How to Write a Letter

The key to how to write a letter whether it is a formal letter, personal letter or cover letter is to communicate in the clearest way possible.

In the modern age consisting of email, contact forms, social networking and IM (instant messaging) writing a letter may seem like an out of date form of communication that is carried out by older generations, but there are advantages to sitting down and expressing yourself in paper format. Whether you are looking to send a quick note to a friend in the form of a personal letter or are composing an important formal letter to a figure of authority, writing a letter on paper shows effort, respect and care for other not to mention a personal touch.

How to Write a Letter Guide

The following how to write a letter guide will take you step by step through the process of general letter writing. This how to write a letter guide is designed to provide general letter writing guidelines for all types of letter, if you are looking for more specific information on different types of letters please visit the relevant sections of this website.

Plan your letter before you write it, think about what you want to say in your letter and put it down in bullet points or a spider diagram. If you are hand writing a letter you may want to consider writing a draft before you write the final version to avoid making any mistakes.

When you get to actually writing the letter place all of the information that the reader will want to know at the beginning of the letter, before you even begin to write the letter itself. If you are writing to someone you are familiar with, you will not need much except the date, which will let your acquaintance know when the letter was sent. If you are writing a formal letter, the reader may not even know who wrote the letter so it is important that you include all of your contact information at the top of the letter. To find out how to correctly layout a formal letter, please take a look at our Free Guide to Writing Formal Letters.

Your letter should be started with a greeting which should start on the left side of the page, The most widely used opening is "Dear" followed by the person's first name (if it is someone that you know) or surname (if it is someone that you are not particularly familiar with) followed by a comma. If you are writing a very formal letter to someone that you don't know then "Dear Sirs," would be the correct greeting. For a more casual greeting in personal letters, you might decide to use "Hello (name), or "Hi (name)".

The opening paragraph of your letter should be tailored depending on the recipient. If the letter is personal, you might decide to begin with something informal such as, "How's it going?" or a simple "How are you?". If it is a formal letter, you should be direct in your opening paragraph and explain why you are writing the letter. You should summarise the purpose of the letter and write in a clear manner so that the reader will be able to understand you.

The body of your letter will in most cases be the most unique part of your letter. As a general rule of thumb most business letters should be no more than two pages long, but personal letters can be as long or as short as you want them to be. The two most important features of the body of your letter are that you write in a clear and concise way and that you ensure that each paragraph is engaging.

You should use the closing paragraph of your letter to indicate the type of response you are looking to obtain. If you would like a letter in return, you may decide to write something like, "I look forward to your response" or, if you prefer a phone call/email, write "Please feel free to contact me via email/telephone".

You should include an expression to say farewell (a known as a valediction or complimentary close) for example "Thanks" ,"Cheers", or "Talk soon" selecting the correct farewell depending on the formality of the letter. This closing should be aligned to the left of the page and you should sign your name underneath, then print your name under your signature.

Tips for How to Write a Successful Letter

The UK Postal Service generally prefers if you do not decorate the front of the envelope, as it can interfere with their mailing system. If you want to use pictures, decorative stamps or stickers, place them on the back of the envelope out of main view.

If you are writing a formal letter you should pay particular attention to what you are writing, and try to be as polite as possible. This is especially true when writing a complaint letter, where you do not want to anger the reader as it may result an unsatisfactory response. If you take care to be polite, you may receive more generosity.

I hope that you have found this how to write a letter guide useful. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to contact us.