A Holistic Approach To Emailing Etiquettes

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A Holistic Approach to Emailing Etiquettes
Chandra Shekhar Sharma
Assistant Professor
Akal College of Arts and Social Sciences
Eternal University, Baru Sahib
Via Rajgarh
Sirmour (H. P.)
"""""""""""""""""""A"Holistic"Approach"to"Emailing"Etiquettes """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Chandra"Shekhar"Sharma""
""""""""""""""""""""Asstt."Prof."""College"of"Arts"and"Social"Sciences","Eternal"University,"Baru"Sahib,"("H."P.")"""""""""""""""
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Abstract"
""""""The"subject"‘How"to"write"good"eどmails’"has"attracted"attention"of"a"number"of"writers"and"research"
scholars"all"the"world"over"and"much"light"has"been"thrown"on"this"subject"in"the"form"of"tips"for"writing"
better"eどmails"and"for"eどmail"writing"etiquettes."But"still"there"is"need"for"viewing"the"subject"with"a"new"
and"holistic"approach"that"can"satisfy"one"and"all,"all"the"globe"over."The"purpose"of"this"research"article"
is"to"make"a"survey"of"the"importance"of"eどmail"writing,"the"guiding"principles"for"email"composition"and"
common"etiquettes."Some"common"pitfalls"of"email"writing"have"also"been"targeted."Also"this"paper"
points"out"to"how"the"principles"of"Leslie""A."Hill"that"were"framed"around"forty"five"years"ago,"are"still"
relevant"to"the"modern"techniques"of"email"writing"with"certain"modifications."Emails"also"have"their"
own"set"of"vocabulary,"jargon"and"etiquettes."It"is"prudent"to"be"aware"of"the"email"writing"etiquettes."
Learning"how"to"use"emails"effectively"will"definitely"go"a"long"way"in"helping"one"to"develop"good"
communication"skills."It"is"also"worthwhile"knowing"the"security"issues"involved,"so"that"we"are"able"to"
make"best"use"of"this"wonderful"mode"of"communication."The"researcher"also"feels"a"genuine"need"for"
evolving"a"standard"code"for"writing"acronyms"that"can"be"universally"understood"and"used"in"email"
writing"without"any"ambiguity"and"confusion."
Volume II, Issue IX, January 2015 - ISSN 2321-7065
http://www.ijellh.com 282

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Leslie A. Hill, British Council’s Chief Education Officer for India, made significant contribution
to English Language Teaching in India. He prepared a 3275 head-word vocabulary and in
accordance with that he prepared a textbook ‘A Prelude to English’ in 1969 teaching principles of
good writing. He discusses the fundamentals of writing well in this book. Hill suggests that one of
the prerequisites for writing with clarity is the ability to think clearly and logically. Everyone
cannot have this ability in equal measure. People can develop this ability by teaching their minds
to focus and think logically and this can be achieved by discipline and practice. The principles of
good writing that Hill gave are universal and equally applicable to all languages and all forms of
writing. During those days though e-mail as it exists these days, was not there, yet these ‘principles
of good writing’ propounded by Hill equally apply to the principles of modern email writing.
The subject ‘How to write good e-mails’ has attracted attention of a number of writers and research
scholars all the world over and much light has been thrown on this in the form of tips for writing
better e-mails and for e-mail writing etiquettes. But still there is need to view the subject with a
new and holistic approach that can satisfy one and all, all the globe over. The purpose of this
research article is to make a survey of the importance of e-mail writing, guiding principles for
email composition and its common etiquettes. Some common pitfalls of using this mode of
communication have also been targeted. Also, this paper points out how the principles of Leslie
A. Hill that were framed around forty five years ago, are still relevant to the modern techniques of
writing emails.
What is email?
Electronic mail is also popularly known as email or e-mail. It is the medium of communication
that sends and receives communication through specially designed computer networks. It came
into existence in the late twentieth century. Initially, it was available only to a few as mostly the
computer programmers and system administrators used this medium of communication among
themselves. Rest of the people relied more on the traditional modes of written or oral
communication. Quickly however, this progeny of computer technology took over all other means
of exchanging information. With the revolution in information technology along with the speedy

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growth of the Internet it has become the most popular medium of communication. And now, it has
become next to impossible to think of a world where people do not share their views through
emails. All information these days, whether this is in the form of ideas or data, is being shared
through emails.
Emails are at the core of all communication
Emails are at the center of all sorts of communication channels. In today’s fastest moving business
environment, a number of emails are written every day. Since emails are faster than letters and
memos, they are used for rapid transmission of information. They are used to convey routine
business information such as information regarding company’s new products and services being
introduced, new policy changes, new procedures and strategies being followed. They are used to
invite the readers to business meetings, conferences, seminars workshops or symposiums. They
are also written to describe problems, persuade the readers to take action, request for proposals
and give feedback, suggestions or recommendations and so on.
Emails are legal documents
Emails are important because they are legal documents of written communication in the eyes of
the court of law. They are regarded as valid and tenable proof of correspondence held
electronically between two or more parties. Since the delivery of an email message is immediately
confirmed, the recipients can never pose as though they never received the mail in the first place.
So emails are binding to both the sender and the receiver.
Why are they so popular?
Emails are fast, cheap and easy to operate
Sanjay Kumar and Pushp Lata (Communication Skills: Oxford University Press, 2011) write: “One
reason why emails are today preferred to the traditional means of communication is that they are
easy, prompt and fast to use. Once you compose a mail, you can send it to as many people as
required, instantaneously. Practically, to an email message of a few words, you can attach large
files of data, complicated spreadsheets, voluminous reports, lengthy procedures, elaborate
schedules, detailed proposals, long instructions, and anything else that you wish your readers to

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read anywhere in the world. Because of its sweeping reach, universal accessibility and blinding
promptness, email is certainly the easiest, most prompt, and the cheapest mode of getting across
to a large number of people all across the globe instantly.”
Emails fall in consonance with ethos of the age
In this high speed age anything which can save our time, money and energy is highly welcome.
Emails save our time, money and energy, and therefore, they fall in consonance with ethos of the
contemporary age. This is one of the reasons why emails have become so popular.
No formal and fixed style
Emails are less formal and structured than letters and memos. They are normally in the form of a
private conversation, where the sender wants to say something and expects a response to the
message. While using email, senders don’t have to worry about a formal and definite style of
communication.
Beware of pitfalls
Before we fall headlong in love with this computer progeny, let us be aware of the pitfalls of using
this means of communication so that we not only utilize the immense potentialities but also
overcome the challenges posed by this medium.
Not always reliable
Emails are not always reliable. Act upon them only when you confirm that they are from genuine
sources. Millions of fraud emails are sent and received every day all the world over. Senders of
these fake emails are very cunning fellows. They are well versed in netiquette and information
technology. They trap people by alluring them to their so-called lucrative schemes or claims or
plans of bright future. Sometimes they pose themselves to be business magnates, industrialists,
bank managers, publishers, exporters and purchasers. They can assume any unimaginable form.
When contacted, they influence you by their power of writing and the gift of the gab and ask you
to contact them on phone only because they are extremely busy persons. They persuade people to
invest money in the bank accounts given by them. Once you deposit money in those bank accounts,

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you lose your money for ever. The money deposited by you in such accounts is withdrawn
forthwith through distant ATMs. Even the police cannot easily trace such fraudulent people.
Thousands of people have lost their hard-earned money through fake emails. Presently, there are
at least thousands of fake websites are available on the Internet all over the world that are cheating
simpletons and innocent people. Committing crime through computer and internet falls in the
category of cybercrime. Though there are cyber laws to counteract these crimes yet they are
insufficient and sometimes helpless and inefficacious.
Vulnerable means of communication
“Since emails are sent through an Internet facility, a system administrator can always reach our
emails. If required, a company’s system operator can intercept our emails, disclose our emails to
others, and can read whatever we regard as secret and personal. A more serious fallout of this
vulnerability of the system can present itself in a misfortune, as some hacker may get into our
computer system and can send some undesirable mails from our account. A terrorist breaking into
innocent people’s account and shooting terror mails through it, is not something we are unaware
of now. At times, hackers and other swindlers approach us through an apparently innocuous mail
in which they require us to fill- in some form and reveal to us the information related to our bank
accounts, credit cards, ATMs, voter ID cards, PAN card etc. Making any such detail available to
others may turn out to be extremely perilous as it may land us in some unforeseen crisis.” (Sanjay
Kumar & Pushp Lata : Oxford University Press, first edition, 2011). Thus we see that we are sure
to lose our privacy if we choose email writing for correspondence.
Casualness causes ambiguity and impairs communication
A number of email messages are received every day. Mostly these are swarmed with emoticons,
abbreviations, non-standard spellings, and choppy and chatty sentence structures sounding casual
and informal tone. The real tragedy seems to occur when email senders tend to forget the
distinction between a formal and an informal mail, and end up writing in a colloquial language
that needs to be written in a proper professional manner. Sometimes it creates a bad impression on
the mind of the receiver and other times it causes ambiguity spoiling the whole purpose of the
intended communication.

