Formal Email:

How to Write a Formal Email:

1.    Use a proper salutation. Addressing the recipient by name is preferred. Use the person's title (Mr. Mrs. Ms. or Dr.) with their last name, followed by a comma or a colon. Optionally, you can precede the salutation with "Dear..." (but "Hello..." is acceptable as well). Using a last name is more formal and should be used unless you are on first-name terms with the recipient. If you don't know the name of the person you're writing to (but you really should try and find one) use "To Whom It May Concern".

2.    Introduce yourself in the first paragraph. Also include why you're writing, and how you found that person's e-mail address, or the opportunity you're writing about.

• E.g. "My name is Earl Rivers. I'm contacting you to apply for the administrative assistant position listed on CareerXYZ.com."
• E.g. "My name is Arlene Rivers. I am writing about the traffic citation I received on December 31, 2009. I obtained your e-mail address for the Westchester County Clerk website."

3.    Write the actual message. Be sure to get your point across and do not ramble on! Be direct and to the point. If it's fluffed to be longer the reader may glance over the important details.

• The email should be no more than 5 paragraphs long, and each paragraph should be no more than 5 sentences long.
• Insert a line break between each paragraph (indenting isn't necessary).

4.    Use the correct form of leave-taking.

• Yours sincerely,
• Yours cordially,
• Respectfully,
• Best,

5.    Sign with your full name. If you have a job title, include that in the line after your name, and write the company name or website in the line after that. If you do not have a job title but you have your own blog or website related to the content of the e-mail, include a link to that below your name. If the e-mail is about a job, only include a career-related website or blog, not hobbies or interests.

6.    Come up with a brief and descriptive subject.

         E.g.

• Inquiry regarding sales position
• Request for volunteer application

7.    Double-check your message to make sure that you have contained everything that you need in your message. Read your email out loud. 

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