Email etiquette refers to a set of dos and don'ts that are recommended by business and communication experts in response to the growing concern that people are not using their email effectively or appropriately. Since email is part of the virtual world of communication, many people communicate in their email messages the same way they do in virtual chat rooms: with much less formality and sometimes too aggressively. Email etiquette offers some guidelines that all writers can use to facilitate better communication between themselves and their readers. One overall point to remember is that an email message does not have non-verbal expression to supplement what we are "saying." Most of the time we make judgments about a person's motives and …show more content…

Consider the presentation of your message: Writing in all uppercase letters tends to convey anger or shouting. Breaking up text using short lines and paragraphs and spaces is helpful in keeping your message readable. Using lists and indentation helps make your points stand out clearly.
When sending an email pay attention to the distribution list before forwarding received mail to someone else. The recipient might have a copy of that item already. It is important to balance informing those who need to know with sending information to too many people. Send a carbon copy (cc :) to those who may be affected by your message or who may have information or suggestions to add. Do not forward or edit an email message without the original sender's consent. As Harris puts it "Use some kind of visual indication to distinguish between text quoted from the original message and your new text - this makes the reply much easier to follow." (Harris 2). This is particularly important in the case where the sender may consider the contents sensitive. If you don't understand a particular item, ask the sender for clarification before replying to an incorrect conclusion. In a reply, include the relevant parts of the original message for clarity, but keep the quotations to a minimum. Otherwise, simply attach the original message. Cite your information clearly and correctly, even if you are paraphrasing. When ending an email always