Title :
The rhetoric of e-mail: an analysis of style
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Graduate Manage. Syst., Air Force Inst. of Technol., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA
Abstract :
The paper presents the results of a stylistic analysis of 200 samples of e-mail memoranda gathered from four organizations. Through systematic counting of textual features such as sentence and paragraph length, grammatical types of sentence, and word choice, the study examines patterns of rhetorical choice common to electronic mail. In this sample, short serial sentences dominated, and writers preferred active verbs over other forms, indicating composing processes for e-mail are rudimentary and somewhat spontaneous
Keywords :
electronic mail; active verbs; e-mail memoranda; electronic mail; grammatical types; paragraph length; rhetorical choice; sentence; short serial sentences; stylistic analysis; textual features; word choice; Chemical analysis; Chemical technology; Communication system traffic control; Communications technology; Electric variables control; Electronic mail; Information analysis; Quantum computing; Rhetoric; Telephony;
Conference_Titel :
Professional Communication Conference, 1995. IPCC '95 Proceedings. Smooth sailing to the Future., IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Savannah, GA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-2957-0
DOI :
10.1109/IPCC.1995.554879
