Technical Writing (AEEE299) LECTURER: Dr. Alexis Polycarpou HOURS/WEEK: 2

1. Technical Writing (AEEE299) LECTURER: Dr. Alexis Polycarpou HOURS/WEEK: 2 TEACHING AREA: Classroom EMAIL: eng.pa@fit.ac.cy

2. LECTURE Writing an Email

3. Use of an email The e-mail generally started as an informal means of communication. However, it soon became popular in the academic and working environment • Three different levels of formality: • Formal emails are usually sent to people the writer doesn’t know or to people outside the company. • Less formal emails are usually sent to people the writer knows and / or colleagues. If you are not sure how formal your email should be, copy the email style of the person who wrote to you, or use a semiformal style. • Informal emails, usually sent to friends and family. However informal emails are never used in an academic or a working environment

4. Parts of an email • Focus on each part of the email: • From • Subject • Salutation (opening and closing) • Body • Signature • Links/Attachments – Effective Use

5. The Email From Field The name is one of the first things an email recipient will look at and therefore should be recognizable. GOOD / Better: “Craig Stouffer” cstouffer@pinpointe.com “Steven Smith, Pinpointe” ssmith@pinpointe.com BAD: “info@company.com” <info@company.com> “Do Not Reply” <Prospect_list@company.com> Avoid nicknames or funny names like “madjoe”, “crazybill”, etc. Preferably, choose an email address that contains your surname or name or part of them.

6. What do cc: and bcc: mean? There is a certain use of the carbon copy (cc:) and blind carbon copy (bcc:) fields. It is nice to add addresses to the 'cc:' field if those people need to know about the subject but are not required to act on the contents. The 'bcc:' field is useful where discretion is required. People in this field are concealed from other recipients in the 'To', 'cc:' and 'bcc:' fields. They can themselves see others in the 'To' and 'cc:' fields but not the 'bcc:' fields. In this example, an email is sent directly to John by Bob. He copies Tom by including Tom's address in the cc: field. Harry and Sue are blind copied - they can see who the original recipients were but Tom and John won't see their names.

7. Subject Line • A reader usually scans over a list of numerous emails every day. The subject line often determines if the email will be read now or later ( or maybe never) • A good subject line needs to briefly describe the e-mail's content. The recipient needs to glance at your subject line and want to open your email. • Poor subject • To do list • Better subject • Action items for CEO visit • Poor subject • New process • Better subject • New hiring process – immediate implementation • Poor subject • Request for information • Better subject • Request for software development update

8. Salutation - Greet and Close Formally Establish and maintain a formal tone through the use of greetings and closings. Greetings and Closings allow you to establish a connection with your audience by clarifying the context immediately. Greetings and Closings should not be informal (e.g., “Hi,” “Hey,” “What’s up,” “Later,” and so on).

9. Formal emails Writing to someone when you know the name: Opening Dear Mr Lucas, Dear Dr Lucas, Dear Prof. Lucas, Dear Miss Smith, (use for an unmarried woman) Dear Mrs Smith, (use for a marriedwoman) Dear Ms Smith, (use for a married / unmarried woman) Closing Regards, Kind regards, Yours sincerely, (UK) Sincerely,(US) Writing to someone when you do not know the name: Opening: If company is known Dear Fronius, If department is known Dear Sales Department, If none of the above is known Dear Sir or Madam, Dear Sir / Madam, Closing Yours faithfully ,(UK) Sincerely, (US) The opening and closing salutation are followed by a comma (,).

10. Semi-formal emails Use semi-formal emails with people you do not know very well. Sometimes it is difficult to know if the email needs to be formal or semi-formal. It is a good idea to copy the email style of the person who writes to you. Opening Dear John Dear Olivia Closing Thanks Best regards Yours

11. Informal emails In many companies, informal emails are sent between colleagues. However, their use should be avoided or limited to friends and family. Opening Hi John Hello Olivia Hi (Use Hi or Hello without the person’s name.) Hello John (Start the email with the person’s first name.) J (In very informal situations, you can write the first letter of the person’s name. This is for someone called John.) You can also start an informal email with no opening at all. Closing Best wishes All the best Thanks John (You can close an email with your first name.) J (In very informal situations, you can write the first letter of your name. This a closing is for someone called John.)

