Effective Online Communication

Spelling, punctuation, grammar, and formatting can all have an effect on what you write. For example, read the following sentence without punctuation: A woman without her man is nothing

How does the sentence make you feel? Are you offended, empowered, confused? Your answer will likely depend on how you interpret the sentence. Its writer didn’t include punctuation which makes its meaning unclear. If you punctuated the sentence “A woman: without her, man is nothing” it would have the opposite meaning than if you punctuated the sentence “A woman, without her man, is nothing.”

The following tips will help you write effective online communications:

1. Use proper spelling, capitalization and punctuation.
2. Use greetings, closings, and a clear subject line in e-mails.
3. Use emoticons and internet abbreviations like “lol” and “j/k” sparingly.
4. Use appropriate language: don’t swear or say offensive things.
5. Avoid caps lock, it makes it seem as if you are shouting.
6. Be careful not to overuse bold, italics, underlining, and text colours as they can make your posts difficult to read.
7. Save your work in a word document or similar program. Not only will it provide assistance with spelling and grammar, but it will provide backup in case your computer or web browser crash.
8. Stay on topic: don’t derail the conversation.
9. Be clear and concise: write in a way that is easy to understand and make your point quickly. It will save you time and make your point easier to understand. For a more in depth discussion of clarity, follow this link to the Purdue Owl.