Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Kerri Bright-Flinchbaugh
Writing Specialist
Brody School of Medicine, ECU
Topics to be addressed
To email or to memo
Considering your audience
Inappropriate uses of email
Email etiquette
Email writing as a process
Specific kinds of transactions in email
writing
General tips
Email writing as a rhetorical act
Email requires consideration of the same
rhetorical elements as you use in letter
writing and phone calling:
Subject
Audience
Purpose
Persona
Write to think
Take three or four minutes to brainstorm the
following ideas:
What are some of the typical subjects you
address in your business writing?
Who are some of the audiences to which
you write on the job?
What are some of the purposes you have
for your written communication?
What are some of the voices or personas
you have to use while writing in your office?
To email or to memo?
1. What is the purpose of this
communication?
2. To whom is it being written? Is the
information personal or confidential?
3. Why use email to make this
communication? Could you communicate
this information by telephone, in person,
or through a letter?
4. Is the use of this communication tool an
avoidance mechanism?
Use email
To expedite the communication
For brief and simple responses
can be read and immediately discarded
To relieve the burden of playing telephone
tag
Consider Your Audience
Consider your purpose
Business writing is persuasive writing.
Some business writing will try to persuade
the reader to take an action or think about
something a certain way.
Consider your audience
You may
Know your audience personally
Not know your audience personally
Need to write to more
than one person at a
time
Consider your audience
Put yourself in your readers place
If your message does not meet your
readers needs or if it isnt written at his or
her level of understanding, your message
may be ignored.
When you know your reader
How interested or involved in the subject is
my reader?
How knowledgeable is he or she about the
subject?
What is my readers purpose for reading?
To make a decision? To be better
informed?
When you know your reader
Does my reader have special concerns or
strong views about the subject? What are
they?
How does my reader regard me personally
and professionally?
What is my readers style of doing
business?
When you do not know your reader
There are two general Your documents will
types of business be most effective if
readers: skimmers you write for both
and skeptics. types of readers.
When you do not know your reader
Skimmers are A Skeptic is a reader
readers that are that is cautious and
typically very busy. doubtful.
Pressed for time, Skeptical readers will
they often skim tend to read a
documents in a document carefully,
rather short period questioning its validity
of time. and the writers
claims.
20-second test for Skimmers:
Skim your document for 20 seconds, and
mark what stands out most to you in that
amount of time.
After you are finished, see if what you have
marked is able to convey your message
clearly.
If it is possible (or an important document),
have someone else skim your document
before sending it, and see if your message
is clear to them as well.
Skeptical readers
Skeptical reader - support your statements
with sufficient details and evidence
Provide specific examples, numbers, dates,
names, and percentages
Email Etiquette