What is a Appeal Letter

What is Appeal Letter?

Do you think that you have been treated unfairly in a particular situation? If yes, then in such situation you can consider writing a letter of appeal. If any kind of wrong decision is made against you, it becomes important for you to state your side of the story. This can be done by writing an appeal letter. It is advisable to make use of business letter format while writing such letters.

Reasons for appeal can be anything like:

• Denial of unemployment
• College suspension
• Wrong decision of housing board
• Wrong decision of any association

Reasons can be anything, but it is important for you to make the most out of your letter because it gives you a second chance to present yourself. If you want to overturn any decision or situation, then it becomes important to state your side of the story. Even if you are arguing in such letter, it becomes important to argue sensibly by clearly presenting your thoughts in front of concerned authorities.

Don’t show your hatred or anger in an appeal letter. Using a tone of anger may not work in your favour.

How to Write an Appeal Letter?

• It is essential for you to format a letter in a business style. Some things that you must include in your letter are like address, name, date, salutation, etc.
• In the start of the letter, it becomes important for you to introduce yourself. Show that you are writing a letter in order to appeal against the particular situation. Opening paragraph has to be good because it can grab the attention of the reader.
• Ensure that you write in such a way that reader can find it easy to understand your side of the story. It is important to show your confidence in the letter but that does not mean you can make use of argumentative wordings.
• Whatever event took place against you, summarize it properly in a letter. Explain the entire circumstances to educate the reader about the situation that you had to face. The clear and concise letter are always loved by the reader.
• Mention details about the facts that may have been overlooked in the past. You can also add additional documents to your letter if required.
• Do you need any answer in return of your appeal letter? If yes, then don’t be blunt by saying that you need an answer by so and so date. Instead, you can use sentence like, “you want to meet the deadline and so you need an answer by so and so date”. It becomes important to give the valid reason if you are asking for any kind of answer in your letter.
• Always be thankful to the reader in the end, because he or she took efforts to take out time and read your letter.

Tips to Write Original Appeal letter

Don’t do copy and paste work with your appeal letter. It is important to write an original letter in order to aptly explain your situation in front of the recipient. Here are the few tips that you need to follow in order to write original appeal letter:

Show your honesty

It is essential to show your honesty in the letter because many people are afraid of being honest. Being honest does not mean that you are allowed to be blunt. Showing honest without any fear may allow you to win over the situation.

Don’t give warm-up of the story in the initial paragraphs

Generally, people give warm-up of the story in the initial paragraphs which is wrong. You need to write an appeal letter in such a way that your first 2 to 3 paragraphs should allow a reader to get involved in your story.

Write attention grabbing headline

The headline should be attention-grabbing so that recipient can show interest in reading your letter further. If you see some good headline in a newspaper or magazine, then include it in a headline in your own way. Stealing headline is fine!

Try not to include numbers and facts

Numbers and facts generally create confusion in this type of letter. Add figures if they are absolutely necessary or else you can skip it. Talk about the story, rather than going in detail about statistics. The statistic may not give that punch to your letter.

Use short sentences

Using short sentences can make it easy for a reader to go through your letter. See to it that your appeal letter does not look like any kind of grant proposal.

Beginning and end of the letter should be appealing

Start your appeal letter with a bang and end it with a bang so that it can put a good impact in the mind of a reader. The reader should find it easy to understand your consequences through such a letter.

Don’t go vague

Write to the point in your letter rather than going vague. Vague information does not attract a reader.

Appeal Letter Layout

Layout of your appeal letter should be like:

• Letterhead – use your letterhead and if you don’t have it then create it. In letterhead, it is important to include your name, address, email details and phone number.
• Date – write the full date, instead of using abbreviation form.
• Inside address – Inside address includes recipient name, title, a name of an organization, mailing address etc.
• Write reference line – reference line is nothing but the subject of your letter
• Salutation – Make use of recipient title and last name in the salutation.
• Body of letter – Generally, body of the letter includes opening paragraphs, second paragraph, third paragraph and closing paragraph.
• Closing – Closing of such letter should be done in a formal style. Words that you can use in closing are like respectfully, sincerely, cordially etc.
• Signature – Your sign is important after closing the letter.
• Provide notations – You should provide notations if you are adding any additional documents.