Lecture on professional email writing for students

1. The Professional Email
Lecture in Professional English
26 June 2013
Albukhary International University
Jaime Alfredo Cabrera

2. Four Parts of an Email
1. Email address
2. Subject box
3. Body of the email
4. Attachments

3. 1. The email address
Unprofessional email addresses
• Gives a wrong impression of who you are now.
Example: cutepartygirl@yahoo.com
• Not related to the email content. Example: an
application letter from badboy@aol.com
• Does not give key information to recognize
you. Example: a student email from
manvigo@gmail.com

4. 1. The email address
Professional email addresses
• Gives a correct impression of who you are
now. Example: maria_jose@yahoo.com
• Related to the email content. Ex: Application
letter from web_designer@aol.com
• Gives key information about you. Example: a
student email from Nur_Hassim_Kenya
@gmail.com

5. 1. The email address
A good email address
• Identifies you with key information
• Makes you unique from all other email
addresses in a receiver’s in-box
• Easy for you to be remembered by others
• Can be used for any professional purpose
• Does not include outdated ideas about you:
1982, sweet-sixteen, rock_music_fan

6. 2. The subject box
The subject is VERY SHORT, with two parts:
1. What’s the main topic
2. What the receiver should do
Examples:
Saturday Night Party (Please come)
Uniform Proposal (For your approval)
Ramadan Prayers (For your information only)
Flood Victims (Urgent action requested)

7. Note: About using capital letters
• Using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS LIKE THIS IS RUDE
BECAUSE IT IS LIKE SHOUTING. Do not do this in
any part of the email.
• Acronyms such as NATO, or USA use capital
letters.
• The first letter of a sentence is always a capital
letter.
• The first letter of proper nouns is always a capital
letter: Mary, India, Halley’s Comet.
• The pronoun I is always a capital letter.

8. 3. The body of the email
The formal email includes five parts;
each part is single-spaced. Between the
parts, use double-space.
1. Heading: Formal name, title (Dr. Mr.
Prof.), position (Chief of Police),
Company name, Company Address
2. Salutation: Dear Mr. , Ms., Mrs. Sir,
Madame; To Whom It May Concern
3. Body: Next slide
4. Closing: Yours truly, with a comma,
capital first letter
5. Signature: your complete name, title,
position, company, contact
information if possible
Single-
spaced
Double-spaced
Single-
spaced
Single-
spaced
Single-
spaced
Double-spaced
Double-spaced
Double-spaced

9. Heading
Formal address + Formal name
Position, Company Name
Company Address
Dr. Hashima Howard-Jones
Chief Librarian, Howard Jones News Corp.
1234 Smith Boulevard, San Francisco
California, USA 20041

10. Salutation
For a formal effect, use comma
• Dear Dr. Jones,
• Dear Sir,
• Dear Madame,
For a very formal, serious effect, use colon
• To Whom It May Concern:
• Sir:
• Madame:
• Gentlemen of the Jury:
• To the Board of Directors:

11. Professional Email: 5 Parts of the Body
1. Begin with a positive statement (say thank
you for something?)
2. State the purpose of the communication
3. State what you want the receiver to do (or
not do): be precise and complete – when,
where, how
4. State why this is necessary
5. End with a positive statement (say thank you
for something?)

12. Example
1. Positive: Thank you for your email.
2. Purpose: This is to inform you that the Board
will meet tonight. Please confirm your
attendance before 4:30 p.m. today.
3. What the receiver should do: You are to present
the riot report at about 8:30 p.m. for five
minutes maximum.
4. Why necessary: The board needs to summarize
your report to the founder tomorrow morning.
5. Positive: Thank you for your kind cooperation.

13. Example
Thank you for your email.
This is to inform you that the Board
will meet tonight. Please confirm your
attendance before 4:30 p.m. today.
You are to present the riot report at
about 8:30 p.m. for five minutes
maximum.
The board needs to summarize your
report to the founder tomorrow
morning.
Thank you for your kind cooperation.
Single-
spaced
Double-spaced
Single-
spaced
Double-spaced
Single-
spaced
Double-spaced
Double-spaced
Double-spaced
Single-spaced
Single-spaced

14. The email should be
• As short as possible (very short)
• As clear as possible (very clear)
• Straight to the point (direct)
• No beating around the bush (direct)
• No flowery language (simple English)
• Use polite language (no offensive language)
• Use neutral language (nothing that might be
offensive to other cultures)

15. Closing
• Thank you for your kind cooperation.
• Thank you for your attention.
• Thank you once again.
• Your cooperation is appreciated.
• Your input is appreciated.

16. Signature
Yours truly,
Jonas Auddin (Ms.) if name doesn’t show gender
Director of Operations
Sunac Shipping Lines, LTD. Singapore
Jon Smith (Mr.) if name doesn’t show gender
Scholar (Senior Student, Senior Faculty, Senior Lecturer)
School of Business Management
Ankara University, Turkey
Avery Howard (Ph. D.) instead of Dr.
Avery Howard (M. D.) instead of Dr.

17. 3. The body of the email
A memo has a subject line (Re:) after the heading
1. Heading
2. Subject line
3. Salutation
4. Body
5. Closing
6. Signature

18. 4. The attachments
Attachments should be very short but complete.
Include: Content Sender Date Version
Example:
Refl-Diary Faris Hashim Feb-01-13 v2
Vocab-Wkbk Aris Tuttle 09-Mar-13 v17
Proj-Proposal Mary John 09-Mar-13 v01
Refl-Diary Faris Hashim Feb-01-13 v2
Vocab-Wkbk Aris Tuttle 09-Mar-13 v17
Proj-Proposal Mary John 09-Mar-13 v01