by Nadya Putri Tanjung 09.24 0 komentar Home Work!

Styles Format Business Letter

The Styles of Business Letters (Layouts of Business Letters) have undergone changes over the period of time. In the old times, the style was followed strictly. But recently liberty has been given to the business people to follow their own styles. Although no room was allowed for deviation form the standard form an effective letter during old days, the letters written then was more effective. There are still many business houses which use the old layout. But things have become much easier and business people have taken liberty in their approach towards adopting the layout of their business letters.

1. Full Block

Full block format is considered the most formal of the three styles. In full block format or style, every line is left justified. The dateline is placed two to six line spaces below the last line of the heading or letterhead. The inside address placement varies depending upon the length of the letter. A common spacing is four line spaces below the date line. The salutation is placed two lines below the attention line (if an attention line is provided). The first line of the body is placed two lines below an attention line or two to four lines below the last inside address line. When using full block, paragraphs are single spaced, with a double space between paragraphs.

2. Block Style

The block style is also known as the Full block style. In this style, all elements of the letter are justified to the left.

This business letter style is becoming very common, for the obvious reason that typing in this manner is easier, especially on a computer.

3. Semi Block Style

Semi-block format or style is frequently called modified semi-block because it is a slightly less formal modification of full block format. This letter style places the date line in alignment with, or slightly to the right of dead center. Another option for placing the date line in semi-block is flush right. Similar to full block, semi-block places the inside address, salutation and any end notations flush with the left margin. However, unlike full block, each body paragraph of semi-block is indented five spaces. The complimentary close and signature block are aligned under the date.

4. Indented Style

Indented style is somewhat more complicated than other popular styles of business writing. In indented style, new paragraphs in a piece of writing are indented that is, they begin about 1.5 centimeters to the right of the left margin. Other parts of a business letter are moved farther to the right half of the page. Indented style is one of the older formats for business writing currently in use, though other formats are becoming more popular. Indented style is a format that many of today’s business people were trained to use.

5. Simplified Style

Simplified format or style unlike full block and semi-block has fewer internal parts. This format is also the most widely used format in professional correspondence. Simplified format is focused and professional without unnecessary formality. Simplified format places all internal parts in left alignment; however, the traditional salutation is replaced with an all-caps subject line that is also placed flush with the left margin. Body paragraphs are left aligned and single spaced within and double spaced between. In simplified style, the writer’s name and title, if necessary, are aligned with the left margin and typed in all caps at least five spaces below the last line of the body or message of the letter.

6. Hanging Indented Style

A hanging indented letter style is when a paragraph is indented so that the first line hangs over the rest. Normally you would see a first line indent. This is when the first line is moved to the right and the rest of the paragraph starts at the margin. The most common place hanging indents are used is on a bibliography reference page. When typing you can change the indentation by either formatting the paragraph or changing the page margins.

Part of Business Letter

An official letter is a letter that is often used in official, organizational, institutional, or work. This letter is categorized as the most commonly used in everyday life when dealing with certain institutions or institutions. But do not forget to make an official letter always pay attention to the center line so that the official letter looks neat and accepted by the agency or institution because this official letter is not messy.

Part of the letter in the form of official business letter sections:

1. Letter Head

The head of the letter is often called the Letterhead. Located at the top of a letter. letter head also had identity that contains the logo, name, address of the sender of the letter.

Example of Letter Head :

2. Date Line

The date of the letter serves to inform the recipient of the letter when the letter was written. The date of the letter is located at the top right of the reader letter. In writing the date the name of the month cannot be abbreviated or written in numbers. Must be clear and complete. In writing dates are divided into two types, namely using the style of writing British Style and American Style. Example:

- British style

08th December 2011

British style writing style is the same as the date writing style in Indonesian style. It's just that the British style adds suffix numbers such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. The date position is located on the top right of the letter.

- American style

September 07, 2011

Date writing style American style month name is placed in the starting position followed by the date ending in comma and year. Date position is located on the top left of the letter.

3. Number of Letter

The letter number includes the serial number of the letter, letter code and year number.

