Formal email format handout
Use this format for business purposes, writing to professors, or for applications.

[Greeting or salutation]
Dear Professor Taylor:
[Or]

Use a colon for formal emails. No space before a colon: one space after it. “Dear” does not have a period or comma after it. In British English, a comma is used rather than a colon for business email. Generally try to find the correct name and title of the person you are sending the email or letter to, but if the name is not important such as in routine customer email, you can use either of these for the greeting line: To Whom It May Concern: or Dear Sir or Madam:

Dear Mr. Turner
Always capitalize the first letter of family names.
These days punctuation is getting simplified, especially in the business world. If it is routine email and not a formal letter on paper then no colon is acceptable. In British English, there is no period after Mr or other titles.

[Body of email]
…………………………………………........................................................................................................
.................................................................... .........................…………………………………………………
………………………………...……..……………………………………………………………………………..
[Closing]
Sincerely,
[Or]
Yours truly,

Sincerely, and other closings are followed by a comma. For email, the name should be typed after skipping one line. If it is a business letter on paper then you should skip four single-spaced lines because your handwritten signature should be between " Sincerely" and your name. Many documents, like a cover or reference letter, must be signed on paper unless there is a special online application.

Notice that the second word in a closing such as “truly” is not capitalized.

[Signature line]
Dong-gun Chang
Ph.D. candidate
Department of Civil Engineering
Hanyang University

No punctuation at the end of a line. The format “Chang, Dong-gun” is sometimes