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No universally accepted conventions
It is surprising that there are no universally or traditionally accepted conventions in email writing.
People tend to write the way they want. Most people send their text messages through their mobile
phones in a free style, that is, following no convention. Therefore, most of the senders end up their
writing casually, informally, colloquially, and hence ineffectively when faced with the task of
composing a mail. This approach is further bolstered by our habit of sending text messages through
mobile phones.
Virtue is sacrificed to convenience
Since a proper convention has not yet emerged in email writing, people write in acronyms;
abbreviate their subject lines beyond a point of comprehension; forget to add courteous salutations
in the beginning; or add a complimentary close at the end and make the entire piece of
communication look like a jigsaw puzzle. Because of this, the reader has to not just read what is
written but also assume what is deliberately or inadvertently left out. Such textual teasing can
please a friend but a serious professional is most likely to frown and despise an email that eats into
the precious slice of one’s time and at the same time leaves one confused about the meaning or
purpose of one such correspondence.
Junk mail – the undesirable offshoot
Receiving unsolicited and unrelated mails is a very common nuisance that people have to
encounter. Since sending an email does not take time, circulating a copy also becomes an easy
option. Since everything is just ‘a click away’, many writers unmindfully send a copy of their
message even to those people who are not concerned with the information in any way. Many
companies steal away your email ID from some reliable sources and start sending their mails to
your mailbox adding more nuisance to your end.
Guiding principles for composing emails
Emails are pieces of communication with quite a few chinks in the armour. Moreover, due to the
lack of a settled convention, it becomes a challenge to compose a mail that is proper in all respects.
Following are the guiding principles for composing effective emails:

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Make good use of subject line: A good subject line is one that grabs your attention immediately
and forces you to read the email at once. As a matter of fact, the subject line of the message is as
important as the message itself. It is the subject line that makes the initial contact with the reader.
A catchy subject line can distinguish a meaningful mail from many other trash mails. It is actually
a properly planned and worded message that gets your mail to be read from the whole lot of the
other mails that fail to click with the reader because of the unimpressive subject lines. A blank
subject line is more likely to be overlooked or rejected as “spam”, so always use a few well-chosen
words to the recipient what the email is about. Here are given some examples of revised subject
lines that add worth to the carelessly or improperly worded subject lines:
Bad example Good example
Meeting Schedule for the meeting tomorrow
Or
Pass Process Meeting – 10 a. m. July 20, 2014
Fancy Dress Competition Inviting Entries for Fancy Dress Competition
Retail Outlet Announcement Regarding Retail Outlet of Pepsi
Just Like That Exchanging Pleasantries
Re: Delay Re: Delay in Consignment Delivery
If you have very short message to convey, and you can fit the whole thing into the subject line, use
“EOM” ( End of Message ) to let recipients know what “EOM” means. Of course, this is only
useful if recipients know the meaning of “EOM”. For example:
Subject: Could you please send the August sales report? Thanks! EOM
Be courteous throughout: Regarding emails, there is a serious misconception that they are
informal pieces of interaction and therefore, courtesy is not much required. But it is not like this.
Courtesy is always required regardless of the nature of the writing. See the example below:

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Bad Example:
Madam
Have you received any conversation from marketing guys? If yes, please kick the mail back. You
know I am dying to listen to them.
RKT
Now see the revised version of this mail and observe the uprightness and dignity of the language
of the same mail.
Good Example:
Dear Madam,
Kindly let me know if you are aware of the schedule for the talk by the Marketing personnel. Being
from a similar field, I am very keen to hear what they have to say.
Thanks and regards,
Ravi Kant Tiwari
It is thus, clear from the example that though a degree of informality is essentially part and parcel
of such communications, disregarding courtesy and politeness is certainly not desirable.
Warm-up the receiver: An email, particularly a professional one, must show some warmth of
feelings to the receiver without which it seems abrupt, unofficial and jerky. Have a look, for
instance, at this email:
Bad Example:
Dear Mr Chairperson
Keeping quite busy; can’t attend the meeting scheduled next week.
Vaseem Khan
Board Member

