On the job training continues to be a big issue for most companies.

Inter office
relationships depend on communication to provide information where needed.
Without enough communication people are left hanging on their personal
assumptions. Too much communication can leave people rolling in their own excess
verbage.

Contemporary communications standards indicate the importance of telling people

three times what you want them to know. First time you tell them what you are
going to tell them. Second you tell them. Third you confirm what you told them.

In an inner office communication this could easily look something like this:

1. Memo: Please come to an inner office meeting at 8 AM Thursday for a discussion

on improving Inner Office Communications. Please, have any specific questions or
ideas typed in program format for discussion.

2. Meeting outline:

a. Welcome and introduction to special speaker

b. Speaker discourse on communications in office

c. Convo and Questions on any issues

d. Brainstorm solutions

e. Solution discussions

3. Memo: Confirm solutions to communications issues. Thank everyone for

attending meeting.

Inner office communications determines whether or not the work gets done, how
well it gets done, and who does it. If communication is inadequate or non-existent,
jobs suffer, clients become unhappy, and businesses fail.

Offices with great communications skills require fewer people to accomplish the
same tasks, are far more efficient, and provide exemplary customer service
because there is no lag in communicating needs. This simple difference results in
better profit margins, higher quality product, and speedier service. Ultimately,
communication determines the success or failure of any business.

This chapter focus on business correspondence-general format and style for

business letters as well as specific types of business letters. Specifically:

• Overview of business correspondence: format and style

• Inquiry letters
 • Complaint and adjustment letters

• Application letters

• Resumes

You can access examples of these types of business correspondence from the
individual sections in which they are discussed.

You can see a commercial offering of a wide variety of sample business letters at:

• http://www.LetterRep.com. A huge array of types of businessr-letter

examples, including one for Mother's Day.

• Business Letter Writing. A useful site maintained by Patrick Burne, a retired

business comm

Online Technical Writing: Inquiry Letters

Types and Contexts This section focuses on the inquiry letter. The inquiry letter is
useful when you need information, advice, names, or
Contents and directions. Be careful, however, not to ask for too much
Organization information or for information that you could easily obtain in
some other way, for example, by a quick trip to the library.

Main Index See the following example inquiry letters:

Print Version Example 1: Questions

Frame Nonfram
about blood glucose Plain
Related Courses s es
monitoring systems

Example 2: Questions
Frame Nonfram
about hardware support for Plain
s es
Red Hat Linux

For related matters, see the section on general business-letter

format and style.

Inquiry Letters: Types and Contexts

There are two types of inquiry

letters: solicited and unsolicited.

You write a solicited letter of inquiry when a business or

agency advertises its products or services. For example, if a
software manufacturer advertises some new package it has
developed and you can't inspect it locally, write a solicited
letter to that manufacturer asking specific questions. If you
cannot find any information on a technical subject, an inquiry
letter to a company involved in that subject may put you on
the right track. In fact, that company may supply much more
help than you had expected (provided of course that you write
a good inquiry letter). If you need to find the names and
addresses of businesses related to your report project, see the
section onfinding information in libraries.

Your letter of inquiry is unsolicited if the recipient has done

nothing to prompt your inquiry. For example, if you read an
article by an expert, you may have further questions or want
more information. You seek help from these people in a
slightly different form of inquiry letter. As the steps and
guidelines for both types of inquiry letters show, you must
construct the unsolicited type more carefully, because
recipients of unsolicited letters of inquiry are not ordinarily
prepared to handle such inquiries.

Inquiry Letters: Contents and Organization

1. Early in the letter, identify the purpose — to obtain help

or information (if it's a solicited letter, information about
an advertised product, service, or program).

2. In an unsolicited letter, identify who you are, what you

are working on, and why you need the requested
information, and how you found out about the
individual. In an unsolicited letter, also identify the
source that prompted your inquiry, for example, a
magazine advertisement.

3. In the letter, list questions or information needed in a

clear, specific, and easy-to-read format. If you have
quite a number of questions, consider making a
questionnaire and including a stamped, self-addressed
envelope.

4. In an unsolicited letter, try to find some way to

compensate the recipient for the trouble, for example,
by offering to pay copying and mailing costs, to accept
a collect call, to acknowledge the recipient in your
report, or to send him or her a copy of your report. In a
solicited letter, suggest that the recipient send
 brochures or catalogs.

5. In closing an unsolicited letter, express gratitude for

any help that the recipient can provide you,
acknowledge the inconvenience of your request, but do
not thank the recipient "in advance." In an unsolicited
letter, tactfully suggest to the recipient will benefit by
helping you (for example, through future purchases
from the recipient's company).

Interested in courses Return to the main

related to this page or menu of this online
a printed version? See textbook for technical
the resources page. writing.

Information and programs provided by [email protected].

Online Technical Writing:

Business Correspondence: Overview

This section discusses general format of business letters, shows you the four common business-letter format
discusses some basic guidelines for writing style in business letters.

ss For related matters:

• See the section on resumes.

• See the section on application letters.

ary

• See the section on inquiry letters.

ock

s • See the section on complaint and adjustment letters.

ges
Here are some relevant websites on business communication:
ter

• Business Letter Writing. A useful site maintained by Patrick Burne, a retired business communication consulta
etter

lock Common Components

tter The following is concerned with the mechanical and physical details of business letters. (All of the component
ness discussed in the following are illustrated in Figure 1-1.)
nce

e right Heading. The heading contains the writer's address and the date of the letter. The writer's name is not inclu
and only a date is needed in headings on letterhead stationery.
evious
nce Inside address. The inside address shows the name and address of the recipient of the letter. This informat
aphs helps prevent confusion. Also, if the recipient has moved, the inside address helps to determine what to do w
letter. In the inside address, include the appropriate title of respect of the recipient; and copy the name of th
ntalize" company exactly as that company writes it. When you do have the names of individuals, remember to addre
them appropriately: Mrs., Ms., Mr., Dr., and so on. If you are not sure what is correct for an individual, try to
cs at out how that individual signs letters or consult the forms-of-address section in a dictionary.

