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Everyone in this course has had to write to a teacher at some point. You may have had a question about an assignment, needed an extension on a project, or wanted to explain a class absence.
The Inside Higher Ed article “Re: Your Recent Email to Your Professor” outlines tips for how to write email messages that persuade your professors to help you.
As a bonus, you can also consult the infographic on the right, which outlines the parts that comprise a perfect business email message:
- Subject Line
- Greeting
- Introduction
- Main Body
- Closing Remarks
- Closing Signature
Depending upon the purpose and audience of your message, the length of these sections may vary greatly. There’s no reason to pad your message out for a short request, for instance. Adding extraneous information in that way just buries the point you are trying to make. Use common sense.
Reflecting on these resources, what experiences or examples can you share that relate to writing to professors? What other advice have professors given you about writing to them? How would you compare writing to professors to writing to your manager or another executive in the workplace?
Note: This infographic needs a text-based transcript. See the Optional Accessibility Transcript Activity for more details.
63 Comments
I have found that the actual visual structure and formatting of the email is super important as well and is a powerful part of communicating effectively. If everything is dense and clumped up it’s much harder to get your email read in its entirety and your message across clearly to the reader. Also I always struggle with the simple subject line so the tips in this info graphic are really helpful, thanks!
I agree with you when you pointed out how the visual structure and formatting is significant in an email. I used to struggle with understanding how to format professional emails, but throughout my college career, I have intuitively developed a better understanding of how to format an email to either a professor or a professional. However, creating the subject line has always been a little bit of a struggle for me, so I definitely appreciated the tip on how to construct a meaningful one. I also have a better insight into how an informal email can come across to a professor, even if not ill-intentioned by the student.
I am in total agreement with your comment. Structuring an email is important because it ensures that all the information you want to send to your professor is clear and concise. This is important not only for your professor to get the information, but for you to be positive that you said everything you wanted to say. There is nothing worse than having to send another email to your professor with more information that you forgot.
Creating a structure in an email also gives your professor a template for how to respond to your emails. For example, if you write an email with three major concerns and clump them together, then your professor may not address all your concerns in a way that feels finite. But if you separate your points into three different, clearly marked paragraphs, then your professor will more than likely respond to each problem one-by-one and answer all of your concerns.
I agree with you. No body want to read an email that comes with tricky and long sentences. Using a formal language is easy for teacher to read and understand with what you are talking about and give you the right helpful reply. For me I think all things that talked in the article is about the respectful attitudes to a teacher. Teachers are people who need me to show respect and I have to watch my attitude and keep my email read easily.
I tend to treat emails to professors similar to professional emails. I feel that the relationship between a student and a professor is very comparable to that of an engineer and his manager.
The most helpful point on this article for me was the point about clarity in the main body. I have found in my experience that often times, I tend to “beat around the bush” and do not make it clear what I am asking.
I agree with you, and said the same thing in my response to this article about treating emails to professors similar to professional emails. The relationship between a student and professor should initially be comparable to an engineer and their manager. However would you say that after a certain time the emails between a professor and student could be more relaxed, after a stronger relationship has been built, or do you think it should remain professional throughout the semester?
I agree with this discussion as well. I definitely have a tendency to over explain myself the first time that I am e-mailing a particular professor, since I’m not familiar with their e-mail style and how formal they are. I always feel a bit weird when I spend a lot of time explaining my question, or why I sent the e-mail, and a professor just responds back with a “yes” with no greeting or signature. However I still try to remain professional through the semester but not as formal.
I personally feel there should always be a sense of professional and respect when emailing professors even after a more personal relationship has developed. However, I do think how that is displayed in your emails will be different with each professor. For example, I have a professor that will email us questions that require little professional response, perhaps a simple yes or no answer but are very important to respond to because they wouldn’t be asking otherwise. Therefore, in that case, it would not be considered rude to respond with a one-word answer. I think it is important to read your relationship with a professor correctly in order to determine the appropriate email format when a more personal relationship has developed,
I agree that the “less is more” saying for the body is definitely true, and it’s often the difference between getting the response you want and not. Most people don’t enjoy responding to logistical/work-based emails, so they tend to skim through them. I have found that a good way to make sure that I am not writing too much is to re-read my email in my head, and if I feel the urge to start skimming, I’ve made it too wordy. I like the recommendation of using bullet points; if you’re conveying a lot of information, they’re concise and get the point across while still being professional.
