Composing Effective E-mail Correspondence: Guidelines, Organization, and Best Practices

1. E-mail Objective 4.01: Compose effective e-mail correspondence

2. Essential Questions • What is e-mail and what is it used for? • What guidelines should be followed when composing e-mails?

3. What is E-mail? • E-mail – also known as electronic mail, is a method of exchanging short digital messages • E-mail has replaced common forms of communication, including: • Memorandum, sending letters, greeting cards, etc via the US Postal Service • talking on the phone

4. E-mail Must-Haves You must have the following in order to use e-mail: • an e-mail address • Internet Service Provider (ISP) – a company that provides connections to the Internet Examples of ISPs: • Time Warner Dish • AT&T Clear

5. Parts of an E-mail Address Username Domain Name Extension At Symbol jbalgooyen@students.wcpss.net • E-mail addresses must be unique (i.e. you can’t have the same e-mail address as someone else) • E-mail addresses cannot include spaces, use an underline/underscore (_) or period (.) to separate the parts of a username • E-mail addresses cannot contain special characters or symbols, only letters and numbers

6. E-mail Organization • Inbox – displays e-mail messages that have been received, includes the sender’s name, date, and time that the e-mail was received • Draft – an e-mail that is saved to be sent later, saved in the Drafts folder of an e-mail program • Outbox – folder that stores mail that is ready to be sent • Sent – folder that displays e-mail messages that have been sent

7. An E-mail Window Carbon copy notation – indicates that someone else will receive a copy of the message Blind copy notation – feature used when the sender does not want the person receiving the message to know that the message was also sent to another person • Recipient of the message • Use a comma and a space to separate multiple addresses Sender of the message The subject of the e-mail Body – the message of the e-mail; single space within paragraphs, double space between paragraphs NOTE: The sender’s e-mail address and date are not keyed because the software inserts them automatically when the message is sent. The recipient will see this information when they receive the message.

8. E-mail Extras • Attachment – files that are attached to an e-mail message • documents • pictures • Address book – the e-mail feature that allows you to save e-mail address and other contact information (friends, family, others that you e-mail frequently)

9. Creating a New Message • Enter the address for the person/people to whom you are sending the message • Include a brief subject line that tells the recipient what your message is about • Key your message in the body. • use black standard font (ex: Arial, Times New Roman); only use funky colors when sending e-mails to friends • single space within paragraphs, double space between • NEVER key your paragraphs in ALL CAPS; in the digital world, this is viewed as shouting at the reader and is considered rude

10. E-mail Guidelines • Verify that you have entered the correct recipient e-mail addresses • ALWAYS enter a subject in the Subject line • ALWAYS proofread the entire e-mail • correct spelling and grammatical errors • ensure that your message is courteous • Keep your e-mail short but include all necessary information • most people do not have the time to read lengthy e-mails • receiving multiple e-mails on the same topic will clog recipient’s Inbox • NEVER send private or personal information in an e-mail • NEVER open an attachment from someone that you don’t know • Only share your e-mail address with people you know