by Grace G.
Many people use text messaging or online chatting as a primary way of communicating with friends and family. Texts are frequently brief, informal, and lack the substances seen in a professional email. It’s important to remember that in the future, you may be contacting someone through about employment or will need to keep a professional image for some reason. Personal emails sent between friends and family should be treated differently than professional email correspondence. Therefore, there’s a good reason to start practicing writing professional-sounding emails. This article will be mainly for students to help them communicate better with teachers and potential employers through email.
First of all, if you have an unusual username for your email address, consider opening a new account to send messages to teachers, college admissions officers, employers, and other people that may judge you based on your “superflyguy918” or “crazygirlxoxo” username.
Put in the subject box something that reflects the purpose of your email. If you’re emailing your teacher for help on an assignment, write “Help on [assignment name]”. For an upcoming absence, write “Upcoming Absence”. And so on. Teachers get dozens of emails every day that need to be read and they are likely to skip over an email that says “No Subject”. Do not put your subject in ALL CAPS because that is unprofessional and it will seem like you’re rudely demanding your teacher’s attention.
Begin your email with a formal salutation. "Hey" is fine if you're emailing your friends, but it’s too informal or disrespectful to address a teacher that way. "Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr./Professor" is a much better choice. Don’t begin with “Yo Ms. Smith!”
Emails should exhibit proper use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling! Don’t use “LOL, haha, JK” or any other abbreviations that you would use in a text. Use correct font, size and color. Don’t make an email hard to read. Proofread everything.
Don’t turn professional emails into a lengthy chat. To prevent this, make sure that the email contains all the information that the recipient will need initially. If the recipient needs to ask questions or request more info, then he or she will email you back for further clarification.
Keep emails clear and concise, and get straight to the point so you don’t bore your teachers. Always specify what you are writing about and instead of saying “I need help with this”, be as specific as you can and tell the teacher what effort you have already made to solve a problem. Ask actual questions if needed and don’t expect the person reading to infer what you are trying to say. If your email has to be long, just make sure you’re not writing a story with irrelevant points.
-Introduction (introduce your purpose for emailing)
-Body (state why you are writing, ask necessary questions, provide relevant info)
-Conclusion (wrap it up by saying thanks or asking a question or requesting something)
To close, say thank you (and mean it). Add a signature block with correct contact info (cell phone or home phone works when emailing teachers). Some people like to include a quote in with their signature block, which is fine as long as you don’t take up half a page with quotes and flashy emoticons.
When sending an attachment mention what’s being attached and make sure it’s sent. If you realize you forgot to send it (it happens to me sometimes) re-send with an apology.
If you are asking about a homework problem, know that your teacher may not be checking their email frequently after school hours. For an assignment that has been assigned for weeks, do not procrastinate and wait until the night before the major assignment is due to ask a question that should have been asked earlier. Don’t ask for an extension the night before a major assignment is due. Your teacher has a life outside of school, too, so give them time to give a reply or grant you an extension via email.
Other Golden Rules:
• Be nice and thank them for answering. Remember to say please and thank you.
• Do not write or send anything that is harassing or offensive. Many schools have email use policies, and harassing a teacher through email will get you into the same trouble as harassing a teacher in class.
• Return emails within the same timeframe you return phone calls. This may not always be realistic but people want to know if you’ve received their emails.
• When you get a reply, say thanks. The “Re:” in the subject line will make the context clear.
• Write in a positive tone. Avoid negative words and blaming statements as much as possible.
• Think about what you’re writing before you hit the ‘send’ button. Read your message twice and see if the email makes sense. Calm down before responding to a message that offends you.
• As much as possible avoid ‘reply all’ when emailing.
• Do not send huge attachments with emails. Make sure attachments will be compatible with any computer.
• Make sure the proper recipients are on the email and make sure you get the names right.
• It’s important to respect everyone’s time.
Sample Email:
[Subject]- Meeting for Mentorship
Dear Dr. Brown,
As you may know, students in Mentorship have to meet with a member of the library staff to find two science research papers for an assignment. I would like to set up an appointment with you for sometime this week before we leave for spring break. Please let me know if any of the following times work for you. If not, then we can set up for a time to meet after spring break.
Tuesday 9am-10:40am
Wednesday 9:50am-10:40am or 1-2pm
Thursday 10:45am-12pm
Thank you for your time and help,
John Doe
243-292-3984
Common professional courtesy and etiquette should never go out of style. Thanks for taking the time to read this article!