I agree. I always treat emails to professors and professionals in a very similar way.
When writing an email to a professor, I always try my best to write in a formal, polite manner. The anatomical example of the appropriate email listed above serves as a good example as to how I try to also format my email when writing to a professor. I do believe that the format of an email between a student and a professor should be relatively the same as an email between an employee and manager since the professor/manager is the superior in both situations.
I have received much advice from my professors over the semesters on how to write them over email. They have always wanted an appropriate greeting, as well as a strong main body that communicates the point across.
It’s true that students and employees have a somewhat linear relationship with professors and managers respectively. The structure of the emails being sent back and forth should be simple and straightforward as explained by the template. It’s also important to communicate and collaborate effectively in person the same way you would through email. Professors and managers will always appreciate anyone sounding their voices for a certain purpose and will be helpful towards the enthusiastic and polite students and employees.
Since this is an online class, I will make sure that I’m able to communicate my thoughts more clearly whenever posting on this discussion thread and through email with any of my fellow classmates or professor.
I am very similar to you when it comes to emails. The first email that I send is usually very formal and I try to get my point across to the professor in a concise manner. However, if the professor replies back a lot less formal, my response usually matches the formality that their email had. I feel like that is not very professional for students to reply back to the professor in a less formal manner, even if the professor’s response is not formal. But, I guess it is just human nature, if someone’s response seems to have had less thought going into it, many students might want to have the same type response back. However, I need to fix that problem and always be professional in my email responses no matter what!
In my experience, the first time that I email a professor is the most formal, and then the formality of the emails decreases as communication continues. I tend to match the formality level of the professor’s response in my next email.
I think writing to professors and writing to managers is often similar, however sometimes employee-manager communication happens over other platforms like instant messaging. In that case, the writing is less structured.
I agree with this strategy. Many professors and managers prefer to communicate in as concise a manner as possible. This is especially apparent in the workplace, where long email chains occur that involve multiple stakeholders. When quick and concise communication is instrumental to getting a job done on time, it is important to adapt your communication style accordingly.
There lies a gray area when it comes to communicating with people that may be considered one’s superior, however. While many managers and professors do opt to use non-formal language, I tend to err on the side of caution to avoid seeming disrespectful. I certainly agree that formality in emails tends to decrease with time, but perhaps staying just one “level” of formality higher than a superior can communicate this respect. This is certainly a challenge that arises with any form of text communication. Body language, tone of voice, and demeanor are all absent, leaving lots of room for miscommunication.
I think your point of miscommunication is important to keep in mind. The article “Re: Your Recent Email to Your Professor” relates texting and other modern forms of communication to email. Just like with the texting and other forms of digital messaging, a significant part of communicating, the physical part, is lost. One has to be as concise with their language as possible to avoid running into this issue.
I actually experience something quite different from you. I try to keep all my emails to my professors professional at all times as I believe it shows respect for the professor. Sometimes I do get a little confused in the workforce when my managers keep their emails very casual and tell me to call them by their first names, but even then, I try to still keep my emails professional and concise.
I definitely understand where you are coming from as I sometimes get that same feeling of wanting to keep my emails as casual as how the professor treats it.
Many times a semester I have to send a professor an email to get clarification about something. The two parts that I struggle the most about writing an email to a professor is that I do not know if they have the title Dr. or just Professor and sometimes I make my emails a bit too wordy.
One time I was sent my professor an email if she could post something on Canvas by saying “May you please…” but she replied back to me that I should have said “Will you please…”. So that is the only advice that a professor gave to me about becoming a better communicator with email.
I had an internship this past summer and we used email a lot to communicate with each other. Emailing a professor is very similar to emailing someone at the office because you want to make sure your grammar is correct and that you sound professional. If someone sends an email that is hard to understand because of many errors, the other person probably won’t know how to reply to it or they might just not reply at all.
I believe that emails to professors should initially be treated as if you were writing to a manager, or executive member in a company. For example, when I first began doing undergraduate research I would email my professor in a formal manner, because we had not built a strong relationship. However, as time progressed, the interactions via email became more natural, and now we both have an understanding that we do not need to use time to “pamper” up the email if we are in need of a simple short response.
Like the article says, students typically do not make the point clear by adding unnecessary information, but I somewhat disagree with this statement. Providing as much detail and even a little extra information can show the recipient of the email that you are trying to be conscientious and full with your questions, and shows genuine interest in the issue, problem, solution, or whatever it is you are emailing about. As I mentioned earlier, as time progresses and the relationship becomes more solidified more direct and blunt communication can be used. It is the same as with friends; in most cases, the first time you meet someone you do not necessarily show them your “true” self, it takes time to build a sense of trust and common ground, and that is why people do not become best friends the second they meet each other, but after an extended period of time.
I feel that the article was helpful on a surface level to what a professional email involves. Giving clear step-by-step instructions on what to do and how the finished product should look is a good start on writing an email to a professor or boss, especially for cold-call communication. I would definitely appreciate an article on the nuances of email communication, as that’s where I run into the most issues with not quite knowing what to do.
I’ve found however, that even with professors I’m not especially close to, that their responses are generally as short as possible, especially if the email chain goes on for awhile. In that situation, I never know if my level of professionalism is expected to stay at the high quality of the first email, or if it can downgrade to match theirs. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
I personally find that professors seem to appreciate the initial professionalism, especially since you approached them. However, I have never ran into any issues with reducing the formality as emails are exchanged back and forth as long as there is still a respectfulness there.
I’ve run into that issue too. If there is a chain of emails going back and forth I’m not sure how professional to remain. In general I just continue writing with the greeting, the main message, and my signature with each email unless the professor says not to do that. It seems tedious, but I would rather air on the side of caution rather than try to be casual and come off as unprofessional. I’ve had a couple of professors tell me that I don’t need to be as formal with my closing if it’s a string of messages, and also one professor that I was closer with told me to just use her first name. I’ve also noticed that many professors with PHD’s prefer being called “Dr.” instead of “Professor.”
Professional email writing is paramount in both education and work settings. This has been stressed by all professors I have had, my Army instructors, and the corps of cadets. As a freshman, we actually had a training session on professional email writing. Topics covered were the importance of a clear subject line, proper greeting of the day, reason for the message, main message, and a conclusion with a professional phrase such as “Very Respectfully.” This has been quite helpful for me and some professors have even mentioned that my correspondence and interactions are very professional. This article and infographic conveys the same concepts I learned three years ago. As for your question about writing to a professor compared to writing to a manager for work, I believe both would have nearly identical structures. The only major difference would be the message being conveyed. It is vital to keep a professional relationship in both the education and work places.
I agree with the article that, as students, we need to make sure that we tried everything to solve a problem before emailing the professor. The diagram of email anatomy is similar to how I set up my emails to my professor. The only difference is that I tend to thank them once at the end because I do not want to be redundant by thanking them in both the introduction and the closing remarks. If the email conversation has a lot of back and forth conversation, I end up just doing the greeting, body, and closing signature. It is only the first email where I introduce myself. Something I noticed in signatures is that people list their major, department, degrees, and even have an elaborate signature. I just use my name.
In the past, professors usually tell you what to label as the subject line of the email to make sure that they see the email – rather than having it go into their spam folder.
From personal experience, I have had to email faculty whom I have never met, and I feel like getting their name correct shows respect. When addressing females, I personally want to make sure I get the prefix correct (I believe that Ms. is a safer bet than accidentally putting Mrs. when they are not married? I am not sure, so correct me if I am wrong). Luckily, for school purposes, we can just put “Professor” or “Dr.”. However, in the past, I run into situations where staff (who aren’t professors) names are unisex, so I am unsure of how to address them. By luck, I ask other students and professors about who I am emailing to fix this.
Sometimes we get professors that send informal emails too! I still send them formal emails. In a work space, I still send formal emails too. It is only peers whom I know personally will I not follow the proper perfect email.
Whenever I am emailing a professor, I try to be as formal as possible in the beginning and then change my style based on their reply. If I am not sure whether or not my professor has the title Dr. I’ll search them on Google to see if I can figure it out. I think one of the most important things to is to make it very obvious what class and section you are in. This allows your professors to help you based on what they remembers from the class and they may begin to learn your name and associate you with that specific course which can help if you need a slight curve. Also the section about entitlement was interesting because it is difficult to ask for something without sounding entitled. I usually read over these types of emails multiple times making sure I come off as polite and not entitled.
As far as emailing a manager or executive in the workplace, I would treat the same as my professor. During my co-op, I mostly communicated using an instant-messenger and emails were reserved for longer discussions/proposals. These usually started formal and then transitioned to casual.
For me the most relevant part of this post is not to over saturate your email with useless padding. The biggest issue I’ve heard from most, if not all, of my professors has been that students don’t get to their point quickly or they try to be polite and in doing so make it hard to understand exactly why they are emailing them in the first place. I’ve always found it best to write out my emails and then reading them out loud to myself a few minutes later to see if there’s a clear explanation to my email and the answer I was looking for in response.
I usually try to keep my emails professional in nature unless it becomes an ongoing conversation and then I take cues from the replies from my professors on the level of formality that they are using to dictate how formal my replies will be in response.
I agree that brevity is an important part of writing good professional emails. If you aren’t able to clearly state the main purpose of your email briefly, I would imagine that professors would get frustrated with having to read through frivolous “fluff” before they understand what is being asked of them, especially during busier parts in the semester when inboxes are likely inundated with questions and concerns. Another thing that I think is really important that isn’t emphasized enough in the article is to make sure the professor knows who you are. If you send an email asking a question, I believe that it’s really important to include the class, as well as the meeting time, so that the professor knows exactly what class and specific section is being discussed. I’d imagine that it’s really difficult to figure out what a student is referring to if you’re unsure what class the question is asking about!
Helpful article! I definitely think the information is directed towards the attitudes and perspectives of students who compose emails to professors and how that shines through in writing. The point on taming down the entitlement can be applied to in-person communication with a professor as well. Many students carry a relaxed demeanor that can be interpreted as aloof and give off a bad impression. However, some professors do carry and prefer relaxed communication as opposed to strict formalities. I guess you have to really feel out the professor in the beginning to get a sense of what is appropriate communication. At first, though, a student should always assume the suggested style of language to use is formal as Corrigan and McNabb point out
I enjoyed reading that article because I felt that it covered all the main points that are important to consider when emailing a professor. I have done all of the above that was listed when I am emailing a professor, however I never really thought about step 6 where it says to add a touch of humanity. I generally try to start my emails by saying stating my name, which class section I’m in, and then I explain the background information on my question followed up by asking the question. I think at Tech where the school is so large it’s hard for professors to keep track of which student is talking to them, so one of my professors gave our class the advice to state not only which class we are taking of theirs, but which section ie. which days/times we are taking them. I also think professionalism is extremely important int he workplace and emails should be handled in a similar fashion because that person is still your superior. However, the more you get to know people the less formal I believe it has to be. For example, when my sister first started her job she emailed her manager in a professional manner, but after 2 years they became friends so the emails were still thorough, but they had less of a professional tone.
My 7th grade science teacher was the one who set me straight about emails. We had a communication tool on a course portal site, and I was a little too rude in one of my emails to her — the sense of entitlement discussed in the article. Thankfully, she kindly explained what was appropriate and professional, and I’ve been practicing writing proper emails/letters since.
I haven’t had anyone comment negatively about my emails for the past 8 years now, and I think I may have received a few good remarks here and there, though I’m not certain. I was a TA for 3 semesters though, and it was an interesting experience to be on the receiving end of emails from other students. Perhaps it’s that I was a student like them, but I was sent a number of, to say the least, unprofessional emails. I’ll have to refrain from sharing juicy details about those…
I certainly think writing emails to my professors is like emailing my boss, scary and deliberated. There has to be a good reason, otherwise I’m just wasting their time. Dale Carnegie offered this advice in his How to Win Friends and Influence People when he said “you always leave someone a little better or a little worse. There is no neutral conversation” (I’m paraphrasing since I don’t have the book with me). Bearing that in mind, it’s in our best interest to only write an email to our
professor or boss when there’s a reason worth doing so and it needs to be done well. Whether it’s good news, bad news, or a plain question, it’s important to look beyond what we want out of the email and practice proper courtesies for the sake of
the recipient.