Salutation. The salutation directly addresses the recipient of the letter and is followed by a colon (except wh
er
friendly, familiar, sociable tone is intended, in which case a comma is used). Notice that in the simplified
letter format, the salutation line is eliminated altogether. If you don't know whether the recipient is a man or
ant
woman, the traditional practice has been to write "Dear Sir" or "Dear Sirs" — but that's sexist! To avoid this
problem, salutations such as "Dear Sir or Madame," "Dear Ladies and Gentlemen," "Dear Friends," or "Dear P
news in have been tried — but without much general acceptance. Deleting the salutation line altogether or inserting "
s Whom It May Concern" in its place, is not ordinarily a good solution either — it's impersonal.
ipients'
The best solution is to make a quick, anonymous phone call to the organization and ask for a name; Or, addr
the salutation to a department name, committee name, or a position name: "Dear Personnel Department," "
Recruitment Committee," "Dear Chairperson," "Dear Director of Financial Aid," for example.

Figure 1-1. Standard components of a business letter. In this example, the block letter format is used.

Subject or reference line. As shown in the order letter, the subject line replaces the salutation or is include
it. The subject line announces the main business of the letter.

ses
Body of the letter. The actual message of course is contained in the body of the letter, the paragraphs betw
the salutation and the complimentary close. Strategies for writing the body of the letter are discussed in the
onbusiness-correspondence style.

Complimentary close. The "Sincerely yours" element of the business letter is called the complimentary clos
Other common ones are "Sincerely yours," "Cordially," "Respectfully," or "Respectfully yours." You can design
own, but be careful not to create florid or wordy ones. Notice that only the first letter is capitalized, and it is
 followed by a comma.

Signature block. Usually, you type your name four lines below the complimentary close, and sign your nam
between. If you are a woman and want to make your marital status clear, use Miss, Ms., or Mrs. in parenthe
before the typed version of your first name. Whenever possible, include your title or the name of the position
hold just below your name. For example, "Technical writing student," "Sophomore data processing major," o
"Tarrant County Community College Student" are perfectly acceptable.

End notations. Just below the signature block are often several abbreviations or phrases that have importan
functions.

• Initials. The initials in all capital letters in Figure 1-1 are those of the writer of the letter, and the ones in low
letters just after the colon are those of the typist.

• Enclosures. To make sure that the recipient knows that items accompany the letter in the same envelope, us
indications as "Enclosure," "Encl.," "Enclosures (2)." For example, if you send a resume and writing sample w
your application letter, you'd do this: "Encl.: Resume and Writing Sample." If the enclosure is lost, the recipi
know.

• Copies. If you send copies of a letter to others, indicate this fact among the end notations also. If, for examp
were upset by a local merchant's handling of your repair problems and were sending a copy of your letter to
Better Business Bureau, you'd write this: "cc: Better Business Bureau." If you plan to send a copy to your law
write something like this: "cc: Mr. Raymond Mason, Attorney."

Following pages. If your letter is longer than one page, the heading at the top of subsequent pages can be
handled in one of the following ways:

Ex
of following-page header format.

If you use letterhead stationery, remember not to use it for subsequent pages. However, you must use blank
of the same quality, weight, and texture as the letterhead paper (usually, letterhead stationery comes with
 matching blank paper).

Business Letter Formats

If you are writing a business letter, select one of the common formats as shown in the example letters listed
These include the block letter, the semi-block letter, the alternative block letter, and the simplified letter.

• See the block letter.

• See the semi-block letter.

• See the alternative block letter.

• For the simplified letter.

Which of these formats to use depends on the ones commonly used in your organization or the situation in w
you are writing. Use the simplified letter if you lack the name of an individual or department to write to.

Style in Business Correspondence

Writing business letters and memos differs in certain important ways from writing reports. Keep the following
advice in mind when you write and especially when you revise your business letters or memos.

State the main business, purpose, or subject matter right away. Let the reader know from the very fir
sentence what your letter is about. Remember that when business people open a letter, their first concern is
know what the letter is about, what its purpose is, and why they must spend their time reading it. Therefore,
round-about beginnings. If you are writing to apply for a job, begin with something like this: "I am writing to
for the position you currently have open...." If you have bad news for someone, you need not spill all of it in
first sentence. Here is an example of how to avoid negative phrasing: "I am writing in response to your lette
July 24, 1997 in which you discuss problems you have had with an electronic spreadsheet purchased from ou
company." Figure 1-2 shows an additional example.

Figure 1-2. State the main purpose or business of the letter right away. The problem version just starts flailin
away from the very outset. The revised version at least establishes the purpose of the letter (and then starts
flailing).

If you are responding to a letter, identify that letter by its subject and date in the first paragraph
sentence. Busy recipients who write many letters themselves may not remember their letters to you. To avo
 problems, identify the date and subject of the letter to which you respond:

Dear Mr. Stout:

I am writing in reponse to your September 1, 19XX letter in which

you
describe problems that you've had with one of our chainsaws. I
regret
that you've suffered this inconvenience and expense and....

Dear Ms. Cohen:

I have just received your August 4, 19XX letter in which you list
names and other sources from which I can get additional
information
on the manufacture and use of plastic bottles in the soft-drink
industry....

Keep the paragraphs of most business letters short. The paragraphs of business letters tend to be shor
some only a sentence long. Business letters are not read the same way as articles, reports, or books. Usually
are read rapidly. Big, thick, dense paragraphs over ten lines, which require much concentration, may not be
carefully — or read at all.

To enable the recipient to read your letters more rapidly and to comprehend and remember the important fa
ideas, create relatively short paragraphs of between three and eight lines long. In business letters, paragraph
are made up of only a single sentence are common and perfectly acceptable. Throughout this section, you'll
examples of the shorter paragraphs commonly used by business letters.

