How to layout a letter
Your address
  • Put your address, but not your name on the right hand side of the paper
  • Do not shorten any words like 'Rd' for Road or 'St' for Street
  • If you are hand writing your letter, make sure numbers are clear
    • Your telephone number
  • Put your telephone number below your address (leave a space between the two)
    • Name and address of the person you're writing to
  • Start all lines at the margin
  • Copy the name with care, people do not like their names misspelled
  • If you are writing to a woman (say, Susan Marshall) and you don't know what title she prefers (Mrs/Miss/Ms), address the letter to 'Ms ………' (so, Ms S Marshall)
  • If s/he has a title (eg 'Human Resources Manager') this should go underneath the name
    • The date
  • The order to use is the day, month and year
  • The month is always set out in full: 20 May 2000
  • The abbreviations st, nd, rd and th — 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th are not necessary
  • The year must be shown in full: 2000 not '00

    • The greeting
  • The greeting starts at the margin
  • Leave two or three spaces between the last line of the address and the greeting
  • If you know the person's name write 'Dear Ms or 'Dear Mr' followed by their last name
  • If you do not know the person's name, write 'Dear Sir/Madam'
    • The heading
  • The heading tells the reader what the letter is about (eg the job title)
  • Include the job reference number if there is one
  • Leave a space between the greeting and the heading
  • If you are word processing your letter the heading should be in bold
  • If you are writing it by hand, underline your heading
    Main body of the letter
  • Leave a space between the heading and the main body of your letter
  • If you are word processing your letter, start at the margin and miss a line to start each new paragraph
  • If you are handwriting your letter, indent each paragraph by about 2 cms
    Close
  • Leave a space between the last paragraph of your letter and the close
  • 'Yours' always starts with a capital 'Y'
  • If you began your letter 'Dear Sir/Madam, end with 'Yours faithfully'
  • If you began your letter with the addressee's name ie 'Dear Ms Marshall', end with 'Yours sincerely'. (Note the small letter 'f' or 's' that starts faithfully and sincerely.)
    Your signature
  • You must sign your letter under the close
    Printed name
  • Type or print your name
  • Leave about 5 spaces between the close and your typed or printed name. Your signature goes in this gap