Messages

Be brief. Several short posts have more impact than one long message. Write in a natural and informal style but take a moment to check grammar and spelling. Use the spellchecker.

Online messages are sometimes misunderstood because the other person’s facial expression can’t be seen. It can help to use emoticons to show you are smiling , surprised , sad , embarrassed and so on.

When you reply to a message you can set the scene by quoting part of the original message. Make it easy for readers to see what you have done by putting quoted text between double angle brackets, << and >>.

If you quote from an external source always credit the original author as you would in other academic writing.

It’s fine to use standard abbreviations but do not write whole messages using the abbreviations used in texting.

Don’t write in capital letters because it can look as though you are SHOUTING and is harder to read.