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Proofreading Tip:
If you tend to write short, choppy sentences, you should read your
documents aloud to yourself. You should listen for lots of short sentences
in a row. You should listen for repetitive phrases. You should listen for
repetitive sentences. You should combine short sentences into longer
sentences. You should combine repetitive phrases. Your sentences will be
more fluid. Your passages won't sound so choppy. Your writing will be more
coherent. You should vary your sentence structure while you are combining
sentences. You don't want all of your sentences to begin with
"you," do you?
Writing for Social
Services -
Feeling Your Client's Pain
By Dr. Diane Scott
Department of Social Work
As writers who try to capture
what clients say in the most accurate way possible, social workers and
other social services professionals need to document what clients say,
think, and feel following the contact with the worker. Workers often use
the word "feel" interchangeably with "think" and
"believe" when writing what transpires with the client. Using
"feel" universally in this way, however, is incorrect.
Typically, a social worker writes about what a
client feels by using a word that describes a feeling such as
"sad," "angry," "depressed,"
"discouraged," or "overwhelmed." When the worker uses
"feel" to describe what a client thinks or believes, the
sentence construction usually gives away the lack of a feeling word. Take
this sentence, for example: "Sally feels that her mother doesn't
listen to her." The giveaway clue that the writer is not writing
about feelings is the word combination of "feels that." Whenever
"that" is used with "feel," the next phrase refers to
what someone thinks or believes, or it refers to some other cognitive
process.
So, if you write in the social services and want
to convey that you "feel your client's pain," please make sure
you don't "feel THAT your clients have pain." THAT makes it
wrong!
Proofreading
Tip: Watch for typos (especially double letters) and
word-processing/typesetting problems, ssuch as uneven margins,
inconsistent indentions, spacing errors, and defective characters.
BUSINESS
LETTER FORMAT
BLOCK LAYOUT FORM
Click on the picture above for a
closer look.
You can also click on the link to download an Acrobat
file (*.pdf file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) or a Word
file (*.doc file requires Microsoft Word). 
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BUSINESS LETTER
COMPONENTS
Letterhead or Return Address/Heading
Company name or writer's name*
Street address or post office box number
City, state, ZIP code
Area code and phone number*
Cable address or fax*
* Letterhead only
Date Line
Type on third line below letterhead. If
you're using a
Return Address/Heading, the date should be the
third
line of the heading, following the address
(line 1) and
the city, state, and ZIP (line 2). Avoid th,
st, rd, and
nd with the date.
Inside Address
Type on fifth line below date line
Addressee's name and job title, name of
organization,
street address or post office box number, city,
state,
and ZIP.
Salutation/Greeting
Type on second line below inside address
(or
attention line if used). Use "Dear"
before the
addressee's last name. Follow with a colon.
Don't use
"To whom it may concern."
Body
Begin on second line below salutation or
reference
line.
Don't close with "Thanking you in
advance."
Complimentary Closing
Type on second line below last line of
body.
Capitalize only the first word. Punctuate with
a
comma. Avoid trendy closings such as
"Yours for a
better community."
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More Personal |
More
Formal |
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Sincerely, |
Very
truly yours, |
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Cordially, |
Very
sincerely yours, |
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Sincerely yours, |
Very
cordially yours, |
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Cordially yours, |
Respectfully
yours, |
Signature
The signature should be in the form by
which the
writer wishes to be addressed.
A secretary who signs a letter at the
supervisor's
request customarily signs the supervisor's
name,
followed by his/her own initials.
Writer's Name and Title
Type on the fourth line below the
Complimentary
Closing—the name on one line, the title on a
separate
line.
Writers who prefer a particular title or whose
name
does not reval their gender may include a
courtesy
title (Ms., Mr., Mrs., etc.) preceding their
name - with
or without parentheses.
Copy Notation
On the line below the reference initials or
enclosure
notation, type the initials cc (courtesy copy)
or
c (copy) with or without a colon thereafter and
follow
on same line with name of person to receive
copy.
If several people are to receive copies, type
their
names below the first name, arranged by rank
or
alphabetically. Don't repeat cc or c.
Postscript
Use a postscript for emphasis to express
effectively an
idea that you have deliberately withheld from
the body
of the letter.
Second Pages
Use plain paper (never a letterhead), using
same
margins as on first page.
Type a second page heading on the seventh line
down
from top of page, giving
1) addressee's name
2) page number
3) date
Proofreading
Tip: Be especially careful with "firsts":
• the first title, headline, or heading
• the first sentence
• the first paragraph
• the first page
The errors in these places are especially noticeable to readers and
especially embarrassing for writers and publishers.
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