Peralta Associates
people skills for a global economy

Tip #1 Avoid long sentences with multiple ideas.
Cover one question, one answer, or one announcement at a time. Try not to use too many "ands" or "ors." Use no more than 15 words per sentence.

Tip #2 Order your ideas to help the reader.
Number or bullet segments. Use words such as "first", "next", and "last" to organize ideas into understandable sequences.

Tip #3 Avoid vague descriptions.
Avoid using vague descriptors such as "a few", "a lot", or "huge." Be as precise as possible: "I will be arriving in London on October 5 (not "soon") and I will be staying there for five days (not "about a week").

Tip #4 Spell out abbreviations and acronyms.
Readers may have a hard time understanding abbreviations such as FYI, ASAP, CA,HRD,or COB.

Tip #5 Avoid idioms, slang, sarcasm, sports terminology, jargon, or doublespeak.
Most students learn "textbook" English and may be unfamiliar with colloquial American English or references to U.S. popular culture.

Tip #6 Be careful when referring to units of measurement.
Specify monetary units such as USD for U.S. dollars and use metric measurements whenever possible.

Tip #7 Remember that words may have multiple meanings.
For example, "replace" can mean "to exchange" or "to put back."

Tip #8 Make sure phone numbers listed can be used internationally.
Toll free numbers cannot be called outside of the United States. List the appropriate country code prefixes ("01" for the U.S.)and area codes for all phone and fax numbers.

Tip #9 Spell out which actions, with appropriate deadlines, you wish the reader to take.
"Please send me Territory 5's sales report for March 2002 no later than April 6, 2002 5:00pm U.S. Eastern Standard Time."

Tip #10 Provide the reader with as much follow-up information as possible.
Include full names, titles, addresses, urls, references, and background materials.