Lecture 8

Email and Concision

E-Mail provides a middle ground

KEY ADVANTAGESKEY ADVANTAGES• A written record _______________________.• “Written conversation” - ________________.• Has made some companies ______________.

KEY DISADVANTAGESKEY DISADVANTAGES• Your message is _____________________.• Your reader cannot see or hear you:

_____________________________.• We all struggle with __________________________.

Guidelines for E-mail: Format

• Provide __________________________.• Use greetings and closings as in letters• Keep messages ______________ less than___ screens,

and break into brief paragraphs• Proofread and edit to send a professional message;

you don’t know where it may end up• If you include attachments, _______________.

To:

• To = __________________.

• Cc = _________________.

• 'Bcc' = blind copies; not visible to either to/cc addressees

Avoid

• _______________________________________ in the “To” line if the message is only FYI for most of them.

• People in “To” line should ________________________________________________.

Abbrev, IMHO

• Restrict abbreviations to those _________________________:

Signatures• Since most email addresses can be

cryptic, in business emails, _____________________________.

• Signature files usually contain ___________________________

• Job title, organization, ____________, _______________, __________________.

Signatures and Quotes

• Avoid _______________________________ in your signature

• Not matter how wise or witty they seem to you, they’ll probably seem moronic to most people.

Piscator non solum piscatur Where there is smoke, there may be smoked salmon.

Your own address

• Whenever business is involved, use a _________________________________ like yourname@hotmail.com.

Re:

• Should _______________________________.Should _______________________________.• Be brief--don’t use a complete sentenceBe brief--don’t use a complete sentence• Call ______________________________.Call ______________________________.

Re:

• Subject lines avoid _____________________________.

• Avoid using punctuation (especially !) in subject lines, since this tends to trigger spam filters.

Guidelines for E-mail: Tone

• Watch your tone: e-mails can sound ____________________________________.

• Your first e-mail should be ________________: provide context and organize details for discussion

• If an interchange develops, __________________• Avoid putting __________________ in e-mail.• Don’t use “smileys” (emoticons) in business:

Format

• Keep paragraphs ___________________• If you are sending a report to multiple

recipients, put more detail into the email to avoid ______________________________.

• The fewer the people there are on the recipient list, __________________________.

• Try to keep everything on one screen, about twenty-five lines of text.

Quoting

• Avoid including a __________________________________ with a one- or two word reply in your email.

• Instead, use ____________________. • >and do you agree with the proposal to hire Ms. Ross to >handle our legal services? Yes. Please make the necessary arrangements.

It’s Fast, But…

• Don’t assume email gets read immediately.

• Don’t notify colleagues via email ___________________________________________________________.

• If you’re pressured, flag messages as priority/ask for a confirmation when mail is read.

Priority

• Don’t send messages high priority unless __________________________________________________.

ConcisionConcision

Concision

• Concision involves compressing what you mean into the ______________________.

• Don’t state what your readers can easily infer.

• Be aware of ___________________in English.

Concision Principle 1

1. Avoid ______________________.1. Avoid ______________________.each and everyeach and every

full and completefull and completehopes and desireshopes and desires

hope and trusthope and trust

first and foremostfirst and foremost

Concision Principle 2

2. Avoid ____________________________.2. Avoid ____________________________.completely finishcompletely finishpast memoriespast memories

future plansfuture plansfuture goalsfuture goals

basic fundamentalsbasic fundamentalspersonal beliefspersonal beliefs

Redundant Categories

• Specific words imply general categories, so you need to state only ____________________, not the category to which it belongs.

educational processeducational processbright in colorbright in color

heavy in weightheavy in weightshiny in appearanceshiny in appearance

Concision Principle 3

• 3. Don’t Use __________________3. Don’t Use __________________• To understand negatives, we

must translate them into affirmatives.

• Negatives only imply what to do by _______________________.

Throat-clearing

• We use some modifiers as verbal tics, which mean __________________.

to all intents and purposesto all intents and purposesgenerallygenerally

at this point in timeat this point in timereallyreallyveryvery

in kindin kind In order to ______In order to ______

Next Week

CoherenceCoherenceMid-term Mid-term - bring #2 pencil

The quiz is also open-note but not open-book