Email Communication

This is a GREAT read and I thought I might share. Especially for those who struggle with this newer way to communicate. What might she be talking about? Email! Yup; you guessed it. Check out these usurps that I read in one of my Christian Leadership courses. And see if it helps you as much as it did myself

PART 1

Effective E-mail Communication

What this handout is about

This handout is intended to help students, faculty, and University professionals learn to communicate more effectively using e-mail. It can help you determine when e-mail is and is not an efficient way of communicating and write e-mail that successfully conveys your message to your intended audience.

Background

Although e-mail is a valuable communication tool, its widespread use in academic and business settings has introduced some new challenges for writers.

Because it is a relatively new form of communication, basic social conventions for writing and responding to e-mail are still being worked out. Miscommunication can easily occur when people have different expectations about the e-mails that they send and receive. In addition, e-mail is used for many different purposes, including contacting friends, communicating with professors and supervisors, requesting information, and applying for jobs, internships, and scholarships. Depending on your purposes, the messages you send will differ in their formality, intended audience, and desired outcome. Finally, the use of e-mail for advertising purposes has clogged communication channels, preventing some e-mails from reaching their intended audience. Writers are challenged to make their e-mail stand apart from "spam” and to grab and hold the attention of their audience.

So--how do you know when sending an e-mail is the most effective way of getting your message across? When is a brief message o.k., and when it is more appropriate to send a longer, more professional-sounding e-mail? How should a writer decide what style of writing is appropriate for each task? How can you prevent your e-mail from ending up in the junk pile? Keep reading for answers to these questions!

When is e-mail the appropriate form of communication to use?

E-mail is a good way to get your message across when:

You need to get in touch with a person who is hard to reach via telephone, does not come to campus regularly, or is not located in the same part of the country or world (for instance, someone who lives in a different time zone).
The information you want to share is not time-sensitive. The act of sending an e-mail is instantaneous, but that does not mean the writer can expect an instantaneous response. For many people, keeping up with their e-mail correspondence is a part of their job, and they only do it during regular business hours. Unless your reader has promised otherwise, assume that it may take a few days for him/her to respond to your message.

You need to send someone an electronic file, such as a document for a course, a spreadsheet full of data, or a rough draft of your paper.

You need to distribute information to a large number of people quickly (for example, a memo that needs to be sent to the entire office staff).
You need a written record of the communication. Saving important e-mails can be helpful if you need to refer back to what someone said in an earlier message, provide some kind of proof (for example, proof that you have paid for a service or product), or review the content of an important meeting, deadline, memo.

(stay tuned for part 2)