I agree with the article that emailing professors should be done in a professional manner as a sign of respect and to allow us, as students, to set a precedent and learn how to write emails in the workplace. Most professors only give advice on the subject line, so that they will know to look at your email when it has a subject line of your course, but it was helpful to learn how to address and end the professional emails.
Interestingly, I have found that emails from professors generally are much more informal than ones from professional personnel. However, I have always treated the two as the same. I generally tend to construct my emails using the outline given in the article and graphic, but I can honestly say I have never seen an email back from a professor with the same formality. On the other hand, I have never come across an email during my time in industry that didn’t follow a formal format. I do not know if this is a common experience or not, but in either case, in my opinion, the advice given in the article is definitely something to live by. Very rarely will you make a bad impression if you always stick to a consistent, well-designed email format, but you might if your emails are sloppy and not thought out.
I was curious about the research mentioned in the infographic regarding “Thanks in advance” being the best way to get people to reply and found this: http://blog.boomerangapp.com/2017/01/how-to-end-an-email-email-sign-offs/
Interestingly, that Boomerang study didn’t specifically show causality, but instead inferred causality by referencing another study from 2010 by Grant and Gino titled “A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining Why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior” which did in fact find a causal relationship between gratitude expressions (Thanks, etc.) and resulting prosocial behavior.
In other words, preemptively saying thanks is actually a really effective strategy to use when you’re trying to get someone else to do something. Both those studies are interesting reads and I recommend looking at them, although the Grant and Gino study is pretty dense.
I write emails to both my professors and my managers in the same manner. I always try to keep it short, professional, and straightforward. The graphic shown above accurately represents almost all my emails that I send to a professional figure and it has proven to be very effective. I believe that keeping my emails professional and organized allows for easier communication between two people and it also shows the other person your communication skills and professionalism. Even when the professor or manager starts writing in an unprofessional manner and starts to steer more towards a personal tone, I still try to keep my emails professional as it shows off my maturity and respect for the other person. Surprisingly, I have found that a lot of professors and managers write emails in a very casual manner and never really follow the outline that the graphic shows above.
I sent my managers an email that simply wished them happy holidays and notified them of my vacation plans just in case they wanted to reach me, and one of them replied back saying how much he appreciated that email. I believe that even outside of being professional, adding in little personal messages goes a long way in the professional world.
In my past experiences of writing to professors, I have learned that it is very important to include the course and section number in the subject line that way the professor knows which class you are in and what you might be discussing. I agree with the other comments in that the email should be formal and to the point so that it is professional and easily gets the point across. When I interned over the summer, one of my managers told me that I should be concise in the email for efficiency.
Most of my electronic communication with professors is very formal. I always outline my emails very similar to the info-graphic. Once I have received a response from the professor, I match their style of formatting. If the professor responds with a formal format, I will continue to do so. On the other hand, if the professor responded with a casual format, I will change the outline of email to be more casual. I have accidentally sent an unfinished email to a professor before and they gave me advice to write the email in its entirety before filling an email address to prevent this from happening because it looks very unprofessional. Writing to professors is very similar to writing to anyone in the workplace. Once I know their style and how formal they are, I will follow that format in future communications.
I have been neglecting the importance of “add a touch of humanity” part in my e-mails to professors. I try to be the most professional my self when I write emails to professors. I know that some professors prefer informal emails without salutation or go with their first names, but there are also other professors who are very strict about formality of the emails. I’ve always thought too-much-formality is better than too-less-formality. I have seen professors who was not pleased about lack for formality in e-mail, but I have not seen any professor who get mad about too formal email. I will still try to keep my emails as much professional as possible and wait until how professor responses. This template about emailing professor definitely will help to write the proper email.
As a college student, I sometimes have the trouble of writing emails to my professors simply because of having the dilemma whether to address in a formal way or not too formal instead. Logically, the formal way is the most common choice but sometimes I feel like being too formal is like losing the human voice as if I am sending letter to my professor disguising as a robot. After reading the above article, I actually understand more about how to apply formality in my writings but still not losing the humanity touch.