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The message of the email rings like a blunt, crude and bad news to the reader. Now see its revised
version.
Good Example:
Dear Mr. Chairperson,
Thank you very much for informing about the Board Meeting scheduled in the next week.
However, due to some pressing urgent matters, it would not be possible for me to attend it.
Nevertheless, I would be available online and can be consulted for any crucial decision that
requires my view.
Wish you all the best for the meeting and look forward to receiving the Minutes for the same.
Yours truly,
Vaseem Khan
Board Member
4. Determine your desired outcome: Tina Su, Chief Happiness Officer of the website “Think
simple Now” observes that there are four types of email: They are:
(a) Self Fulfilling Email: The email itself is the point. You want to tell the receiver something,
either a compliment or information, No reply is necessary.
(b) Inquiries: You need something from the receiver in the form of a reply. For example, advice,
or questions answered. The reply is your desired outcome.
(c) Open-ended Dialogue: That is to keep communication lines open, for the purpose of getting
some result or benefit.
(d) Action Emails: The goal is not the reply, but some action on the part of the receiver. For
example, a sales pitch, or asking for a website link exchange.

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She says: “The clear your intention, the more focused you will be, the better you can cater email
for the intended result, the more likely you will get your desired outcome.”
5. Jump to the point: ‘What do you want from me?’ Answer this question as quickly as possible.
Skip long introductions, backgrounds, compliments and details. Jump to the point. State it clearly
using minimal words. If action is needed, make it clear what desired action do you want from the
recipient. And if no action or reply is needed or expected, say that “No reply necessary.” It will
sound like music to their ears.
6. Stick to the facts: Don’t tend to say too much in email. Generally, we feel compelled to describe
all the details in email and disclose the whole of our existence so that the receiver can understand
the whole picture. Truth is, unless you already know this person well, they really don’t care. Unless
asked, you don’t need to overly elaborate anything. Simply stick to the facts. It will also help you
keep your message short.
7. Respect reader’s time: Respect reader’s time by making your email message short and sweet.
M. Ashraf Rizvi in his book “Effective Technical Communication” (Tata McGraw Hill Education
Private Limited, New Delhi, 2010) writes : “Conciseness is the most important characteristic of a
successful email message. An email should not contain unnecessary information. Unnecessary
explanations, repetitions, wordy expressions and exaggeration should be avoided. Ideas should be
organized in such a way that the email makes its point with the fewest words possible. The reader
may not be interested, or have the time, in a very long and detailed message.”
8. State benefits clearly: If a pitch is presented, make sure it includes many clearly stated, easily
understood benefits for the receiver. Too many pitchy emails focus solely on the reader and why
the action will benefit the sender. If you don’t present incentives, or they are difficult to understand,
the receiver will say ‘no’- resulting in waste of time for both. Also make sure the incentives are
realistic, the exchange is fair, and there truly are the benefits to the receiver. In such cases do your
homework before contacting someone. Put yourself in their shoes, “Would you act on the offer?”
For example, emailing a high profile website like lifehacker for a link exchange is not a fair
exchange. It is called spam. If they don’t display links to other sites, likely they won’t display
yours.

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9. Be personal and personable: Give a personal touch to your email even if it is official.
Personalize email with your relevant remarks to the receiver, put in a quick comment about their
site, product or work or services. Address the person by name, sign email with your own name,
and a friendly comment like “Enjoy your weekend!” If your signature, include appropriate URLs
for your website, blog, portfolio or product. Make sure the links are functional so that they can
read more about you in one-click.
10. Use simple English and conversational tone: “Write like you talk, using conversational
English. Be authentic and realistic. Use your real voice – it’s more endearing and approachable”,
writes Tina Su, the Chief Happiness Officer and an expert of human behavior. Never be pedantic
in language or tone. The tone of an email message must give a personal touch to its reader.
However, one should avoid being too formal or emotional. The challenge lies in maintaining
professionalism without being too formal.
11. Font and formatting matter: There is nothing worse than opening an email and become
blinded by the brightness elicited by all the words displaying in bold. It makes one want to instantly
close the email for the sake of protecting one’s eyes. Alternatively, fonts that are too small, too
large, or otherwise hard to read make one not want to read the email as well. Don’t bold the entire
email. Use easy to read fonts (i.e. Arial ), and use a standard size. Don’t use extravagant colors
since they don’t work well on all monitors and can be hard to read. Also make emails easy to read
and quick to scan by using bullet points, numbered lists, and keeping paragraphs short. Highlight
keywords (bold or italics) for emphasis, without overdoing it.
12. Minimize questions: Don’t ask too many questions in your email. Ask only those that matter.
Limit the number of questions and favors to one or two maximum that you wish to ask from the
reader in your email. The more questions (especially open-ended ones) asked in one setting, the
less likely you are to get a response, and the less likely all your questions will be answered. Also
ask specific questions instead of general open-ended ones. Don’t expect the recipient to solve all
your life problems. If you have to ask many questions, you can ask them in separate emails.
13. Copy and paste the most relevant text: Describing top ten strategies for writing effective
email Jessica Bauer and Denis G. Jerz write: “Rather than attaching a file that your reader will

