A question buried inside the text may be obvious to someone who reads the letter, but the person who can answer your question may not have time to read the letter. Arms vs. Devices In the Society, device is used to describe someone's arms before he receives his Award of Arms. This distinction is a Society invention. There is some evidence of a similar distinction in renaissance Italy, but there is little evidence in history for differentiating arms on the basis of personal rank and a great deal for treating them the same regardless of rank. In Academy letters, we prefer to avoid the word device and use arms instead.
Device is a less precise word, describing all manner of personal insignia.
In most of our period, device meant badge or motto rather than arms . Give the facts, don't cite documentation Our clients are not normally interested in where we found information, just in the information itself. Don't discuss the references unless they are themselves very relevent to the client's question. It reads better that way, and it shifts the focus from documenting a name to understanding the historical usage of the name. Avoid criticizing the client's persona Many of our clients have persona stories that are historically impossible, but criticizing the client's persona is a good way to annoy him and disincline him from taking our advice.