Information Systems Document Standards

Table of contents

E-mail Etiquette................................................................................................................3Professional Presentation Standards.......................................................................................5Professional Presentation Guidelines......................................................................................5Citations.......................................................................................................................7Power point demonstration for using power points....................................................................8

Gerald Schwartz School of Business and Information Systems standards

E-mail Etiquette

The following etiquette must be followed when communicating with professors and other X staff members. It is also good practice for any emails that you send

–All E-mails should be written in a concise and professional manner.

–Start the e-mail by placing a clear yet concise subject in the subject’s header while capitalizing the first letter of each word in the subject. You should include your course name, number, and section in the subject. Example Info 102:22 Help

– Please note: Please DO NOT use my earlier emails for contacting me by email. Always send a fresh email with an specific message

–Students must use a formal introduction and explain the reason for the e-mail while making sure to use proper grammar and a professional tone.

–Students may address Professors by their first name only if they have been told they may do so.

– If your professor has not said that you may address him by his first name then address him or her as DR. (insert last name)

–All e-mails should be ended with a formal closing such as Regards or Sincerely.

– In the case of sending attachments please make sure to ask the recipient of the e-mail if it is ok to send an attachment. This will help eliminate the potential for fake e-mail viruses.

–Always use spell check

–never use slang and or images when sending emails to professors

The Following is an example of a professional e-mail using proper format:

Be sure to have your signature in your web mail set up so that it includes yourname degree and e-mail.

- To set up your signature in your webmail click on the options tab in the bottom left corner.

- In the options tab under messaging options chose edit signature.

- Now you can type whatever information you want into your signature and it will be attached to every email you send.

- After writing the information for your signature click save and close.

- Also make sure that under the messaging options tab that include my signature on outgoing messages is selected.

Warning: Any e-mails not in the above format can and will be rejected and sent back to the sender at the discretion of the professor.

Professional Presentation Standards

–Presentations must have a title slide –Each page must have a page # and a date at bottom of each page

Professional Presentation Guidelines

The following is how most business presentations should be constructed. All Presentations should have the same background for all slides.

The chosen background should not be distracting or make your slide content difficult to read.

Your slides should not have any moving pictures or distracting animation. While the font size of your slides should be easy to read from a distance (around 32).

Slides must also have a title page and references at the end if needed.

Your slides shouldn't include clipart art unless necessary and the transition between slides should be clean and not distracting.

Your slides should only include points which you want to emphasize. This means that the slides shouldn't contain a lot of information as the presentation should be 90% oral. This is because the goal of a good presentation is to inform people and this should be done through clear concise speaking and examples not slides.

Tip: Your presentation should inform people of your subject and you should try to help them understand the topic with a good oral presentation and examples. Not with props or slides.

Note: Always test your power point in the class in which you present to prevent technical mishaps.

Example:

CitationsAll citations should be done using the Harvard style of referencing. Good sites that document this style are linked below under referencing links:

Books 2, 3, 0r 4 authors

Author, Year. Title of book. Edition (only include this if not the first edition). Place of publication: Publisher

Ex: Kirk, J. & Munday, R.J., 1988. Narrative analysis. 3rd ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Journal article (electronic source)

Author, Initials., Year. Title of article. Full Title of Journal, [type of medium]Volume number (Issue/Part number), Page numbers. Website Address [Accessed date]

Ex: Boughton, J.M., 2002. The Bretton Woods proposal: an indepth look. Political Science Quarterly, [Online]. 42 (6), Available at: http://www.pol.upenn/articles (Blackwell Science Synergy) [accessed 12 June 2005].

Web Site (publication)

Author, Initials., Year. Title of document or page. [type of medium]. Website Address Locating details(eg. Breadcrumb) [Accessed date]

Ex: Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines. 2001. Hypertension in the elderly. (SIGN publication 20) [internet]. Edinburgh : SIGN (Published 2001) Available at: http://www.sign.ac.uk/pdf/sign49.pdf [accessed 17 March 2005]

Web Site

Author, Initials., Year. Title of document or page. [type of medium]. Website Address Locating details(eg. Breadcrumb) [Accessed date]

Ex: National electronic Library for Health. 2003. Can walking make you slimmer and

healthier? (Hitting the headlines article) [Online]. (Updated 16 Jan 2005) Available at: http://www.nhs.uk.hth.walking [accessed 10 April 2005]

Referencing Links:http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/training/referencing/harvard.htm

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

All examples taken from http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm web site.

Power Point demonstration

1

Making Presentations That Audiences Will Love

1

Use a Template

• Use a set font and colour scheme.• Different styles are disconcerting to the audience.• You want the audience to focus on what you

present, not the way you present.

1

Fonts

• Choose a clean font that is easy to read.• Roman and Gothic typefaces are easier to

read than Scriptor Old English.• Stick with one or two types of fonts.

4

Font Size

• Bulleted items should be no smaller than 22 points.

• The title should be no smaller than 28 points.

5

Bullets

• Keep each bullet to one line, two at the most.• Limit the number of bullets in a screen to six,

four if there is a large title, logo, picture, etc. This is known as “cueing” You want to “cue” the audience in on what you are

going to say.

• If you crowd too much text the audience will not read it. Why should they spend the energy reading it,

when you are going to tell them what it say?

6

Caps and Italics

• Do not use all capital letters Makes text hard to read Conceals acronyms Denies their use for EMPHSIS

• Italics Used for “quotes” Used to highlight thoughts or ideas Used for book, journal, or magazine titles

7

Colours

• Reds and oranges are high-energy but can be difficult to stay focused on.

• Greens, blues, and browns are mellower, but not as attention grabbing.

• White on dark background should not be used if the audience is more than 20 feet away. You can easily read them up close. They are harder to read the farther away you get.

8

The Colour Wheel

• Colours separated by another colour are contrasting colours (also known as complementary)

• Adjacent colours (next to each other) harmonize with one another. e.g. Green and Yellow

• The colour wheel below is simplified for easy use

9

Clashing Colours

• Colours that are directly opposite from one another are said to clash.

• These provide readability -e.g. yellow on blue.

10

To make a slide stand out, change the font or background

11

Illustrations

• Use only when needed, otherwise they become distracters instead of communicators

• They should relate to the message and help make a point

• Ask yourself if it makes the message clearer • Simple diagrams are great communicators

12

YOU

• Do not use the media to hide you• The audience came to see you• Dress for the occasion• The media should enhance the presentation,

not BE the presentation• If all you are going to do is read from the slides

or overheads, then just send them the slides• Remember, only you can prevent

“Death by PowerPoint”