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have to download and open in a separate program, you will probably get faster results if you just
copy-paste the most important part of the document into the body of your message”. They further
add: “Email works best when you just copy and paste the most relevant text into the body of the
email. Try to reduce the number of steps your recipient will need to take in order to act on your
message. If your recipient actually needs to view the full file in order to edit or archive it, then of
course, sending an attachment is appropriate.”
14. Edit email for spelling, punctuation and grammatical accuracy: Accuracy is crucial to
successful email writing. Before clicking ‘send’, each email must be checked for spelling,
punctuation and grammatical accuracy. If you are asking someone else to do work for you, take
time to make your message look professional. While your spell checker won’t catch every mistake,
at the very least, it will catch a few typos. If you are sending a message that will be read by someone
higher up on the chain of command, or if you are about to mass-mail dozens or thousands of
people, take an extra minute or two before you hit ‘send’. Show the draft to a close associate, in
order to see whether it actually makes sense.
15. Avoid acronyms, emoticons and smileys in formal situations: Acronyms are shortened
replacements for certain words, terms, persons and objects. So are abbreviations. Youths take
fancy to such shortcuts as for them it is really exciting to refer to ‘by the way’ as BTW; ‘for your
information’ as FYI; ‘in my humble opinion’ as IMHO; ‘ta ta for now’ as TTFN; ‘talk to later’ as
TTYL and so on and so forth. Some common shortcuts that are most commonly used and liked in
messages by youths these days are : 2DAY for today; 2MORO for tomorrow: 2NITE for tonight;
ASAP for as soon as possible; ATB for all the best; B4 for before; B4N for bye for now; BBL for
be back later; CUL8R for see you later; F2F for face to face; GR8 for great; HAND for a nice day;
ILU for I love you; IMHO for in my humble opinion; KIT for keep in touch; LOL for lots of love
or laughing out loud; PCM for please call me; THX for thanks; WKND for week end; X for kiss;
XOXO for hugs and kisses; YR for your / you’re and so on and so forth.
These linguistic shortcuts are generally signs of friendly intimacy. Using such truncated names or
abbreviations, not known to everybody, in formal situations is patently undesirable. You can use
well known acronyms in formal situations too but only rarely. Emoticons are short symbols carved
with or without the help of some keyboard letters. There is no harm in using such emoticons and

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smileys while writing mails to friends and relatives or with whom we share an intimate relation.
But they should never be used in professional communication.
16. Never Use Colloquialism in Business Communication: In Business Communication, there
is no place for colloquialism. About a business message, says Laran Joseph, in ‘ 7 Email Writing
Skills That Many Business Professionals Ignore’ that “It is not a text message where
abbreviations and contractions are normal. “How R U” is not anywhere near professional. It
reeks of immaturity and an inability to frame and write a simple sentence. It also sends the
message that you don’t think the recipient is important enough for you to waste time on writing
full words! So, avoid that dangerous affliction called “Textspeak” and write clear words that are
not prone to ambiguity.
17. To, Cc and Bcc: There are users who have no idea that the ‘Cc’ and the ‘Bcc’ exist. According
to a document on the website of Howard University “E-mail Etiquette”, a rough guidance on how
to populate the address fields is given. They say that: “The addresses in the ‘To’ are for the people
you are directly addressing. The addresses in the ‘Cc’ are for the people you are indirectly
addressing. They are the FYI-ers or CYA-ers. Don’t overdo it here.Copy only those who need to
be copied; not your entire universe of contacts. The addresses in the ‘Bcc’ are like ‘Cc’ except that
the addresses in ‘To’ and ‘Cc’ do not know that the addresses in the ‘Bcc’ are included in the
conversation. The ‘to’ and ‘Cc’ addresses are blind to the ‘Bcc’ addresses. As you can imagine,
use of the ‘Bcc’ is somewhat unethical and therefore, its use is discouraged”.
18. Formatting is not everything: Formatting can be everything but, it is not here. Plain text is
preferable. Using HTML or the Microsquish Rich Text Format to format messages so that they
have fancy fonts, colors or whatever is asking for trouble. There are lots of e-mail clients and some
servers that cannot handle messages in these formats. These messages come in as utter gibberish
or in the worst case and crash the e-mail client. If you absolutely and positively feel that it is good
to use HTML e-mail, stick with the default fonts and simple formatting.
19. Identify yourself very clearly: Identify yourself very clearly particularly when you are
writing to someone whom you do not know in person or outside your organization. If you do not