"Compartmentalize" the contents of your letter. When you "compartmentalize" the contents of a busine
letter, you place each different segment of the discussion — each different topic of the letter — in its own
paragraph. If you were writing a complaint letter concerning problems with the system unit of your personal
computer, you might have these paragraphs:

• A description of the problems you've had with it

• The ineffective repair jobs you've had

• The compensation you think you deserve and why

Study each paragraph of your letters for its purpose, content, or function. When you locate a paragraph that
more than one thing, consider splitting it into two paragraphs. If you discover two short separate paragraphs
do the same thing, consider joining them into one.

Provide topic indicators at the beginning of paragraphs. Analyze some of the letters you see in this sec
terms of the contents or purpose of their individual paragraphs. In the first sentence of any body paragraph
business letter, try to locate a word or phrase that indicates the topic of that paragraph. If a paragraph discu
your problems with a personal computer, work the word "problems" or the phrase "problems with my person
computer" into the first sentence. Doing this gives recipients a clear sense of the content and purpose of eac
paragraph. Here is an excerpt before and after topic indicators have been incorporated:

Problem: I have worked as an electrician in the Decatur, Illinois,

area for about six years. Since 1980 I have been licensed by
the city of Decatur as an electrical contractor qualified to
undertake commercial and industrial work as well as
residential work.

Revision: As for my work experience, I have worked as an electrician

in the Decatur, Illinois, area for about six years. Since
1980 I have been licensed by the city of Decatur as an
electrical contractor qualified to undertake commercial and
industrial work as well as residential work.(Italics not in
the
original.)

List or itemize whenever possible in a business letter. Listing spreads out the text of the letter, making
easier to pick up the important points rapidly. Lists can be handled in several ways, as explained in the sectio
lists. For examples of lists in business correspondence, see Figure 1-1, the inquiry letter, and order letter.

Place important information strategically in business letters. Information in the first and last lines of
paragraphs tends to be read and remembered better. Information buried in the middle of long paragraphs is
overlooked or forgotten. Therefore, place important information in high-visibility points. For example, in appl
letters which must convince potential employers that you are right for a job, locate information on appealing
qualities at the beginning or end of paragraphs for greater emphasis. Place less positive or detrimental inform
in less highly visible points in your business letters. If you have some difficult things to say, a good (and hon
strategy is to de-emphasize by placing them in areas of less emphasis. If a job requires three years of exper
and you only have one, bury this fact in the middle or the lower half of a body paragraph of the application le
The resulting letter will be honest and complete; it just won't emphasize weak points unnecessarily. Here are
examples of these ideas:

Problem: In July I will graduate from the University of Kansas with a

Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics. Over the
past four years in which I have pursued this degree, I have
worked as a lab assistant for Dr. Alison Laszlo and have
 been active in two related organizations, the Student
Dietetic Association and the American Home Economics
Association. In my nutritional biochemistry and food science
labs, I have written many technical reports and scientific
papers. I have also been serving as a diet aide at St.
David's Hospital in Lawrence the past year and a half. (The
job calls for a technical writer; let's emphasize that
first,
then mention the rest!)

Revision: In my education at the University of Kansas, I have had

substantial experience writing technical reports and
scientific papers. Most of these reports and papers have
been in the field of nutrition and dietetics in which I will
be receiving my Bachelor of Science degree this July. During
my four years at the University I have also handled plenty
of paperwork as a lab assistant for Dr. Alison Laszlo, as a
member of two related organizations, the Student Dietetic
Association and the American Home Economics Association, and
as a diet aide as St. David's Hospital in Lawrence in the
past year and a half.

Problem: To date, I have done no independent building inspection on

my own. I have been working the past two years under the
supervision of Mr. Robert Packwood who has often given me
primary responsibility for walk-throughs and property
inspections. It was Mr. Packwood who encouraged me to apply
for this position. I have also done some refurbishing of
older houses on a contract basis and have some experience in
industrial construction as a welder and as a clerk in a
nuclear construction site. (Let's not lie about our lack of
experience, but let's not put it on a billboard either!)

Revision: As for my work experience, I have done numerous building

walk-throughs and property inspections under the supervision
of Mr. Robert Packwood over the past two years. Mr.
Packwood, who encouraged me to apply for this position, has
often given me primary responsibility for many inspection
jobs. I have also done some refurbishing of older houses on
a contract basis and have some experience in industrial
construction as a welder and as a clerk in a nuclear
construction site.

Find positive ways to express bad news in your business letters. Often, business letters must convey
news: a broken computer keyboard cannot be replaced, or an individual cannot be hired. Such bad news can
conveyed in a tactful way. Doing so reduces the chances that business relations with the recipient of the bad
will end. To convey bad news positively, avoid such words as "cannot," "forbid," "fail," "impossible," "refuse,"
"prohibit," "restrict," and "deny" as much as possible. The first versions of the example sentences below are
phrased in a rather cold and unfriendly negative manner; the second versions are much more positive, cordia
tactful:
 Problem: Because of the amount of information you request in your
letter, simply cannot help you without seriously disrupting
my work schedule.

Revision: In your letter you ask for a good amount of information

which I would like to help you locate. Because of my work
commitments, however, I am going to be able to answer only a
few of the questions....

Problem: If you do not complete and return this advertisement

contract by July 1, 19XX, you will not receive your
advertising space in this year's Capitol Lines. If we have
not heard from you by this deadline, we will sell you your
advertisement space to some other client.

Revision: Please complete the enclosed contract and return it to us by

July 1, 19XX. After this deadline, we will begin selling any
unrenewed advertisement space in this year's Capitol Lines,
so I hope we hear from you before then.

Problem: While I am willing to discuss changes in specific aspects of

this article or ideas on additional areas to cover, I am not
prepared to change the basic theme of the article: the
usability of the Victor microcomputer system.