12. Formal and informal vocabulary

13. Email body • Between the opening and closing salutation is the main body of the email. This usually consists of 3 paragraphs (maximum 6) • In the first paragraph you introduce yourself and briefly mention the purpose of this email. • In the second paragraph explain the subject/ reason of contact • (this can be broken in 3 paragraphs if we have diiferent subjects) • In the final paragraph thank the reader. You can assure him that you can fulfil any actions required, that you can meet the criteria, or thank him of any actions he will take.

14. Signature After the main body we close the email with the closing salutation (i.e. Kind regards,) followed by a signature. The signature is the senders full name, His position in the company and the company name ( if applicable) and his contact details. Example: Kind regards, Alexis Polycarpou Assistant Professor Department of Electrical Engineering Frederick University 7, Frederickou Str., Pallouriotisa, Nicosia 1036, Cyprus Telephone: +357 22431355 Fax: +357 22438234 Email: eng.pa@frederick.ac.cy Website: www.frederick.ac.cy/staff Closing salutation Full name Position held, Department, company name Company address Contact details

15. Format: • Opening Paragraph: clearly state what the email is all about. • Short paragraphs: Break it up into short paragraphs it makes it easier to scan, most people will scan an email rather than read it in its entirety. • Bullet points/ numbered lists: space out key points. For example: The actions required to complete our project are: 1. Build the circuit 2. Test the circuit 3. Obtain CE mark 4. Compile a final report • Choose a legible font and colour: black Arial or Times New Roman 11 or 12 point is recommended. Keep sentences short and paragraphs to about four lines maximum. Leave a blank line between paragraphs.

16. Do spelling and grammar matter in email? We think it does. Poor spelling and grammar show a lack of attention to detail and sends the wrong message about yourself and how you do business. Most email programs today have built-in spell checkers so there is no excuse! You wouldn't send a letter that was poorly punctuated and uses no capital letters - why not make sure your email messages look professional too? Contractions When writing formal emails do not use contractions, such as I’m, didn’t, you’ll, etc. Formal I am writing to ask for some information. Informal I’m writing to ask for some information.

17. How much should I write in an email? Email is meant for quick, simple communication. As a general guide that means roughly 4 or 5 paragraphs at most. Due to the limitations of formatting and layout, anything much longer than that is probably best sent as a separate attachment such as a Word file. Most people have a limited attention span with email - if they are receiving a lot of mail you want to get the main message explained in the shortest possible space.

18. Things to consider before writing an email 1. The email itself must have a purpose. It should either contain information or actions that have been performed or that need to be performed 2. Stop and think what you want to make happen as a result of sending this email. Is it for action or information? What do you want the recipient to do? It may have been obvious to you, but was it to them? 3. Would the other person know what your email was about just from reading the subject line? Summarise what you want in the subject line e.g. “Please return this survey by 10 May [action]” or “Sales figures for 2nd quarter [info]” 4. People like “please” and “thank you.” Even if it’s not important to you, remember a lot of people like emails to start with a salutation. Start with a greeting and match the style and tone of their reply. 5. Nobody reacts badly to correct spelling, but some people do react very negatively to mistakes. Use your spell-check and read the message again before you send. 6. Have you made any assumptions about the information the recipient has? Double-check they have all the information they need to understand your message.

19. Things to do • Use an informative subject line, which says what the email is about. • Write the most important information first. • Use numbers and bullet points to make the message clearer. • Use simple grammar. Avoid things like the passive. (As emails are a fast means of communication, they tend to be less wordy and complex than formal letters.) • Write short sentences. • Use paragraphs to keep the email clear and easy to understand

20. Things to avoid doing • Write ‘hello’ as your subject line. • Write about irrelevant issues. The reader will soon hit ‘delete’ if the email doesn’t get to the point. • Give personal information that you don’t want anyone else to know. (The email could end up in the wrong hands) • Use capital letters to write whole words as in emails, this is considered shouting. • Use different fonts in the email (the recipient’s computer may not be compatible)

21. Avoid using colored type, freaky styles and sizes, colored backgrounds and unnecessary logos and graphics. These distract readers from your message. • • Use Italics (the reason may be misunderstood, due to cultural differences). • • Use text-messaging language like coz, uni, BTW, IMHO, J/K, LOL, BAK, MTFBWY, etc. In business, they can be misinterpreted and detrimental to your message, as the recipient may not understand them. • • Use acronyms like BTW for the same reason. • • Use smileys ☺􀀯. They may be misunderstood and come across as unprofessional.