Example :

Number : 026/D2/2006

Number : 121/OSIS/I/2007

4. Subject Line
Regarding making the recipient of the letter easier to find the purpose of the letter, such as Invitation, Apology, and so forth. This is an optional part of the business letter, meaning that we can include it or not.

Writing the subject using British Style: The subject is placed between salutation and the contents of the letter.

Example :

Writing subject using American Style: Subject is placed above salutation.

Example :

5. Attachment

Attaching means including something with another. The attachment is an explanation of the number of documents included in the letter. Thus, if the document is one sheet, then one sheet must be mentioned; if the document consists of one file, we need to state one file. If this attachment is inserted, the sender needs to notify the recipient by writing ENC., Enc., Or enc.

Example :

Attachment : one paper

Attachment : two papers

6. Inside Address
This section contains the name of the receipt of the letter, the office, and the name of the company accompanied by the address. If you are not sure who (name) the letter is intended, do not empty it, but try to use its position, such as "Director of Human Resources". Give the distance between the date and the recipient.

Example :

7. Salutation

In this section, the term used is "Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. (last name of acceptance) ", for example" Dear Mr. Fathoni ". But if the recipient's name is unknown, write the name of the department, for example "Dear Director of Department of Human Resources". Give the distance between the opening greeting and the contents.

For business partners who are already familiar with each other, they usually write with "Dear Sue". The use of punctuation marks on salutation using British Style is written without punctuation (semicolon or comma) and in American Style using a colon.

- Dear Mr. Krisman => example in British Style

- Dear Mr. Krisman: => example in American Style

8. Body of Letter
The contents of the letter is a place where you write down what you want to convey. In general, the contents of the official letter are divided into three parts, namely the opening paragraph, the content, and the closing age.

a. Opening Paragraph

The opening theme serves as an introduction to the subject matter to be conveyed. In this case, references or letter numbers are very important. Usually, the opening sentence starts with phrases like "thank you for your letter ...", "together this ...", "with regard to ......".

b.  Message

Content must be related to the opening paragraph. What is stated in this paragraph must be related to the introduction presented earlier in the opening paragraph. For this reason, the content with the opening paragraph requires conjunctions such as in connection with the above, with regard to the above, relating to it.

c.  Closing

The closing is also used to show the actions or steps that the writer wants to do in the future. The closing generally contains a thank you or expression of appreciation.

9. Complimentary Close

The closing greeting of a letter's contents serves to show the author's respect. The initial letters of the closing greetings are written in capital letters, while the other words are written in lowercase letters. After the closing greeting, a comma was affixed. The closing greetings are usually the words "Yours Faithfully", "Yours Truly", "Yours Sincerely".

The closing is divided into 2 types, namely English style and American style.

For example :

-   Britsh style : Dear Madam, Dear Sirs, Dear Mr, Dear Miss, Dear Mrs, Yours Sincerely, Sincerely,

With Best Wishes.

-   American style : Sir, Madam, Gentlemen, Your Obedient Servant, Sincerely Yours.

10. Position Name

The sender of the letter is the person who wrote or who delivered the letter. In a business letter it will be better if the sender's name is equipped with a personal identity, namely the position, employee's master number, and stamp. Example: Director of PT. Antariksa Sukamaju

11. Signature

In the form of the author's signature located on the lower right side of the letter reader as a form of accountability.

12. Name of The Writer Identification

Listed below the signature with the initial letter written in capital letters, without parentheses.

13. Enclosure or Copies

The writing of this section copies the function to explain other parties or agencies that get the letter. Usually we find the words "cc".

Enc.
cc.President Director

14. Page of Letter/Initial

a. Head of Letter (Letter Agency)

b. Neck Letter (Letter Identity)

c. Letter Body (Explanation of Letter)

d. Foot Letters (Letter Source)

At the bottom left of the letter is often found abbreviations or initials, for example Jk / AJ. The initials are the names of letter abbreviations and typists.

For example, for Jk, the initials of the name of the conceptist named Joko and Aj are the initials of the typist Asep juanda.

The inclusion of such initials is sometimes considered important as an identification if one day there are certain parties who need them. For example, if the letter is wrong or unclear, the official who signed the letter can contact the person whose initials are listed in the letter. Thus, the initials are useful for internal purposes. Therefore, the initials should be simply abbreviated.