Revision: I am certainly open to suggestions and comments about

specific aspects of this article, or any of your thoughts on
additional areas that you think I should cover. I do want,
however, to retain the basic theme of the article: the
usability of the Victor microcomputer system.

Focus on the recipient's needs, purposes, or interests instead of your own. Avoid a self-centered foc
on your own concerns rather than those of the recipient. Even if you must talk about yourself in a business le
great deal, do so in a way that relates your concerns to those of the recipient. This recipient-oriented style is
called the "you-attitude," which does not mean using more you's but making the recipient the main focus of
letter.

Problem: I am writing you about a change in our pricing policy that

will save our company time and money. In an operation like
ours, it costs us a great amount of labor time (and thus
expense) to scrape and rinse our used tableware when it
comes back from large parties. Also, we have incurred great
expense on replacement of linens that have been ruined by
stains that could have been soaked promptly after the party
and saved.

Revision: I am writing to inform you of a new policy that we are

beginning, effective September 1, 19XX, that will enable us
to serve your large party needs more often and without
 delay. In an operation like ours in which we supply for
parties of up to 500, turn-around time is critical;
unscraped and unrinsed tableware causes us delays in
clean-up time and, more importantly, less frequent and less
prompt service to you the customer. Also, linens ruined by
stains that could have been avoided by immediate soaking
after the party cause you to have to pay more in rental
fees.

Problem: For these reasons, our new policy, effective September 1,

19XX, will be to charge an additional 15% on unrinsed
tableware and 75% of the wholesale value of stained linens
that have not been soaked.

Revision: Therefore, in order to enable us to supply your large party

needs promptly and whenever you require, we will begin
charging 15% on all unrinsed tableware and 75% of the
wholesale value of stained linens that have not been soaked.
This policy we hope will encourage our customers' kitchen
help to do the quick and simple rinsing and/or soaking at
the end of large parties that will ensure faster and more
frequent service.

Avoid pompous, inflated, legal-sounding phrasing. Watch out for puffed-up, important-sounding langua
This kind of language may seem business-like at first; it's actually ridiculous. Of course, such phrasing is app
necessary in legal documents; but why use it in other writing situations? When you write a business letter, p
yourself as a plain-talking, common-sense, down-to-earth person (but avoid slang). Check out Figure 1-3 for
serious dose of bureaucratese.

Figure 1-3. Avoid pompous, officious-sounding writing. Not only is the tone of the problem version offensive,
nearly twice as long as the revised version!

Give your business letter an "action ending" whenever appropriate. An "action-ending" makes clear w
the writer of the letter expects the recipient to do and when. Ineffective conclusions to business letters often
with rather limp, noncommittal statements such as "Hope to hear from you soon" or "Let me know if I can be
any further assistance." Instead, or in addition, specify the action the recipient should take and the schedule
that action. If, for example, you are writing a query letter, ask the editor politely to let you know of his decis
at all possible in a month. If you are writing an application letter, subtlely try to set up a date and time for an
interview. Here are some examples:

As soon as you approve this plan, I'll begin contacting sales

representatives at once to arrange for purchase and delivery
of the microcomputers. May I expect to hear from you within
the week?
 I am free after 2:00 p.m. on most days. Can we set up an
appointment to discuss my background and this position
further?
I'll look forward to hearing from you.

Interested in courses related to this page or a printed version? See Return to the main menu of this online textbook for technical writ
the resources page.

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Technical Writing: Complaint and Adjustment Letters

Complaint Letters This section covers two closely related types of business
letters: complaint letters, which request compensation for
Adjustment Letters problems with purchases or services, and adjustment letters,
which are the responses to complaint letters.

Main Index See the following example complaint letters:

Print Version Example complaint letter 1: Frame Nonfram

Plain
Microwave problems s es
Related Courses

Example complaint letter 2: Frame Nonfram

Plain
Printer problems s es

Example complaint letter 3: Frame Nonfram

Plain
Cosmetics problems s es

Example complaint letter 4: Frame Nonfram

Plain
Digital multimeter problems s es

Example complaint letter 5: Frame Nonfram

Plain
Garden polymer sprayers s es

Example adjustment letter:

Frame Nonfram
Compensation for damaged Plain
s es
freight

For related matters, see the section on general business-letter

format and style.

Complaint Letters

A complaint letter requests some sort of compensation for

defective or damaged merchandise or for inadequate or
delayed services. While many complaints can be made in
person, some circumstances require formal business letters.
The complaint may be so complex that a phone call may not
effectively resolve the problem; or the writer may prefer the
permanence, formality, and seriousness of a business letter.
The essential rule in writing a complaint letter is to maintain
your poise and diplomacy, no matter how justified your gripe
is. Avoid making the recipient an adversary.

1. In the letter, identify early the reason you are writing —

to register a complaint and to ask for some kind of
compensation. Avoid leaping into the details of the
problem in the first sentence.

2. State exactly what compensation you desire, either

before or after the discussion of the problem or the
reasons for granting the compensation. (It may be more
tactful and less antagonizing to delay this statement in
some cases).

3. Provide a fully detailed narrative or description of the

problem. This is the "evidence."

4. Explain why your request should be granted. Presenting

the evidence is not enough: state the reasons why this
evidence indicates your requested should be granted.

5. Suggest why it is in the recipient's best interest to grant

your request: appeal to the recipient's sense of fairness,
desire for continued business, but don't threaten. Find
some way to view the problem as an honest mistake.
Don't imply that the recipient deliberately committed
the error or that the company has no concern for the
customer. Toward the end of the letter, express
confidence that the recipient will grant your request.

Adjustment Letters

Replies to complaint letters, often called letters of

"adjustment," must be handled carefully when the requested
compensation cannot be granted. Refusal of compensation
 tests your diplomacy and tact as a writer. Here are some
suggestions that may help you write either type of adjustment
letter:

1. Begin with a reference to the date of the original letter

of complaint and to the purpose of your letter. If you
deny the request, don't state the refusal right away
unless you can do so tactfully.