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mention your name ( in informal communication ) and the name of your organization ( in formal
communication) clearly, the recipient may not like to try to recognize you and read your email.
Nobody wants to reply to a unanimous email or an email without a signature or any other
identification. Therefore, be specific in writing your name or your blog or the website so that the
recipient immediately recognizes the email. Jerz writes in his literacy blog: “You should write a
signature line that includes your full name and at least a link to a blog or online profile
pagesomething that does not require your recipient to log in first.”
20. Don’t use sexist language: Writing in a sexist language could turn a female reader off in this
age of feminist quest for equality because a woman aspires to pursue and maintain a distinct
identity of her own. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid writing in sexist overtones in email writings
too. Choose either ‘he/she’ or everybody/everyone/one or use the plural forms of pronouns such
as they, them their etc.
Guiding principles for common etiquettes: Besides following the guiding principles for
composing emails as mentioned above, one needs to observe some common etiquettes whiling
maintaining and operating an email account:
Reply immediately: Emails should be responded as soon as possible or they come in notice. If
the matter needs a detailed perusal, consideration or some other time consuming action, an interim
reply acknowledging the receipt of the message and assuring detailed response later on may be
immediately sent. Sometimes it is not possible to reply all emails received, in such cases, pick out
the emails you need to respond and reply them immediately. Never keep the sender in suspense or
dark for long and tell him/her whatever the response.
Avoid circulating a copy of the mail to everybody: Don’t send a copy of the email you receive
to all and sundry on your own. People do not like to get unnecessary emails in their mailbox. The
copy of the email should be sent to only those persons who are concerned to the email. In formal
communication you are supposed to send or forward the copy of the email to related officials or
parties. Circulating emails to all is a sheer nuisance and generally irritates busy professionals.
Answer all queries: Try to answer all queries asked. But remember that you are free to answer all
those queries that have not been asked but they are likely to be asked by the writer in future.

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Receiving an answer for the questions that are answered even before they are asked makes a reader
appreciate the concern and the emotional intelligence shown by the writer. This certainly helps us
display our caring attitude for others and generates a sense of gratitude in them.
Be aware of jargon: Like every other domain, email writings have also developed a jargon of
their own. Though using jargon in language is not desirable, yet we need to be acquainted with the
common jargon used by email writers so that we are aware of the terminology employed. For
example, BOT: It is a part of software that acts on behalf of a person; MAILBOT: It is a piece of
software that automatically replies to a n email; LISTBOT: It is a piece of software that manages
the distribution list; BOUNCE: It is a message that returns to the sender because of some
configuration problem or because of some error in typing the address of the receiver’s address;
PING: It is a test to see whether the other person is available online; LURK: It is reading messages
unanimously; SPAM: Unsolicited emails sent to many people simultaneously; used as commercial
advertisements; FLAME: Emails that contain hostile messages; and many others like these.
Keep deleting redundant messages: Ideally we should delete all the redundant messages.
However, the messages that we need to refer to in future and are likely to be used for record
purposes should not be deleted.
Never send this information by email: According to a report of Purdue OWL Online Writing
Lab: “ Most people do not realize that email is not as private as it may seem. Without additional
setup, email is not encrypted; meaning that your email is "open" and could possibly be read by an
unintended person as it is transmitted to your reader. With that in mind, never send the following
information over email:
Usernames and passwords
Credit card or other account information
Additionally, avoid sensitive or information that could be potentially damaging to
someone's career and/or reputation, including your own. Beyond email's general lack
of security and confidentiality, your recipient can always accidentally hit the Forward button, leave
her email account open on a computer, or print and forget that she's printed a copy of your email.”

