Request letter is a formal letter written to make request for a particular purpose or reason. It could be written to a judge, teacher, client, customer, business associate, employer, co worker, a friend and so on. It is written with a clear purpose to make request for a particular matter. It presents your request in organized and professional manner. Such letters provide an opportunity to express your request without any interruption and give enough time to the recipient to scrutinize all the information.
You may be required to write such a letter to request resources for a non-profit organization or to help some under privileged, to request a leave of absence, to apply for a promotion or appraisal or anything. It covers all the relevant information in factual and meaningful manner. A perfectly worded letter mostly ends up with a positive response. It provides a complete detail of the request and its reason and background. We have presented best writing tips on how to write an effective request letter.
- Compose it on your official letterhead. If you do not have one, write it using a good quality stationary to make it look formal and professional.
- Apply a block or semi-block format for writing an official request letter.
- Write your name, title, organization, address and contact details. Mention the same details of the recipient in the next line.
- Enter the current date following the address of the recipient. Write the date in its full form, such as 4th March 2010.
- Use proper salutations consistent with the information you have about the recipient. If he is a known person, use the name with his respective title such as “Dear Mr. / Mrs. / Ms. / Dr…… “. If you have no information about the name, write “Dear Sir or Madam.”
- Cover all the relevant information in short paragraphs. Try to keep it within three short and snappy paragraphs.
- Introduce yourself in the opening paragraph. Provide a clear description of your purpose of writing. State your request and its reason in brief and without ambiguity. Establish the accurate request you incline to make with its reason.
- Expand the points that you have mentioned in the first paragraph. Middle paragraph is the best place to provide further information. Explain the background and the significance of your request in a humble tone. Demonstrate your requirement in easy to understandable language.
- State the action you are expecting in response of it in the concluding paragraph. Write some motivational or convincing lines in a logical and comprehensible manner.
- Thank the addressee in the last paragraph. Use proper sincere tone to express your gratitude.
- Close it with a formal complimentary closure notation. If you are writing this to an unknown recipient, end with “Yours faithfully” and if he is to you, write “Yours sincerely.”
- Proofread it carefully to make a flawless perfect document of request.
- Make two copies of the corrected draft, one to send to the actual recipient and another to keep for your record.
- Put your signature on the final letter and sent it to the recipient.