Writing a Letter of Apology
College Writing – “Real” Cause and Effect Writing
A letter of apology is an opportunity to formally make things right after you’ve messed up. This type of writing can be applied to friendships and family relationships, but more importantly professional and business relationships. It’s likely that you’ll have an opportunity in college to practice this letter with a professor; it’s also likely that while you are in college or after you’ll need to use these techniques to interact with a customer or client. Regardless, a letter of apology is a great tool for repairing relationships, and it is a very good way to use the skills you learned writing a cause-and-effect paper.
The first thing you need to decide when writing this letter is what medium of writing will be most appropriate: a physical letter or an email. In most cases, you’ll need to write and deliver a physical letter. It’s just more formal that way—when you apologize to someone, you want them to know that you’re taking it seriously. An email can sometimes be used if expediency is concern or if the apology can be less formal.
Begin your letter by appropriately addressing the person to whom you are writing. Then, issue your first concise apology. Do not overwhelm with apologetic phrases, just admit that you’re wrong here. You’ll then give the background of the situation (remind them why you feel the need to apologize, even if it’s obvious. This shows them that you fully understand the implications of your actions). After giving the background, you can use your knowledge about writing cause-and-effect papers. Give a short explanation for the causes of your actions(s) (be carefully to not make excuses), and then explain what you understand to be the negative effects. Then, give the cause for your apology and what you promise will be the effects of your repaired relationship going forward.
After the body of your letter, you should restate your initial apology and assure them that they can expect better from you in the future. Do not ask or demand a response to your letter; if you wrote it well enough, the issue should be solved and you can move forward.
Sign the letter personally (again, this shows that you take the issue seriously) and include any appropriate enclosures (if you needed to rewrite a paper, adjust an agreement, return a borrowed item, etc.)
Your assignment: Create a scenario appropriate to your school/career path in which you might need to issue a formal apology. Address your letter to a real person, using the correct title and address. Following these directions and the rubric you create with your group, write this letter and bring it to class, completed, on Friday, October 18.
Model Letter of Apology to a Professor
Please notice that this letter is rather concise, and is by no means a superb example of how your letter should look. This is a model for style and brainstorming.
Professor Thomas,
I am very sorry about my recent incident in your class. It was wrong of me to browse Facebook while you were lecturing, and though I displayed a bit of a flippant attitude at the time, I can now understand what you meant when you talked about it being disrespectful and a waste of your time.
I’m in school to learn. Obviously, we all get bored, but that’s hardly ever an issue in your class. Even if it were, I should have known better than to not pay attention. I’ve always enjoyed your teaching style and the class’s topics, so that’s kind of doubly embarrassing for me.
By the same token, you’re there to teach. I’m sure seeing me browsing Facebooks instead of taking notes had to annoy you a little, since I try to be a good student. It was an impulsive, dumb move of me.
Finally, I forget exactly what I said—probably “whatever” or something disrespectful like that—but it’s not the attitude I wish to convey to you. I was irritated about being embarrassed and embarrassed because I was caught.
Thanks again for being okay with it the next day. I just wanted to let you know I was personally sorry for my stupid behavior. It won’t be an issue again.
Sincerely,
David