Parts of a Business Letter
Read this overview of the basic parts of a business letter.
Letterhead: Often companies have paper stock that has the companies’ address and branding information and logo that all correspondence is printed on.
Date: This should always be the day the letter was typed unless otherwise requested.
Inside address: This is the address of the individual or party to whom you will send the letter.
Salutation/Greeting: This is usually a formal greeting and a title should be included, such as Mr., Ms., Dr., etc. (e.g. Dear Mr. Smith, or Dear Ms. Johnson). First names are usually not used with written correspondence as written letters are considered “formal” documents.
Body of the letter: This is the letter itself. There is no indenting of the first line of each paragraph. Spacing is only used between each paragraph. Allow the computer to wrap the text according to the margin settings. This is not a typewriter, so you do not have to hit ENTER at the end of each line. The computer does that automatically.
Complimentary closing: Most often this is "Sincerely," but "Best Regards" is sometimes used.
Name of person and title: This is the name of the person responsible for the content of the letter and that person’s job title. It is typed out below the signature, because often a signature cannot be read.
Typist’s initials: This is the person responsible for typing and formatting the letter, not for the content of what the letter says.
Enclosure and/or cc: If other documents are going to be included in the envelope with the letter, then the word "Enclosure" or "Enclosures" (if there is more than one) needs to be included after the typist’s initials to inform the reader to look for those documents. If the letter is also being copied to another person, a cc: would be included under the word "Enclosure." You should include the names of any people who will receive the copy after the cc, such as cc: Joan Brackletter.
It would look like this:
Enclosure
cc: Joan Brackletter, Pradeep Junkta