of inquiry
– Quantify your questions

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Components of Inquiry Letter Body
• Conclusion
– Must be precise
– Mention when do you want a response
– Provide a specific date for response
– Explain why do you want response by the given date

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 Tugas B.Inggris
Disusun Oleh :
Dika Damayanti
Lilis Ganda Saputri
Pita Lusi
Wina Audina

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