Writing a Postcard or Letter

Learn to Write Well

Fran Brandow

Winter 2015

Postcards + Letters have five parts in the Writing Process (Organization):

•  1 Dateline
• 2 Greeting
•  3 Body 
• 4 Closing
• 5 Signature

+ Address

Count the Parts on Your Hand:

1 Dateline (+Receiver’s Address)

2 Greeting

3 Body

4 Closing

5 Signature + Address

1 Dateline

• The dateline of a letter includes the address of the company or person you are writing to and the date. This is written

in the top left corner.

• The date is written in this

order: Month, day, year.

​

Oct. 26, 2012

Dateline

Ohio Tourist Agency, 508 Bluebird Street

Clarksville, Ohio

1 Greeting

• Dear_________, 
• The blank is for the name of the person you are writing to.  After you write the person's name you put a comma ( , ) .

3 Body

• The body is the information you are writing in your letter. You should write two to three paragraphs.
• Be sure to verify that all the information is

included.

Writing The Body

• The first sentence states the main topic (reason).
• The following sentences give added information about the topic in a logical order.
• The last sentence is a conclusion (finishing idea).
• Watch grammar, spelling and punctuation.

4 Closing

• The Closing:  In the closing the words are capitalized and you put a comma after the last word.
• Some examples of closings are: Sincerely, Best Regards,

Thank You,…

5 Signature + Address

• This is your (sender’s) name and an address.
• Letters need the sender’s return address
• Postcards require the receiver’s address on the right (see next page)

Postcard Examples

• Two examples of well-written postcards

CHECKLIST + EVALUATION

• CHECKLIST: Follow the checklist when you are writing your postcard or letter. Make sure to double-check everything when you are done.
• EVALUATION: When you are sure you have correctly finished your writing, give it to your teacher for evaluation
• GOOD LUCK!