Chapter 26: Writing for the Workplace Summary

Chapter 26: Writing for the Workplace Summary

This chapter can be very helpful to anyone who reads it. It is all about how to write properly for the workplace. It thoroughly goes through how you can write a business letter. The parts to a business letter are as follows: heading, inside address, salutation, body complimentary closing, signature, initials, enclosure, and copies. Everyone needs to know how to write a business letter at sometime or another in their life. For myself, I knew certain parts of the business letter format, but not all, so this was very useful for me to read. I had no idea about the proper way to address the reader in the letter. I did not know you should never assume and write Miss or Mrs., but that you should leave it as Mr. or Ms. I also did not know about putting initials on the bottom of the letter for the writer and the person who types the letter for the writer.

Also in this chapter you learn a bit about how to properly write a memo and an email. I knew a lot about this section of the chapter, but it was a great refresher. I think it is important to remember when writing a memo and/or an email you should keep it clear and to the point. This makes it easy for the reader to understand what you are trying to communicate and whether or not it is important for the reader to keep and/ or respond to.

I find the most important parts of this chapter to be the section regarding “applying for a job.” This section of the chapter goes over the application letter or cover letter, the recommendation request letter, the application essay and how to prepare a resume. Especially as a college student who will be soon looking for a new career, I found all this information very useful. Your cover letter is very important. It introduces you to the potential employer and highlights information you want to stand out from your resume. When asking an employer or instructor to write a recommendation letter for you, you must do it properly. It is best to follow this outline: a situation, explanation and an action. You want to remind the reader of your relationship and ask them to write a recommendation letter for you. It is important to then describe the work you did for the reader and the type of job in which you are applying for. Then you should include what he recommendation letter should include and where and when to send it.

You may be asked to write an application essay when applying for admission to a program, trying to gain a scholarship, or research a grant. Whatever the reason for writing, you want to understand what you are being asked to write and why and focus on the instructions given on how to write your letter. You always want to be honest with yourself and your reader. You want to think about your purpose and audience. You want to develop your essay with flowing organization in having an attention grabbing introduction, a body that develops your thesis and a conclusion that stresses a positive point, looking forward to participating in the program, internship, or position. You need to write personally, but professionally and always refine your work to make a flawless final draft. In preparing an essay, you need to include your personal data, such as, your name, address, phone numbers and email address. You want to have a job objective, list your skills summary, experience, education and other experiences, such as volunteer work, awards, achievements, licenses and certifications.

This is definitely a chapter to refer back to when I, or anyone, is searching a career and in need of writing a cover letter and resume and obtaining some recommendation letters.