2. Express your concern over the writer's troubles and

your appreciation that he has written you.

3. If you deny the request, explain the reasons why the

request cannot be granted in as cordial and
noncombative manner as possible. If you grant the
request, don't sound as if you are doing so in a
begrudging way.

4. If you deny the request, try to offer some partial or

substitute compensation or offer some friendly advice
(to take the sting out of the denial).

5. Conclude the letter cordially, perhaps expressing

confidence that you and the writer will continue doing
business.

Interested in courses Return to the main

related to this page or menu of this online
a printed version? See textbook for technical
the resources page. writing.

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Online Technical Writing:

Business Correspondence—Application Letters

mon This section focuses on the application letter (sometimes called a "cover letter"), which together with the
s of resume is often called the "job package." You may already have written one or both of these employment
catio seeking documents. That's okay. Read and study this section, and then apply the guidelines here to the
ters resumes and application letters you have created in the past.

mon This section presents many different ways to design and write application letters. Nothing here is trying to
ons force you into one design. You design your own letter using whatever you find here that is useful and any
 other sources you know of.
catio
ters In many job applications, you attach an application letter to your resume. Actually, the letter
comes before the resume.
ducto
The role of the application letter is to draw a clear connection between the job you are seeking and your
graph qualifications listed in the resume. To put it another way, the letter matches the requirements of the job
with your qualifications, emphasizing how you are right for that job. The application letter is not a lengthy
body summary of the resume — not at all. It selectively mentions information in the resume, as appropriate.
graph
Be sure to check out the example application letters accompanying this chapter:

ng Example application letter 1: Technical writing

Frames Nonframes Plain
graph intern

grou
etails Example application letter 2: Science editorship Frames Nonframes Plain
e
catio Example application letter 3: Database
Frames Nonframes Plain
ter programmer

klist
Example application letter 4: Quality assurance
Frames Nonframes Plain
manager
mon
ems
Example application letter 5: Programmer/analyst Frames Nonframes Plain
catio
ters For related matters:
• See the section on resumes for the companion to this section.

• See the section on general business-letter format and style.

x
Common Types of Application Letters

To begin planning your letter, decide which type of application letter you need. This decision is in part
on
based on requirements that employers may have, and in part based on what your background and
ted employment needs are. In many ways, types of application letters are like the types of resumes. The type
ses of application letters can be defined according to amount and kind of information:

• Objective letters — One type of letter says very little: it identifies the position being sought, indicat
an interest in having an interview, and calls attention to the fact that the resume is attached. It als
mentions any other special matters that are not included on the resume, such as dates and times
when you are available to come in for an interview. This letter does no salesmanship and is very
brief. (It may represent the true meaning of "cover" letter.)

• Highlight letters — Another type of application letter, the type you do for most technical writing
courses, tries to summarize the key information from the resume, the key information that will
 emphasize that you are a good candidate for the job. In other words, it selects the best information
from the resume and summarizes it in the letter — this type of letter is especially designed to make
the connection with the specific job.

How do you know which to write? For most technical-writing courses, write the highlight letter. However, i
"real-life" situations, it's anybody's guess. Try calling the prospective employer; study the job
advertisement for clues.

Common Sections in Application Letters

As for the actual content and organization of the paragraphs within the application letter (specifically
the highlighttype of application letter), consider the following comon approaches.

Introductory paragraph. That first paragraph of the application letter is the most important; it sets
everything up — the tone, focus, as well as your most important qualification. A typical problem in the
introductory paragraph involves diving directly into work and educational experience. Bad idea! A better
idea is to do something like the following:

• State the purpose of the letter — to inquire about an employment opportunity.

• Indicate the source of your information about the job — newspaper advertisement, a personal
contact, or other.

• State one eye-catching, attention-getting thing about yourself in relation to the job or to the
employer that will cause the reader to want to continue.

And you try to do all things like these in the space of very short paragraph — no more than 4 to 5 lines of
the standard business letter. (And certainly, please don't think of these as the "right" or the "only" things
put in the introduction to an application letter.)

Main body paragraphs. In the main parts of the application letter, you present your work experience,
education, training — whatever makes that connection between you and the job you are seeking.
Remember that this is the most important job you have to do in this letter — to enable the reader see the
match between your qualifications and the requirements for the job.

There are two common ways to present this information:

• Functional approach — This one presents education in one section, and work experience in the othe
If there were military experience, that might go in another section. Whichever of these section
contains your "best stuff" should come first, after the introduction.

• Thematic approach — This one divides experience and education into groups such as "managemen
"technical," "financial," and so on and then discusses your work and education related to them in
separate paragraphs.

If you read the section on functional and thematic organization of resumes, just about everything said the
applies here. Of course, the letter is not exhaustive or complete about your background — it highlights ju
those aspects of your background that make the connection with the job you are seeking.

Com
on sections of application letters. You can organize the letter thematically or functionally the same way th
you can the resume.

Another section worth considering for the main body of the application letter is one in which you discuss
your goals, objectives — the focus of your career — what you are doing, or want to do professionally. A
paragraph like this is particularly good for people just starting their careers, when there is not much to pu
in the letter. Of course, be careful about loading a paragraph like this with "sweet nothings." For example
am seeking a challenging, rewarding career with an dynamic upscale company where I will have ample
room for professional and personal growth" — come on! give us a break! Might as well say, "I want to be
happy, well-paid, and well-fed."

Closing paragraph. In the last paragraph of the application letter, you can indicate how the prospective
employer can get in touch with you and when are the best times for an interview. This is the place to urge
that prospective employer to contact you to arrange an interview.

Background Details in the Application Letter

One of the best ways to make an application letter great is to work in details, examples, specifics about
related aspects of your educational and employment background. Yes, if the resume is attached, readers
can see all that details there. However, a letter that is overly general and vague might generate so little
interest that the reader might not even care to turn to the resume.

In the application letter, you work in selective detail that makes your letter stand out, makes it memorabl
and substantiates the claims you make about your skills and experience. Take a look at this example, whi
is rather lacking in specifics:

As for my experience working with persons with developmental disabilities, I have

worked and volunteered at various rehabilitation hospitals and agencies in Austin
and Houston [say which ones to inject more detail into this letter]. I have received
training [where? certificates?] in supervising patients and assisting with physical
and social therapy. Currently, I am volunteering at St. David's Hospital [doing
what?] to continue my education in aiding persons with developmental disabilities.

Now take a look at the revision:

As for my experience working with persons with developmental disabilities, I have

worked and volunteered at Cypress Creek Hospital in Houston andCapital Area
Easter Seals/ Rehabilitation Center and Health South Rehabilitation Hospital in
Austin. I have received CPR, First Aid, and Crisis Intervention
certificates from Cypress Creek Hospital. Currently, I am volunteering at St. David's
Hospital assisting with physical therapy to persons with developmental
disabilities in the aquatics department.

Checklist of Common Problems in Application Letters

• Readability and white space — Are there any dense paragraphs over 8 lines? Are there comfortable
1-inch to 1.5-inch margins all the way around the letter? Is there adequate spacing between
paragraph and between the components of the letter?
 • Page fill — Is the letter placed on the page nicely: not crammed at the top one-half of the page; no
spilling over to a second page by only three or four lines?

• General neatness, professional-looking quality — Is the letter on good quality paper, and is the cop
clean and free of smudges and erasures?

• Proper use of the business-letter format — Have you set up the letter in one of the standard
business-letter formats? (See the references earlier in this chapter.)

• Overt, direct indication of the connection between your background and the requirements of the
job — Do you emphasize this connection?

• A good upbeat, positive tone — Is the tone of your letter bright and positive? Does it avoid soundin
overly aggressive, brash, over-confident (unless that is really the tone you want)? Does your letter
avoid the opposite problem of sounding stiff, overly reserved, stand-offish, blase, indifferent?

• A good introduction — Does your introduction establish the purpose of the letter? Does it avoid divi
directly into the details of your work and educational experience? Do you present one little
compelling detail about yourself that will cause the reader to want to keep reading?

• A good balance between brevity and details — Does your letter avoid becoming too detailed (makin
readers less inclined to read thoroughly)? Does your letter avoid the opposite extreme of being so
general that it could refer to practically anybody?

• Lots of specifics (dates, numbers, names, etc.) — Does your letter present plenty of specific detail
but without making the letter too densely detailed? Do you present hard factual detail (numbers,
dates, proper names) that make you stand out as an individual?

• A minimum of information that is simply your opinion of yourself — Do you avoid over-reliance on
information that is simply your opinions about yourself. For example, instead of saying that you
"work well with others," do you cite work experience that proves that fact but without actually stati
it?

• Grammar, spelling, usage — And of course, does your letter use correct grammar, usage, and
spelling?

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ne Technical Writing: Business Correspondence—Resumes

Resume A resume is a selective record of your background — your educational,
Design military, and work experience, your certifications, abilities, and so on. You
— An send it, sometimes accompanied by an application letter, to potential
Overvie employers when you are seeking job interviews.
w
The focus of the resume assignment is readability, effective design, and
Section adaptation to audience expectations. If you make up a few details in your
s in resume, that's okay. However, if you're just starting your college education
Resume and have little work experience, try using the techniques and suggestions
s here to create a resume that represents your current skills, abilities, and
background. Developing a decent-looking resume based on what you are
Headingnow is a challenge that you have to deal with at some point — so why not

Body now?

Conclus Resume Design — An Overview

ion Before personal computers, people used one resume for varied kinds of
Resume employment searches. However, with less expensive desktop publishing and
s: Types high-quality printing, people sometimes rewrite their resumes for every new
and job they go after. For example, a person who seeks employment both with a
Design community college and with a software-development company would use
two different resumes. The contents of the two might be roughly the same,
Type of but the organization, format, and emphases would be quite different.
organiz
ation You are probably aware of resume-writing software: you feed your data into
them and they churn out a prefab resume. You probably also know about
Type of resume-writing services that will create your resume for you for a hundred
informa dollars or so. If you are in a time bind or if you are extremely insecure about
tion your writing or resume-designing skills, these services might help. But often
they take your information and put it into a computer database that then
General force it into a prefab structure. They often use the same resume-writing
Layout software just mentioned; they charge you about what the software costs.
and The problem is that these agencies simply cannot be that sensitive or
Detail perceptive about your background or your employment search. Nor are you
Formats likely to want to pay for their services every month or so when you are in
in the thick of a job search. Why not learn the skills and techniques of writing
Resume your own resume here, save the money, and write better resumes anyway?
s
There is no one right way to write a resume. Every person's background,
General employment needs, and career objectives are different, thus necessitating
layout unique resume designs. Every detail, every aspect of your resume must

Detail start with who you are, what your background is, what the potential
formats employer is looking for, and what your employment goals are — not with
from some prefab design. Therefore, use this chapter to design your own
Special resume; browse through the various formats; play around with them until
Section you find one that works for you.
s in
Resume Be sure and check out the example resumes accompanying this chapter:
s
Nonframe
Example resume 1: Veterinary assistant Frames Plain
Highligh s
ts,
summar Example resume 2: LAN system Nonframe
y Frames Plain
administrator s
section

Objectiv Example resume 3: Maintenance Nonframe

Frames Plain
es, technician for high-tech systems s
goals
Example resume 4: Science writer, Nonframe
Amplific Frames Plain
editor, researcher s
ations
page
Example resume 5: Computer service Nonframe
Frames Plain
Resume and sales representative s
Design
and Example resume 6: Case management Nonframe
Format Frames Plain
nurse s
Produci
ng the Example resume 7: Technical writing Nonframe
Frames Plain
Final intern s
Draft of
the
Resume

Main
Index

Print
Version

Related
Courses
Basic sections of a resume. Whichever format you use, the information
generally divides up as shown here.