My style of writing is usually putting out short and simple sentences for my professors to understand simply because I know that if I am to be in the professor’s spot it would surely ruin my mood having to read all those emails with lengthy sentences.
Also one thing if I can add for the writing tips is that we should try to proofread our emails in the way that we are the respectful recipient to see whether the message from the email is clear enough for us to understand if we are the ones receiving it
I tend to air on the more formal side when emailing professors. I try to be both formal and direct at the same time. I don’t like wasting other people’s time, so usually my emails are very straight to the point. But this article made some really good points about how that may not be the greatest way to send an email. After reading the article, I do believe it is important to add a touch of humanity to emails, and I definitely think it is important to elaborate on the actions taken by one’s self to address an issue in the email so that the professor knows that you’re giving it your all.
Last summer I had a job where my manager prefered to communicate by text, and it felt very weird to be, because he was my superior so I felt like I needed to keep my messages formal, but texting for me is usually a very informal form of communication. It was a struggle for me in this situation to find a happy medium between how I usually send my informal texts versus my formal emails.
The hardest thing for me when I write to professors, is deciding when to send a follow-up email. I understand that professors have very busy lives but when is it appropriate to send a reminder email, and what is the best way to do that without being rude/annoying? I have talked to several professors about this and have gotten different answers. One professor told me after 3 days, another professor said wait a week to send a second response. I typically wait 3 days if it is an urgent matter but I will try to wait a week if not. Writing to professors and writing to executives is similar. In both cases, you must be professional and concise – you never want to waste anyones time. Also, both might require a brief introduction if the company is big or you don’t know your professor. The biggest thing when sending an email is that you get the receiver’s title correct. My professors have advised me address other professors as “Dr.” if you cannot find their correct title – just to be on the safe side.
Three days seems reasonable to me, Cassie. One thing I would add is to make that three “business” days. Many of teachers either don’t work or work less on the weekend. Unless the request is urgent, I often let student emails wait until Monday. I like to think you all are taking some time off during the weekend too.
Another tip is to check the syllabus to see if the teacher has given any details on when/how they reply to email messages. If the teacher says, “Allow 48 hours,” for instance, be sure that you do.
In both emails to professors and emails to managers and executives, there’s obviously a large power imbalance. In that context, I mostly see things like formality, greetings, and closing statements as tools for signalling deference to power. I’ve seen that professors and executives certainly don’t feel it’s necessary to use those elements of style when writing to me, but they do when they’re talking to someone in an even greater position of power. So I think a big part of persuading someone in a greater position of power is probably showing deference to their power. For that reason, I have enough perspective to realize that I sometimes need to context switch and strategically appear more deferential and high-power-distance even though I’m naturally extremely low-power-distance.
But when it comes to professors vs executives, I’m generally more formal and reverent when writing emails to professors. I’ve found only drawbacks in violating power relationships with professors, but have actually had great success in workplaces with a less deferential email style. That style of writing, among other things, has helped me metaphorically “dress for the job I want” by acting like someone with a lot more power, and therefore create opportunities for myself to demonstrate my suitability for promotion or whatever. That sort of strategy doesn’t really make sense with a professor.
For work related professional emails (either to a professor, coworker or boss) I tend to make sure that I always stay on topic. If I need to explain something, I make sure to only include relevant details so I don’t distract the reader from the point of the email.
When introducing myself or starting a new thread of emails with someone I don’t know, I make sure to explain who I am as part of the first sentence or two (at most), but make sure to get to the point of the email by the third sentence, which is almost always on a new paragraph.
If I wish to schedule a meeting, I usually bring that up as a concept in the first couple sentences along with explaining who I am. Then, in the closing remarks, I bring that information back up and specify times that I am available for such a meeting. This keeps the reader aware of the purpose of the email, while not thinking about logistics until they already understand the purpose of the meeting.
As for a signature, I like to stay as conservative as possible, and just explain my job title (for work), or just my major (for professors), as well as basic contact info (email / phone).
I tend to look to emailing professors as a last resort by means of communication. Most of the time, if I am emailing a professor, it is because I have some kind of question or concern with the class or the coursework. I tend to try and structure my emails in such a way that makes it easy for the instructor to read and understand the email. I often include lots of “white space” in my emails by including extra returns and tabs to separate and organize my thoughts and statements.