Many people use text messaging or online chatting as a primary way of communicating with friends and family. Texts are frequently brief, informal, and lack the substances seen in a professional email. It’s important to remember that in the future, you may be contacting someone through about employment or will need to keep a professional image for some reason. Personal emails sent between friends and family should be treated differently than professional email correspondence. Therefore, there’s a good reason to start practicing writing professional-sounding emails. This article will be mainly for students to help them communicate better with teachers and potential employers through email.
First of all, if you have an unusual username for your email address, consider opening a new account to send messages to teachers, college admissions officers, employers, and other people that may judge you based on your “superflyguy918” or “crazygirlxoxo” username.
Put in the subject box something that reflects the purpose of your email. If you’re emailing your teacher for help on an assignment, write “Help on [assignment name]”. For an upcoming absence, write “Upcoming Absence”. And so on. Teachers get dozens of emails every day that need to be read and they are likely to skip over an email that says “No Subject”. Do not put your subject in ALL CAPS because that is unprofessional and it will seem like you’re rudely demanding your teacher’s attention.
Begin your email with a formal salutation. "Hey" is fine if you're emailing your friends, but it’s too informal or disrespectful to address a teacher that way. "Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr./Professor" is a much better choice. Don’t begin with “Yo Ms. Smith!”
Emails should exhibit proper use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling! Don’t use “LOL, haha, JK” or any other abbreviations that you would use in a text. Use correct font, size and color. Don’t make an email hard to read. Proofread everything.
Don’t turn professional emails into a lengthy chat. To prevent this, make sure that the email contains all the information that the recipient will need initially. If the recipient needs to ask questions or request more info, then he or she will email you back for further clarification.
Keep emails clear and concise, and get straight to the point so you don’t bore your teachers. Always specify what you are writing about and instead of saying “I need help with this”, be as specific as you can and tell the teacher what effort you have already made to solve a problem. Ask actual questions if needed and don’t expect the person reading to infer what you are trying to say. If your email has to be long, just make sure you’re not writing a story with irrelevant points.
-Introduction (introduce your purpose for emailing)
-Body (state why you are writing, ask necessary questions, provide relevant info)
-Conclusion (wrap it up by saying thanks or asking a question or requesting something)
To close, say thank you (and mean it). Add a signature block with correct contact info (cell phone or home phone works when emailing teachers). Some people like to include a quote in with their signature block, which is fine as long as you don’t take up half a page with quotes and flashy emoticons.
When sending an attachment mention what’s being attached and make sure it’s sent. If you realize you forgot to send it (it happens to me sometimes) re-send with an apology.
If you are asking about a homework problem, know that your teacher may not be checking their email frequently after school hours. For an assignment that has been assigned for weeks, do not procrastinate and wait until the night before the major assignment is due to ask a question that should have been asked earlier. Don’t ask for an extension the night before a major assignment is due. Your teacher has a life outside of school, too, so give them time to give a reply or grant you an extension via email.
Other Golden Rules:
• Be nice and thank them for answering. Remember to say please and thank you.
• Do not write or send anything that is harassing or offensive. Many schools have email use policies, and harassing a teacher through email will get you into the same trouble as harassing a teacher in class.
• Return emails within the same timeframe you return phone calls. This may not always be realistic but people want to know if you’ve received their emails.
• When you get a reply, say thanks. The “Re:” in the subject line will make the context clear.
• Write in a positive tone. Avoid negative words and blaming statements as much as possible.
• Think about what you’re writing before you hit the ‘send’ button. Read your message twice and see if the email makes sense. Calm down before responding to a message that offends you.
• As much as possible avoid ‘reply all’ when emailing.
• Do not send huge attachments with emails. Make sure attachments will be compatible with any computer.
• Make sure the proper recipients are on the email and make sure you get the names right.
• It’s important to respect everyone’s time.
Sample Email:
[Subject]- Meeting for Mentorship
Dear Dr. Brown,
Tuesday 9am-10:40am
Wednesday 9:50am-10:40am or 1-2pm
Thursday 10:45am-12pm
Thank you for your time and help,
John Doe
243-292-3984
Common professional courtesy and etiquette should never go out of style. Thanks for taking the time to read this article!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI loved your article, it summarized the expectations of a professional email from where it was coming from, to the subject detail, to the content detail, and then to the very closing piece. It stressed the importance of writing a clear email explaining everything in specific terms so the teacher doesn’t have to infer anything. Great article to share with my online students. Thanks for sharing this article.
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