Instruction
Request Letter Directions
Your Request Letter should contain the following:
Sender’s address
Date
Address and title of the person receiving the letter (spell out words such as Street, Road,
Avenue, etc., starting with a capital letter), and use the two-letter, all-capitalized
abbreviations for state names (GA, FL, AL, CA, etc.)
Salutation----“Dear” followed by a curtesy title (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., etc.), the receiver’s
last name, and then a colon
Polite introduction briefly setting up the request; you may even use this section to appeal
to the person’s knowledge and respected reputation.
Body paragraph politely elaborating on the request, making sure that you provide
adequate details explaining that the request is important and will offer positive results. If
an organization is involved, make sure that you have clarified its mission. Also, make
sure the individual will be clear about what he or she is specifically being asked to do.
Concluding paragraph ending with a positive statement and politely requesting the
person’s feedback to the request on a specific date. You should also offer thanks for
considering the request, even if it may not be met.
Complimentary close
Writer’s signature
Writer’s typed, printed name
Enclosure statement (only include this if there are any references to attached documents
in your letter).
After writing the first draft of your letter, read it back to yourself as if you were the recipient of
the letter; make sure that you have added adequate supporting details to the letter so that the
recipient could respond in a timely manner.
Make sure that the letter is typed in Word and follows the appropriate format: Times New
Roman font style, 12-point font size, single spaced, and not having indented paragraphs. Please
see the “Business Letter Formatting Guide” (located under these directions in the Module 5
folder); this guide will save you a lot of time and will assist you in doing the correct spacing
between the major sections of your request letter (make sure that you follow the directions on the
guide about changing the “after” box from 8 to 0 in order for the spacing guide to work
properly).
You must select one of the following topics as the basis for your request letter:
1) Write a letter asking a person to speak at a meeting of a professional organization of which
you are a member (for example, you may ask Beyoncé’s hairstylist, who happens to be visiting
Macon, to speak at your cosmetology club).
2) Write a letter asking an expert in your field to judge a professional contest related to your
technology (for example, you may invite a well-respected barber in Macon to judge a contest in
which CGTC barbering students are competing for a $50 prize based on the best haircut).
3) Write a letter asking a person working in your field to grant you an interview for a big class
project (for example, you are doing a paper on the importance of keeping patients calm while
prepping them for surgery, and you would like to interview a high-ranking nurse at a local
hospital who specializes in best patient care practices).
4) You have been offered a job with a particular company/hospital/salon, etc. Write a letter
asking a person working for that place to give you some information about that workplace and
the particular job you have been offered (consider asking about training opportunities, chain of
command practices, treatment of special occasions, access to tools/ supplies, etc. Do not ask
about raises or vacation).