Description

The email from MC Morgan has:

• Header elements
  • From
  • Subject
  • Date/time
  • To
• The salutation is a person's name on its own line
• The message is 4 sentences long
  • There are 2 paragraphs
  • Message contains an exclamation point at the end of the fist sentence (What a deal!)
  • Includes use of an abbreviation (SCSU)
  • Some sentences are incomplete and start with verbs (Get your..., Looks like..., Hope they...)
• There is a sign off
• There is the writer's name, in lower case
• There is the embedded message previously sent out to a group by the receiver, Matt Barton, which is preceded by the date MB sent that message.
  • That message is 12 + sentences long.
  • That message is broken into 4 paragraphs.
  • That message has a date and time stamp of the previous day
  • There is a general salutation, "Greetings."

The email from Matt Barton has:

• Header elements
  • From
  • Subject
  • Date/time
  • To
  • The header also shows an attachment
• The salutation is a person's name but is followed immediately with the first line of the message.
• The message is 12 sentences long.
• There are 2 paragraphs
• Message contains
  • some abbreviations (50s, AC, MN, retro, rhet/comp)
  • slang ("brew" and "retro" and "stuff")
  • a paralinguist cue (:-))
  • about 3 exclamation points
  • some words are in qoutations ("retro", "wiki writing text")
  • some sentences do not have initial articles("Not bad, really, though no AC.")
  • many sentences are compound ("But, I am settling in quite well, despite the significant...")
  • some unnecessary commas ("But," etc.)
• There is no sign off.
• Embedded at the end of the message is the message previously sent by MC Morgan and the initial message sent by Matt Barton to a group.

Analysis

Based on the standard header information, one can readily assess that this is an email exchange between MC Morgan and Matt Barton, written within 20 minutes of each other. While Morgan's message more or less follows a standard letter format, using a greeting, sentences, closing sign-off and signature, Barton's message does not; he does not use a separate line for his salutation nor does he use a sign-off or signature. Both allow the messages previously sent to one another to remain embedded in their messages.

The language in Morgan's message is informal. He responds to Barton's earlier email message regarding a call for papers for a book he is editing. Morgan offers an idea for a paper and makes a statement about Barton getting settled in at SCSU.

Barton's message is informal as well. His organization of the message goes from responding to personal issues to business issues. He briefly describes his office, his move to Minnesota, and the town where he is now living. He responds directly to Morgan's statement regarding his new office and indicates that he had not thought of looking at his classrooms yet. Barton's second to last sentence of his message allows one to infer that although he is unsure of Morgan's idea for a paper, he is nonetheless intrigued as it may also benefit another project on which he is working.

Interpretation

After an analysis of the email messages, it is apparent that the messages are from two professors, one from Bemidji State University and the other most likely from St. Cloud State University (SCSU). Throughout the exchanges it is revealed that Barton is making a call for papers to be contributed to his first book that he will be editing and Morgan is responding with an idea for a paper, and also inquiring on Barton's transition to SCSU.

Morgan uses his message to possibly indicate his interest in submitting a paper for Barton's book. By embedding the text of Barton's previous message in his message, Morgan is likely providing a reminder to Barton of his call for papers. Morgan's message also suggests that he is an acquaintance of Barton's; he is aware that Barton is new to teaching, book writing/editing and SCSU. His comment of a "passable office" reflect a touch of sarcasm and commiseration while the "big shiny new computer classroom" comment reflects a tone one would use with a comrade who would know that he was not being literal. Additionally, the formatting, style and tone of Morgan's message is informal; he addresses Barton by his first name as a salutation and closes his message by saying "We'll talk soon," indicating that there will be an occasion to speak to one another in the future, thus indicating that they had talked at some length in the past.

Barton's response to Morgan's message also reveals his familiarity with Morgan. He addresses Morgan as "Mike" and is pleased to hear from him. His description of his office as "retro" and "50s-era detective-style" is followed by a smiley faced emoticon signifying that the office is old and outdated, especially since there is no air conditioning, but nonetheless interesting. One could assume at this point that Barton is new to Minnesota as air conditioning is actually quite good to have in the summer, despite it being a northern state.

Also evident from this message is that Barton has not checked to see the classrooms he is planning on using in the fall and that he plans on using projectors and possibly other electronic media for teaching. His message also reveals that he has recently moved to the St. Cloud area and that the move was quite costly. His reference to St. Cloud as a "beautiful little city" with "lots of stuff to do" possibly reveals that he has moved from a larger metropolitan area.

His questioning of Morgan's idea for a paper reveals that he is unsure of what Morgan is referring to by "wiki writing texts." Being that he is most likely a professor in Composition/English, and that he is writing a book on wikis as they pertains to college composition, one would assume that he could guess what Morgan meant, unless he really had no idea what and didn't want to second guess him. He offers a clue that he believe Morgan's idea may be related to a second project he is involved in.

Evaluation (optional)

The writers of these emails appear to be both comrades and colleagues. The messages are informal and somewhat personal, but use the opportunity to touch on a bit of business. Barton's call for papers is what initiated the response from Morgan and he chose to use the occasion to inquire about Barton's recent move to St. Cloud and new teaching position at St. Cloud State University. Barton responded with a short description of his time there so far.

Morgan's message is short, but friendly. He knows that Barton will get his jokes about "passable" office and "big shiny new" computer classroom. He let's Barton know about his idea for a paper, which Barton responds to questioningly. One might ask if Morgan could have explained his idea differently or at greater length, but at this point in time, he is just offering an idea to Barton, not an formal proposal. It is surprising that Barton is unfamiliar with what Morgan is referring to for his paper, but this could be attributed to Barton being overwhelmed with a recent move and new job or perhaps the world of wikis is still evolving and does not yet have a set lexicon.

Barton's message reveals more about the person than Morgan's does. More details are revealed, thus allowing the reader to know more about Barton and his new events in his life. His frequent use of commas possibly represents a person who writes like he speaks.

Overall, the messages follow Maynor's criteria of informal emails. Both messages are informal, with the exception of the embedded call for papers. While Barton does make use of frequent commas, exclamation marks and an emoticon, Morgan does not. However, both often leave out initial articles. The emails are casual, make use of slang, simplified spellings and overall non-reflective. These characteristics are all appropriate for the media used and for the content it covers. The messages do what they were intended to do and are overall effective.