Sections in Resumes

Resumes can be divided into three sections: the heading, the body, and the
conclusion. Each of these sections has fairly common contents.

Heading. The top third of the resume is the heading. It contains your name,
phone numbers, address, and other details such as your occupation, titles,
and so on. Some resume writers include the name of their profession,
occupation, or field. In some examples, you'll see writers putting things like
"CERTIFIED PHYSICAL THERAPIST" very prominently in the heading.
Headings can also contain a goals and objectives subsection and a
highlights subsection. These two special subsections are described later in
"Special Sections in Resumes."

Body. In a one-page resume, the body is the middle portion, taking up a

half or more of the total space of the resume. In this section, you present
the details of your work, education, and military experience. This
information is arranged in reverse chronological order. In the body section,
you also include your accomplishments, for example, publications,
certifications, equipment you are familiar with, and so on. There
are many ways to present this information:

• You can divide it functionally — into separate sections for work

experience and education.

• You can divide it thematically — into separate sections for the

different areas of your experience and education.

Conclusion. In the final third or quarter of the resume, you can present
other related information on your background. For example, you can list
activities, professional associations, memberships, hobbies, and interests.
At the bottom of the resume, people often put "REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON
REQUEST" and the date of preparation of the resume. At first, you might
think that listing nonwork and personal information would be totally
irrelevant and inappropriate. Actually, it can come in handy — it
personalizes you to potential employers and gives you something to chat
while you're waiting for the coffee machine or the elevator. For example, if
you mention in your resume that you raise goats, that gives the interviewer
something to chat with you about during those moments of otherwise
uncomfortable silence.

Resumes — Types and Design

To begin planning your resume, decide which type of resume you need. This
decision is in part based on requirements that prospective employers may
have, and in part based on what your background and employment needs
are.

Type of organization. Resumes can be defined according to how

information on work and educational experience is handled. There are
several basic, commonly used plans or designs you can consider using.

• Functional design: Illustrated schematically below, the functional

design starts with a heading; then presents either education or work
experience, whichever is stronger or more relevant; then presents the
other of these two sections; then ends with a section on skills and
certifications and one on personal information. Students who have
not yet begun their careers often find this design the best for their
 purposes. People with military experience either work the detail in to
the education and work-experience sections as appropriate; or they
create separate section at the same level as education and work
experience.

Two basic organizational approaches to resume design. Functional and

thematic. (The "hanging-head" format is used in the functional-design
version.)

• Thematic design: Another approach to resumes is

the thematic design, illustrated schematically in the preceding. It
 divides your experience and education into categories such as project
management, budgetary planning, financial tracking, personnel
management, customer sales, technical support, publications —
whichever areas describe your experience. Often, these categories
are based directly on typical or specific employment advertisements.
If the job advertisement says that Company ABC wants a person with
experience in training, customer service, and sales, then it might be a
smart move to design thematic headings around those three
requirements. If you want to use the thematic approach in your
resume, take a look at your employment and educational experience
— what are the common threads? Project management, program
development, troubleshooting, supervision, maintenance, inventory
control? Take a look at the job announcement you're responding to —
what are the three, four, or five key requirements it mentions? Use
these themes to design the body section of your resume. These
themes become the headings in the body of the resume. Under these
headings you list the employment or educational experience that
applies. For example, under a heading like "FINANCIAL RECORDS,"
you might list the accounting and bookkeeping courses you took in
college, the seminars on Lotus 123 or EXCEL you took, and the jobs
where you actually used these skills.

Type of information. Types of resumes can be defined according to the

amount and kind of information they present:

• Objective resumes: This type just gives dates, names, titles, no

qualitative salesmanship information. These are very lean, terse
resumes. In technical-writing courses, you are typically asked not to
write this type. The objective-resume style is useful in resumes that
use the thematic approach or that emphasize the summary/highlights
section. By its very nature, you can see that the thematic approach is
unclear about the actual history of employment. It's harder to tell
where the person was, what she was doing, year by year.

• Detailed resumes: This type provides not only dates, titles, and
names, but also details about your responsibilities and statements
about the quality and effectiveness of your work. This is the type
most people write, and the type that is the focus of most technical-
writing courses. The rest of the details in this section of this chapter
focus on writing the detailed resume.

General Layout and Detail Formats in Resumes

At some point in your resume planning, you'll want to think schematically

about the layout and design of the thing. General layout has to do with the
design and location of the heading, the headings for the individual sections,
and the orientation of the detailed text in relation to those headings. Detail
formats are the way you choose to arrange and present the details of your
education and work experience.

General layout. Look at resumes in this book and in other sources strictly
in terms of the style and placement of the headings, the shape of the text
(the paragraphs) in the resumes, and the orientation of these two elements
with each other. Some resumes have the headings centered; others are on
the left margin. Notice that the actual text — the paragraphs — of resumes
typically does not extend to the far left and the far right margins. Full-length
lines are not considered as readable or scannable as the shorter ones you
see illustrated in the examples in this book.

Notice that many resumes use a "hanging-head" format. In this case, the
heading starts on the far left margin while the text is indented another inch
or so. This format makes the heading stand out more and the text more
scannable. Notice also that in some of the text paragraphs of resumes,
special typography is used to highlight the name of the organization or the
job title.

Detail formats. You have to make a fundamental decision about how you
present the details of your work and education experience. Several
examples of typical presentational techniques are shown below. The
elements you work with include:

• Occupation, position, job title

• Company or organization name

• Time period you were there

• Key details about your accomplishments and responsibilities while

there.
Examples of detail formats. Use combinations of list or paragraph format,
italics, bold, all caps on the four main elements: date, organization name,
job title, and details.

There are many different ways to format this information. It all depends on
what you want to emphasize and how much or how little information you
have (whether you are struggling to fit it all on one page or struggling to
make it fill one page). Several different detail formats are shown above.

