Guidelines:
The purpose of a subject heading is to tell the reader:
- what the document is for (the purpose of the document), and
- what it is about (the topic of the document)
e.g. in Complaint about Late Delivery of Order 12345, the subject
heading tells the reader that the purpose of the document is to complain, and
that the topic is Order 12345.
If the purpose of the document is to inform the reader, the purpose is often
missed out, and the most important information is used; e.g. Late Arrival of
Order 12345, or Estimated Time of Arrival of Order 12345.
Content
Subject headings should not be too general; e.g. Improvement in our
services and Reply to your letter are not specific enough.
Also, if the subject heading concerns an order, for example Order 12345, it should be more
specific; e.g. Arrival Date of Order 12345.
You can use Re: before a subject heading, but it is not
necessary if the heading is highlighted in some other way. Do not underline
Re:
Do not put a full stop at the end of subject
headings.
Title Case
Subject headings should be in title case. This means that the first letter of
the first word should have an upper-case letter, and so should all the other
words, except for articles and prepositions; e.g. Complaint about the Late
Delivery of Order Number 12345