Writing a Business Letter

1
Writing a Business Letter

• 8th grade Service Learning
• Bottle Bill Legislation
• I support or oppose container deposit laws for
  Maryland?

2
Step 1

• Sign in
• Open a word document

3
Step 2

• Put the sample business letter next to your
  computer for reference
• Share if your neighbor does not have one

4
Step 3

• Type the date starting at the left margin
• Skip two spaces

5
Step 4 Choose a representative to write to and
copy their name and address

• Steven J. DeBoy, Sr.
• House Office Building, Room 306
• 6 Bladen St.
• Annapolis, MD 21401
• James E. Malone, Jr.
• House Office Building, Room 251
• 6 Bladen St.
• Annapolis, MD 21401
• Edward J. Kasemeyer
• Miller Senate Office Building, 3 West Wing
• 11 Bladen St.
• Annapolis, MD 21401

6
Type a Salutation or Greeting

• Dear Senator Kasemeyer,
• Dear Representative DeBoy,
• Dear Representative Malone,

7
First paragraph

• Grab your readers attention with a statement,
  fact, concern or question
• Give background about the situtation--(plastic
  bottle use and its environmental effect)
• State your opinion or what you would like to see
  happen
• Give three reasons for your opinion

8
Sample first paragraph

• We have been learning about ways to protect the
  environment in my classes at school. We have
  looked at how container deposit laws have helped
  other states reduce litter and recycle resources.
  This got me wondering why Maryland does not have
  a container deposit law. There seem to be very
  few negative aspects to these laws. A Maryland
  bottle bill could reduce litter, provide
  financial incentives for recycling and create
  jobs at a time when they are very much needed.

9
Sample opening paragraph 2

• Plastic bottles from water and sports drinks
  litter the baseball field next to my school and
  are bobbing up and down in the pond. Plastic
  drink bottles are so popular that they seem
  litter almost every place I look. If Maryland
  adopted a container deposit law like 11 other
  states, it could greatly reduce litter, create
  new jobs and cut down the litter put in landfills.

10
2nd paragraph

• Skip a space
• Transition smoothly and restate your strongest
  reason for your thesis
• Support this reason with two examples or
  statistics from the bottle bill web site, your
  experience, the ppt viewed in class, or articles

11
3rd and 4th paragraph

• Skip a space
• Follow directions on your handout
• Your 4th paragraph can be from your experience
  cleaning up the campus and counting the bottles
  your family uses in a week.
• This shows how many bottles one family uses in a
  week and how many bottles end up as litter

12
Closing

• Sincerely,
• Skip two spaces for your signature
• Type your name
• Under your name, type your complete address

13
Homework

• Save your work to your USB key
• Forgot your USB key? Print a copy of your letter.
  You will have to retype it in your home computer
• Finish your letter at home
• Final letter is due
• EA 5/20 BCD 5/21