Special Sections in Resumes

Here are some ideas for special resume sections, sections that emphasize
your goals or qualifications.

Highlights, summary section. In the illustration below, you'll notice the

"Highlights" section that occurs just below the heading (the section for
name, address, phone number, etc.) and just above the main experience
and education sections. This is an increasingly popular section in resumes.
Resume specialists believe that the eye makes first contact with a page
somewhere one-fourth to one-third of the way down the page — not at the
very top. If you believe that, then it makes sense to put your very "best
stuff" at that point. Therefore, some people list their most important
qualifications, their key skills, their key work experience in that space on the
page. Actually, this section is useful more for people who have been in their
careers for a while. It's a good way to create one common spot on the
resume to list those key qualifications about yourself that may be spread
throughout the resume. Otherwise, these key details about yourself are
scattered across your various employment and educational experience — in
fact, buried in them.

Objectives, goals. Also found on some resumes is a section just under the
heading in which you describe what your key goals or objectives are or what
your key qualifications are. Some resume writers shy away from including a
section like this because they fear it may cause certain employers to stop
reading, in other words, that it limits their possibilities. A key-qualifications
section is similar to a highlights section, but shorter and in paragraph rather
than list form.

special sections in resumes. Summary or highlights of qualifications, and

goals and objectives section.

Amplifications page. Some people have a lot of detail that they want to
convey about their qualifications but that does not fit well in any of the
typical resume designs. For example, certain computer specialists can list
dozens of hardware and software products they have experience with — and
they feel they must list all this in the resume. To keep the main part of the
resume from becoming unbalanced and less readable, they shift all of this
detail to an amplications page. There, the computer specialist can
categorize and list all that extensive experience in many different operating
systems, hardware configurations, and software applications. Similarly,
some resume writers want to show lots more detail about the
responsibilities and duties they have managed in past employment. The
standard formats for resume design just do not accommodate this sort of
detail; and this is where the amplifications page can be useful.

Amplifications page in a resume. If you have lots of detail about what you
know, this approach on page 2 of the resume may work. On the first page of
this resume, the writer divides the presentation into experience and
education sections and takes a chronological approach to each. On the first
page, he only provides company names, job titles, dates, and discussion of
duties.

Resume Design and Format

As you plan, write, or review your resume, keep these points in mind:

• Readability: are there any dense paragraphs over 6 lines? Imagine

your prospective employer sitting down to a two-inch stack of
resumes. Do you think she's going to slow down to read through big
thick paragraphs. Probably not. Try to keep paragraphs under 6 lines
long. The "hanging-head" design helps here.

• White space. Picture a resume crammed with detail, using only half-
inch margins all the way around, a small type size, and only a small
amount of space between parts of the resume. Our prospective
employer might be less inclined to pore through that also. "Air it out!"
Find ways to incorporate more white space in the margins and
between sections of the resume. Again, the "hanging-head" design is
also useful.

• Special format. Make sure that you use special format consistently
throughout the resume. For example, if you use a hanging-head style
for the work-experience section, use it in the education section as
well.

• Consistent margins. Most resumes have several margins: the

outermost, left margin and at least one internal left margin. Typically,
paragraphs in a resume use an internal margin, not the far-left
margin. Make sure to align all appropriate text to these margins as
well.

• Terse writing style. It's okay to use a rather clipped, terse writing
style in resumes — up to a point. The challenge in most resumes is to
get it all on one page (or two if you have a lot of information to
present). Instead of writing "I supervised a team of five technicians..."
you write "Supervised a team of five technicians..." However, you
don't leave out normal words such as articles.

• Special typography. Use special typography, but keep it under

control. Resumes are great places to use all of your fancy word-
processing features such as bold, italics, different fonts, and different
type sizes. Don't go crazy with it! Too much fancy typography can be
distracting (plus make people think you are hyperactive).

• Page fill. Do everything you can to make your resume fill out one full
 page and to keep it from spilling over by 4 or 5 lines to a second
page. At the beginning of your career, it's tough filling up a full page
of a resume. As you move into your career, it gets hard keeping it to
one page. If you need a two-page resume, see that the second page
is full or nearly full.

• Clarity of boundary lines between major sections. Design and format

your resume so that whatever the main sections are, they are very
noticeable. Use well-defined headings and white space to achieve
this. Similarly, design your resume so that the individual segements
of work experience or education are distinct and separate from each
other.

• Reverse chronological order. Remember to list your education and

work-experience items starting with the current or most recent and
working backwards in time.

• Consistency of bold, italics, different type size, caps, other

typographical special effects. Also, whatever special typography you
use, be consistent with it throughout the resume. If some job titles
are italics, make them all italics. Avoid all-caps text — it's less
readable.

• Consistency of phrasing. Use the same style of phrasing for similar

information in a resume — for example, past tense verbs for all work
descriptions.

• Consistency of punctuation style. For similar sections of information

use the same kind of punctuation — for example, periods, commas,
colons, or nothing.

• Translations for "inside" information. Don't assume readers will know

what certain abbreviations, acronyms, or symbols mean — yes, even
to the extent of "GPA" or the construction "3.2/4.00." Take time to
describe special organizations you may be a member of.

• Grammar, spelling, usage. Watch out for these problems on a resume

— they stand out like a sore thumb! Watch out particularly for the
incorrect use of its and it's.

Producing the Final Draft of the Resume

When you've done everything you can think of to finetune your resume, it's
time to produce the final copy — the one that goes to the prospective
employer. This is the time to use nice paper and a good printer and
generally take every step you know of to produce a professional-looking
resume. You'll notice that resumes often use a heavier stock of paper and
often an off-white or non-white color of paper. Some even go so far as to
use drastically different colors such as red, blue, or green, hoping to catch
prospective employers' attention better. Proceed with caution in these
areas!

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to this page or a printed this online textbook for
version? See technical writing.
the resources page.

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