Layout of Business Letter
1. Letter Head
Position of the letter head at part top of the letter. The contents of the letter head usually contains company’s address, company’s telephone number, company’s logo, corporate e-mail, the company’s website, and other the most important information about of company.
2. Date Line
The date line is used to indicate the date the letter was written. However, if your letter is completed over a number of days, use the date it was finished in the date line. When writing to companies within the United States, use the American date format. (The United States-based convention for formatting a date places the month before the day. For example: November 3, 2012. ) Write out the month, day and year two inches from the top of the page. Depending which format you are using for your letter, either left justify the date or tab to the center point and type the date.
3. Inside Address
The inside address is the recipient's address. It is always best to write to a specific individual at the firm to which you are writing. If you do not have the person's name, do some research by calling the company or speaking with employees from the company. Include a personal title such as Ms., Mrs., Mr., or Dr. Follow a woman's preference in being addressed as Miss, Mrs., or Ms. If you are unsure of a woman's preference in being addressed, use Ms. If there is a possibility that the person to whom you are writing is a Dr. or has some other title, use that title. Usually, people will not mind being addressed by a higher title than they actually possess. To write the address, use the U.S. Post Office Format. For international addresses, type the name of the country in all-capital letters on the last line. The inside address begins one line below the sender's address or one inch below the date. It should be left justified, no matter which format you are using.
Example :
Mr. Muhammad Miftah Firdaus, S.Kom
IT Manager
PT. Ragam Media Teknologi Indonesia
4. Reference Line
Some companies, especially big ones, Dixie says, have a system of tracking letters by chronological numbers, employee initials, department codes/numbers or whatever else they choose. This is what they put in the reference line. Or sometimes you can include the reference line in your letter to refer to the information specifically requested by the recipient, such as a job reference or invoice number. The reference is typed on one or two lines, immediately below the date. This means it is typed to the right of the center in the modified block and indented business letter layouts. Dixie says you can also refer in the reference line to the letter you are replying to, if you wish.
Example :
Re: Your letter dated 09/08/2012
5. Salutation
Use the same name as the inside address, including the personal title. If you know the person and typically address them by their first name, it is acceptable to use only the first name in the salutation (for example: Dear Lucy:). In all other cases, however, use the personal title and last/family name followed by a colon. Leave one line blank after the salutation.
If you don’t know a reader’s gender, use a nonsexist salutation, such as their job title followed by the receiver’s name. It is also acceptable to use the full name in a salutation if you cannot determine gender.
Example :
Dear Mr. Chris
6. Subject Line
A subject line is not really necessary. You may want to use one, however, so that the reader immediately knows what your letter is about. There are three common methods to distinguish the subject line from the body of the letter:
- Use “Subject:” or “Re:”
- Type the subject in bold letters
- Type the subject in capital letters
7. Body of Letter
For block and modified block formats, single space and left justify each paragraph within the body of the letter. Leave a blank line between each paragraph. When writing a business letter, be careful to remember that conciseness is very important. In the first paragraph, consider a friendly opening and then a statement of the main point. The next paragraph should begin justifying the importance of the main point. In the next few paragraphs, continue justification with background information and supporting details. The closing paragraph should restate the purpose of the letter and, in some cases, request some type of action.
8. Complimentary Close
The most common complimentary use :
Sincerely
or
Respectfully yours (very formal)
Yours faithfully (UK for business letters that begin with Dear Sir, Dear Sirs, Dear Madam, Dear Sir or Madam)
Very truly yours (polite and neutral for the US)
Cordially yours (quite informal)
9. Signature
Leave four blank lines after the complimentary close to sign your name. This is a rule Dixie would advise to stick to unless you have very little space, but three is a minimum. Sign your name between the complimentary close and your printed name. Dixie hopes you like her tidy signature above. Title is optional depending on relevancy and degree of formality.
Example :
Muhammad Miftah Firdaus
10. Enclosure
If you have enclosed any documents along with the letter, such as a resume, you indicate this simply by typing Enclosures one line below the closing. As an option, you may list the name of each document you are including in the envelope. For instance, if you have included many documents and need to ensure that the recipient is aware of each document, it may be a good idea to list the names.
Example :
Curriculum Vitae
11. Postscript
A brief message appended to the end of a letter (following the signature) or other text. A postscript is usually introduced by the letters P.S.
12. Carbon Copy
Students often ask Dixie what ‘CC’ in the email stands for and Dixie tells them that ‘CC’ can be part of a business letter as well. When asked about ‘CC’ Dixie immediately pictures in her mind carbon paper that was very widely used for making copies not so long ago. Carbon paper is on the way of disappearing but it looks like ‘CC’ from ‘carbon copies’ will remain in business correspondence for a long time.
A lot of humans and cats nowadays prefer to state that ‘CC’ means ‘courtesy copy/copies’ though. Some companies started using ‘PC’ instead of ‘CC’, where ‘PC’ stands for photocopy.
The ‘CC’ notation usually includes names of people to whom you distribute copies, sometimes you could include their addresses as well. ‘CC’ is typed at the end of the letter after enclosure notations or identification initials.
Example :
CC: Robin
Reference :
http://www.blurtit.com/q615794.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/653/01/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_letter