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What are L. A. HILL’s guiding principles of good writing?
Leslie A. Hill’s guiding principles of good writing can be summarized as follows:
1. To write well, you have to be able to write clearly and logically, and you cannot do
this unless you can think clearly and logically.
2. To increase your vocabulary and to improve your powers of expression, you
should read widely and carefully, and keep a notebook in which to write down
words and expressions that particularly strike you.
3. Use a good dictionary to help you with the exact meanings and uses of words.
4. Writing is 99% hard work and 1% inspiration.
5. You have to know exactly what type of reader you are writing for, and what kind
of things interest such a reader.
6. Presentation is of great importance in good writing. Your opening paragraph
should arrest the reader’s attention and show him what you are writing about and
why?
7. The main body of your piece of writing should collect together and present the
ideas promised in the first paragraph, or give good arguments to support the view
put forward there. You should come to the point at once, say what you promised to
say, avoiding irrelevant material, and then finish.
8. Your last paragraph or sentence should bring what you have written to a neat,
satisfying end, leaving the reader with a clear idea of what you have been saying.
9. To write interestingly, you must yourself be intensely interested in what you are
writing, and you must convey this feeling of eagerness to your readers.
10. Don’t strive to create an impression. Forget about yourself, think only of the
reader, and write naturally, avoiding self-consciousness.
11. It is best to write simply and in a conversational tone.
12. Clean, plain English is the fashion these days, and an elaborate, decorated stule is
quite out of date.
13. Avoid jargon and officialese, hackneyed expressions, rhetorical flourishes, empty
verbiage and circumlocutions.

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14. Prefer the concrete to the abstract word whenever possible, be definite, call a spade
a spade, and avoid euphemisms.
15. Use the same style throughout whatever you are writing. A mixture of styles is
absurd.
16. Read your work over critically after you have finished it, replacing weak, vague,
inexact words by others which say just what you mean.
In the light of above mentioned sum and substance of Leslie A. Hill’s “Guiding
Principles of Good Writing”, if we study the guiding principles for composing
emails and those for common etiquettes as written in the research article, we shall
find that the latter are simply the enlargement with some modifications of the basic
ideas propounded by Hill.
Conclusion
Emails have come to be used widely throughout the world today. It is one of the most
convenient ways to contact people in any part of the world for business or personal communication.
Communication through emails has its own advantages and disadvantages. Emails also have their
own set of vocabulary, jargon and etiquettes. It is prudent to be aware of the email writing
etiquettes. Learning how to use emails effectively will definitely go a long way in helping one to
develop good communication skills. It is also worthwhile knowing the security issues involved, so
that we are able to make best use of this wonderful mode of communication. Since there are no
universally or traditionally accepted conventions in email writing and people tend to write emails
the way they want, there is a need for establishing a standard format for email writing that can be
universally accepted. Simultaneously, a standard code for writing acronyms in emails should also
be developed that can be universally understood and used without any ambiguity and confusion.
References
Guffy, Mary Ellen. Essentials of Business Communication. USA: Melissa Acuna, 2004.

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01. Krizoan, a. c. ET AL. Effective Business Communication. New Delhi: Cengage Learning,
2008.
02. Lata, Pushp and Sanjay Kumar. Communication Skills. Oxford University Press, 2011.
03. Raman Meenakshi and Sharma Sangeeta, Technical Communication Principles and
Practice. Oxford University Press, 2011.
04. Locker Kitty O. and Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek. Business Communication. New Delhi:
Tata McGraw-Hill, 2007.
05. Rizvi, M. Ashraf. Effective Technical Communication. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-
Hill,2005.
06. Sharma R. C. and Krishna Mohan. Business Correspondence and Report Writing. Third
edition, New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2010.
07. Angell, Pamela. Business Communication Design. New York: Irwin/Mcgraw-Hill, 2004.
08. https://www.udemy.com/blog/email-writing -skills
09. www.thinksimplenow.com/productivity/15-tips -for writing-effective -emails
10. www.jerz.setonhill.edu writing E-text
11. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/636/01
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A Holistic Approach To Emailing Etiquettes

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