Workshop for Resident Assistants
Paul Drosnes
October 29th, 2015
https://youtu.be/MHuBrsPRUI8
Professional Communication
Techniques: E-mail

E-Mails
How many e-mails do you send/receive in day?
What are the most common purposes for your e-mails?
When is an e-mail the best option for correspondence?
What problems have you experienced with e-mail?
http://www.talkenglish.com/LessonDetails.aspx?ALID=463
Professional & Social

E-mail
 5 Main Components
1. Subject (Always write a subject!)
 + Sender/Recipient contact information + date and time of
message (automatic)
2. Opening
 Tell why you are writing
3. Focus
 Get to the main point
4. Action
 Tell what should happen next
 What will you do? What should they do?
5. Closing
 Be positive

Compare the following sets of message openers.
Choose the more direct opening.
Create a subject line for the message.
 An e-mail requesting information about creating a
Facebook presence:
A. We want to start a group page on Facebook, but we are not
sure how to ensure visibility and participation, and we worry
about the privacy risks and student safety. We have many
questions and would like information about Facebook and
social media in general.
B. Please answer the following questions about creating a
group page on Facebook and protecting our members from
intrusions and malicious attacks.
 Subject Line:

Compare the following sets of message openers.
Choose the more direct opening.
Create a subject line for the message.
 An e-mail announcing a new tutoring program:
A. Those interested in enrolling in our new tutoring
program are invited to an orientation meeting on
November15.
B. For several years we have studied the possibility of
offering a tutoring option for those students who are
struggling academically. Until recently, our
administrative team was unable to agree on the exact
parameters of this benefit, but now some of you will be
able to take advantage of this option.
 Subject Line:

Compare the following sets of message openers.
Choose the more direct opening.
Create a subject line for the message.
 An e-mail message announcing a student satisfaction
survey:
 We have noticed recently increased absences among our
students. We are concerned about this troubling development
and would like to study its causes. We have asked the
counseling center to gauge the attitudes of our students in
confidential qualitative interviews.
 The counseling center will soon conduct in-depth qualitative
interviews to explore the satisfaction among our students and
recommend strategies to stem the tide of recent absences.
 Subject Line:

Compare the following sets of message openers.
Choose the more direct opening.
Create a subject line for the message.
 A message announcing a new procedure:
 It has come to our attention that some students write
blogs, sometimes publicly addressing sensitive
university information. We respect the desire of students
to express themselves and would like to continue
allowing the practice, but we decided to provide binding
rules to ensure the university’s and the bloggers’ safety.
 The following new policy for blog authors will help
students to create posts that will maintain the integrity of
the university’s sensitive information and keep the
writers safe.
 Subject Line:

Asking for and providing
an Email Address
 Email is a daily part of life. Everybody uses email as
a way to communicate quickly.
 Whenever you send an email to an account that
doesn't exist, you get an automated email saying
the mail was not delivered.
 How can you ask to confirm someone’s Email
address?

Symbols & Punctuation
 How would you dictate this email address?
charlieSmith@sales_new-mail.co.uk

Symbols & Punctuation
Symbol Name / Description
charlieSmith “all one word”
c Small / little / lower case c
S Big / capital / upper case S
@ At
_ Underscore
- Hyphen
. Dot
Pronounced: .com, .org, .gov, .biz, info, .net
Spelled: .edu, .int, .co, .uk, .fr, .de
/ Slash
backslash
Now can you use these terms to dictate the email address?
charlieSmith@sales_new-mail.co.uk

High-Skim Techniques
 Break up long paragraphs into itemized lists
 Introduce lists with a complete sentence
 Tell what you are listing and explain the importance
 Use consistent structures within lists
 Grammatical similarity makes the information easier
to understand
 Ex.: All nouns, all verb phrases, all questions

High-Skim Techniques
CORRECT INCORRECT
The list of what I will
need is below.
Please make the
following
arrangements. Here
is what I will require:
 Accommodation for
two nights
 Airport
transportation
 Translator for three
days
I’ll be there for two nights
and need a non-
smoking room. I will
also need to be picked
up at the airport and
would like to have a
translator help me
during my visit.
Please make these
arrangements. We will
need:
 I need transportation
from the airport
 Visiting for two nights
 Non-smoking room
 Arrange for a translator

Attachments
 Explain all attached files within the message
 Inform the audience about the significance of each
attachment
 Specify expected actions and timelines clearly
 Name files clearly
 Use descriptive, abbreviated file names

Reply and Reply All
 When you reply all, it goes out to everyone on the To line and
the CC line. Reply only goes to the sender. When we send
out a mail to many people, you might see a sentence that
says 'little 'r' me'. This means to use the small R instead of the
Big R. That basically means to reply only to me instead of
replying to everyone on the mail thread.
A mail is also referred to as a thread. That is because a mail
can go on back and forth among many people so it becomes
a chain of mail that started from one email.
This next sentence is not a spoken sentence. It's a common
sentence used in email when someone forgets to send to
everyone.
'Resending to include everyone.'
If you see this, that means the person sent a reply to the
sender instead of replying all.

Forwarding Mail
 Sometimes you will need to share a message that
was sent to you with another person.
 You can forward the message to someone who
needs the information, but remember to provide
some introduction to the forwarded message and an
explanation of why it is important to the new
recipient.
 You may also consider changing the subject so the
new audience understands the context

E-Mail Guidelines
1. Don’t send messages in all capital letters. Typing in
all capital letters shows anger or impatience.
2. Try to respond to e-mails immediately. Let the sender
know you’ve received the message. If you don’t have
time to respond completely, send a message saying
when you will be able to respond.
3. Re-read your e-mails before you send them. The
recipient may not understand that you are saying
something in a humorous way, for example.
4. Write a short and specific description of your message
in your subject line.
5. If your e-mail program has a spell-check feature, use
it.

Closing
 Simone Smith Video and Resource
 http://hubpages.com/video/Best-Business-Letter-
Closings-Letter-Closing-Salutations
 57 Ways to Sign-Off on an E-Mail
 http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/09/27/57-
ways-to-sign-off-on-an-email/