A number of conventions have evolved concerning how email is written at Lancaster University.

Good Things To Do In Email

Keep it simple, but not terse.

• do use plain text - not all recipients (on and off campus) will be able to see fancy formatting.
• do greet your recipient by name - it's polite.
• do sign off with your name and contact details - it's helpful.
• use Mail Lists for mailing large numbers of people.
• most people add their replies at the top of the message leaving the bulk of the message underneath, but some 'post' at the bottom of the message.
• when replying, consider deleting un-necessary parts of previous messages.

Things Not To Do

Email cannot be used for everything.

• do not use graphic backgrounds - pictures use up a lot of quota.
• do not include logos - we know who we are on campus, and pictures use up quota.
• do not include large attachments* - they use up quota.
• do not send programs** in email - they take up space and may get banned anyway.

*You can send large attachments by putting them on your personal or departmental file space then sending the URL.

**If you have to send a program (or a file is 'banned'), put it in a Zip file first.

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