22. Using an email to apply for a job Always introduce yourself the same way you would in a cover letter. Dear Mr./Ms. So and So, I am writing in regard to your posting on….for XYZ position in financial services. • Treat your e-mail as if you were writing a professional cover or thank-you letter on paper, but be brief. • In the subject line, make it obvious why you are writing: "Application for XYZ position." • Make sure you change the contact name and content according to the person/company to whom you are sending the message. • If you are responding to an e-mail, include the original message in the reply, so the receiver can put your e-mail into the correct context. Also, respond within two business days. • Always spell words correctly! · Don't just use spell check. It won't catch words that are spelled correctly, but are misused within the context of the sentence.

23. • Never use all capital letters. Employers may think that you are screaming. It is also difficult to read. • Think about the message your e-mail address sends. Keep your address simple, and avoid unprofessional sounding names like "studmuffin" or "partygirl." • Read your message carefully before you click the send button. The tone of an e-mail can often be misinterpreted. • Have someone else proofread your message before you send it. It may be easier to find errors if you print and review your e-mail. • Scan your resume for viruses before you attach it to your e-mail. • Name your document "your name, resume." Employers receive hundreds of resumes via e-mail. If you follow-up by asking recruiters if they received your e-mail, they won't have to look through 300 attachments called "resume." • If you are attaching your resume, ask the receiver if they would prefer that you send it in a different format, ie: Word Perfect, rich text format, or as a PDF. • Do not assume that if an employer is informal that you should be. • Don't just rely on e-mail. E-mail can be lost. Follow-ups can often be done via the telephone or regular mail.

24. Sending an email to an academic (lecturer, advisor) Create a formal tone by: 1. Using proper titles. If your audience is a PhD holding professor, use the titles “Professor” or “Doctor.” If you are unsure of your audience’s title, research it by looking at websites or calling your audience’s department. 2. Choosing formal words without being stuffy. Asking to “meet with” or “visit” your teacher is more clear than either “convening” or “conferencing” (which may have additional meanings than you intend). 3. Keeping your request simple, and writing blocks of text, rather than one long paragraph. 4. Using Spell Check. When you examine your spelling and grammar before sending an email, you are likely to catch errors before your audience reads them.

25. 5. Requesting specific action respectfully. Be sure to say “thank you” when you realize your message requires your reader to take time from their schedule to respond. 6. Allowing time for a response. Teachers cannot always respond to email quickly. If you have an emergency, it is best simply to inform your teacher of your emergency. If you have an important question, send your teacher an email, but expect that your teacher will address it when time becomes available. If you have a question the night before a paper is due, it is reasonable to assume that your teacher may not see your email until after your class is over the next day. 7. Showing you have read your course material and attempted to make sense of it. Consultants at the Writing and Media Help Center can even help you develop specific questions about course material if you are unsure about how to approach your teacher with questions.

26. Productivity Tip Email Length - Keep It Short Avoid rambling as you type one idea after another. Instead, be direct and to the point.Readers scroll and scan. Longer emails mean more to scan and read and recipients lose interest. Write in the Style of Educated Professionals Avoid thinking that good writing rules don’t apply to emails. Instead, follow rules for grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, word usage, spelling and capitalization. Remember: • Few readers notice good grammar. When was the last time you thought, “Gosh, I like the way she used that semicolon! Super choice of punctuation!” • All readers notice bad grammar. It knocks readers off message and makes the writer look uneducated and careless.

27. Do a Final Revision Avoid firing off your email as soon as you’re finished typing. Take a minute to add some finishing touches. Proofread each sentence carefully, even after doing spelling and grammar checks. As we all know from experience, a spelling check will miss the error of using to when we mean too. Forward with Care Avoid automatically relaying email from others. Respect the privacy of the messages you receive. • Consider confidentiality before you forward, and use the “Reply to All" function with care. • Ask permission before forwarding someone’s private email on to others. • Consider attaching only the last email in a chain of emails and deleting prior emails. Keep it Professional Finally, avoid taking people to task via email. Conflict is often better addressed face-toface or over the phone. Be aware that every email you send becomes a written record of your performance. It also reflects on those you represent—your work group, your department and your company.

28. Links and attachments • Links: • Position them on separate lines so that they stand out and are clear. Don’t forget that text that is underlined in blue is the international format for a link. • Attachments: • Some people have to download over a low bandwidth network. Sending big attachments will take them a long time and cause frustration . Perhaps they have a hand-held computer – and cannot access the attachment.

29. Business email exercise

32. QUESTIONS??