Sunday, February 8, 2009

Three

Subject: TIP Seminars: NES BizAsia Entrepreneurial Exchange Program 2009


Dear TIP Students

Please note that there are three upcoming event each of which is recognised by TIP as "1 TIP seminar". Details and registration of the events are attached.
If you like to attend, please register, if required, direct with the event organisers.

Do remember to bring along your logsheet and obtain the signature of any one of the receptionists or officials at the event to certify your attendance. You do not need any additional signatures on the logsheet.

A copy of the logsheet can be downloaded here: http://www.tip.eng.nus.edu.sg/_downloads/logsheet.doc.

TIP Seminars attendance is one of the components of EG1603: TIP Instructional Workshops & Seminars. To obtain 2 MCs for EG 1603, students have to complete all the following satisfactorily:-

- A 3-day "TIP Workshop"
- At least 4 "TIP Seminars"
- One Summary Report (of between 800 to 1000 words) summarizing what you have specifically learnt from the 4 seminars attended.

Note: The 4 TIP Seminars can be done anytime, i.e. before or after the TIP Workshops. There is no time limit for this EG1603 Module. However we prefer that the TIP Workshop is completed before the start of the final Semester before graduation.

When you have completed the above requirements, please scan in your logsheet and send it together with your report to Dr John Bauly at engjb@nus.edu.sg.


Regards
Undisclosed (Ms) :: Management Assistant Officer, Office of Undergraduate Programs, Faculty of Engineering :: National University of Singapore :: Blk XX, #0X-XX, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 1175XX :: 65-6516 XXXX (DID) :: 65-6774 XXXX (FAX) :: XXXXXXX@nus.edu.sg (E) :: www.eng.nus.edu.sg (W) :: Company Registration No: 200604346E

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Background information: This is an email I receive very often. TIP stands for Technopreneurship & Incubation Program and this program is open to students across NUS.

To begin with, in the “Subject” field, NES should be in full, i.e., NUS Entrepreneurship Society. There are many more societies and organizations taking part in this program, so I feel that the full name of the organization should be used.

Next, this email seems to be in block format with open punctuation, so the punctuation in the addressee, salutation and complimentary close are omitted. Furthermore, at first glance, the email seems messy with links and bolds and italics all over. I feel that it can be improved with better organization.

This email is addressed to TIP Students only. Thus, the students receiving these mails are those who have already registered for the program. Most of the information provided in this email are present in the TIP website, so I feel that they can be omitted. Also, Ms Undisclosed has included more information on the event itself directly below her email, so I feel it would be best to have kept it short and concise.

In her first sentence, Ms Undisclosed should have underlined “three upcoming events” because I missed it out totally. It could be bolded and in italics, like “register, if required, direct with the event organisers” so that the email would be consistent.

I like that Ms Undisclosed gave a gentle reminder of the logsheet because I have forgotten about it before. After that paragraph, all the extra information below the reminder could be exchanged for a simple “For more information on the TIP, please visit inserttechnopreneurshipandincubationprogramlinkhere.”

P.S. Oh no the formatting of the email cannot be seen.

8 comments:

  1. This is a fine example of a critique, Roy, with a detailed analysis. Yes, the formatting can't be seen, but there's plenty to review. As you mention, length and clarity would seem to be an issue.

    I appreciate your effort.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Roy!

    I agree with you that NES should be in full because after reading through the whole email, I still do not know what it stands for till you mentioned it. Thus I think in this aspect, the email lacks clarity.

    However,I think that putting NES in the subject is acceptable because subject titles are suppose to be short. What's necessary is to at least put the full term of NES in the content so that readers know what society it is.

    I too agree with you that the email is not concise. This email is to inform the students about the upcoming seminars and she should keep it at that.Hence I think it’s a bit redundant to include in the emails, components of EG1603: TIP Instructional Workshops & Seminars

    I think one strong point of this email is that the writer is courteous. She constantly used words such as 'please', 'we prefer' when requesting for something, which are words that display courtesy to the readers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Shujuan,

    Yup, I agree with you that subject titles should be short. I was in a dilemma when putting it down in the critique.

    I think "NES" should be in short in the "Subject" field. Then early in the email they should state clearly what "NES" stands for. This way, the clarity of the email can be improved.

    Thanks for pointing it out.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Roy,

    I too agree that NES should be typed in full. Even when I am in faculty of engineering I have no idea what is NES.

    Next this sentence "If you like to attend, please register, if required, direct with the event organisers", seems pretty long and inappropriate. Maybe it should be rephrased into: "If you would like to attend, please register with the event organisers (I am assuming I have to register with the event organisers). If required please direct all enquires to the organisers". This may have been more appropriate.

    To me the email seems to be quite clear and concise, apart from the few grey areas; maybe because I am also in engineering.

    Thanks for the post Roy. =D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Keldren,

    That's a good point, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Roy,

    I do agree that the full name of NES should be typed out as a lot of people will not know what is NES stand for. This will create a grey area and confuse the students.

    Besides that, I feel that the third paragraph should start with "Please do remember...". I think it is more polite and the readers will feel more comfortable.

    Lastly, I do agree with Shu Juan that there is some redundant information in this e-mail as the purpose of this e-mail is to inform the readers regarding the upcoming event. Thus, the requirements for the course can be deleted from this e-mail as the readers should know it before they registered for TIP.

    I feel that your analysis is quite well done. Thanks for sharing with us!!!=)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Pooi San,

    Yup, "Please do remember.." sounds more polite and yes, I too agree that the redundant information should have been left out. Thanks for the comments!

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete