Judy C.

Lagura
English 227
2:30 – 3:30 pm

FACT SHEET

Report title: Writing effective letter

Topics: 1. Determine the purpose of the letter

2. Determine the audience of letter
3. Keeping your letter short
4. Writing with the You-attitude
5. Organizing your writing

I. DETERMINE THE PURPOSE OF THE LETTER

- a purpose statement is a declarative sentence which summarizes the specific
topic and goals of a document.

To be effective, a statement purpose should be:

- Specific and precise
- Concise
- Clear
- Goal Oriented

II. DETERMNE THE AUDIENCE OF LETTER

- identifying your audience should do more than just cause you to make sure the
terms you use are clear. It should help you focus on the reader's needs.

III. KEEPING YOUR LETTER SHORT

IV. WRITING WITH THE YOU-ATTITUDE

- the “you-attitude,” a writing style and a philosophy, places the reader’s interests
foremost in your writing. It is based on the principle that the readers are more
concerned about their own needs than they are about yours.

You attitude principles involve more than using you and your; it means seeing from the
reader’s viewpoint and seeing reader benefits, and writing accordingly.

The following you-attitude principles:

- look at situations from the reader’s perspective
- emphasize what the reader wants to know
- respect the reader’s intelligence
- protect the reader’s ego
 To apply the you-attitude, use the following techniques:
- write with a specific purpose in mind, but focus not on what you will gain but on
what the reader receives, wants, or can do.
- refer to the reader’s request or order specifically.
- anticipate, but don’t presume to know how a reader will react or feel.
- when writing to a person, highlight them or in other words, choose the second-
person point of view over first or third.
- conversely, in negative situations, avoid the word “you.” Protect the reader’s
ego by using more impersonal expressions and passive verbs to avoid assigning
blame.
- emphasize the positive by replacing words that contain negative connotations or
denotations.
- make information accessible: organize and format more, according to
established conventions; include clear topic sentences in all paragraphs; and for
long documents, use headings to separate sections.
- write clearly and briefly: avoid jargon, inflated vocabulary, wordiness, and
unnecessary information.
- don’t hope your reader infers correctly. Explain explicitly the significance and/or
relevance or your information.

V. ORGANIZING YOUR WRITING