One tip I have repeatedly been given by professors is to include the class name in the subject line in order to make it easier for the teacher to tell which class one is asking help about. I will usually start my subject line with the class department and then number like for instance, “CEE 2005 – ” and then a brief statement about what my email will be about.
I tend to treat emailing professors in more professional manner, much like I would conduct myself to employers or colleagues. I try to keep all spelling and grammatical errors to a minimum, as well as make my email’s aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Considering an ugly-looking email can make it hard for other people to read and understand what is trying to be said.
One of my biggest dilemmas when writing an email to a professor or manager is determining the level of formality for the email. In the past, I have always tried to keep my emails on the formal side of things. However, as I email a person more frequently, the level of formality of the emails tends to decrease. I agree with the idea that being too formal can be an issue and be off putting, so it is important to make sure the email is personable. I feel that being formal yet personable will illicit a quicker response from the recipient. Also, I feel as though the level of formality can vary person to person. However, if this is the first communication between you and a professor or manager, I would recommend airing on the formal side.
Additionally, as stated in the article and infographic, it is important to get straight to the point. Adding fluff to make the email appear longer does not benefit anyone. It can make the purpose of the email unclear and the recipient is less likely to read through the entire email.
I think emailing professors and managers is fairly similar. In both cases you need to show a great deal of respect, and structure the emails similarly. I often use emailing professors as a way to practice for emailing different companies. All in all, I think the article and the infographic provide a thorough description on how to approach sending a professional email.
I found when communicating with a professor or a coworker, it is best to keep your email short and to the point. Normally busy people like to knock out emails that are the easiest to accomplish first. As apart of my senior design class I have been ignored because my email looked like more work for the recipient than it was. The next month my team made the message appear simpler and to the point. We received a response almost immediately as a result of this change. I completely agree to keep the main body of the email short and to keep in mind the tone so it does not offend the person you are sending it to. In addition, I believe the subject line is one of the most important aspects to an email. Something like “budget cuts” or any heading that seems dreadful to open will be ignored. It is best to keep it short and more positive so that it will be opened and responded to more quickly.
In my opinion, when writing an email to your professor the subject line is very important. I usually specify the class code (Ex: ECE xxxx), so the professor gets an idea of which class I’m from. Most professors are teaching more than one class in any given semester. In the email itself, I specify the meeting days and time so the professor knows for sure which one of his/her classes I’m enrolled in.
On a different note, the info graphic in this article is extremely helpful. I learned that using the word “Dear” in the greeting is not acceptable. It’s better to use “Hi” instead. This was interesting to learn because I usually use the greeting “Dear” to be more formal. I’m also going to print this info graphic and hang it up on my wall to refer to while writing to my professors.
When emailing a professor, I try at all times to stick to the topic and be quick to the point. I understand that professor’s are very busy and I lean towards not disturbing them after school hours unless very urgent. My emails align with the provided infographic. I believe professor’s will respect an email and student more when they receive the same respect from incoming mail.
In my experience, most professors tend to slowly but surely break formality in emails. When this happens, I copy that level of formality. One thing I question is the opening. Sometimes I will put “Professor,” and other times a simple “Hello,”.
When it comes to emailing people within a company that have more power, I try to be as formal as possible just as I would with a professor.
I agree that is very important to always consider the time that you are sending an email, as it may be taken as rude to send an email during an employees off-hours that implies you are expecting a quick response. I also have had many similar experiences where somebody will begin communication over email with strict formality, and slowly break that formality over time. The importance of individuals’ preferences in terms of how they wish to correspond over email seems to be an important theme in many of the other experiences discussed above.
Whenever I email a professor, I always make sure to be brief and to the point. Professors and especially advisers get tons of emails a day and they do not want to get bogged down with fluff. I liked the infographic because it very clearly showed the different segments of a well thought out and written email.
I try to always write professional to anyone, it is a good practice to write that way, even to friends. This way when I am out in the workforce it is second nature to write emails well. I try to always put the class number in the subject line too, this way the professor knows instantly what class this is for. It is also extremely important to thank them in advance, if they are doing something for you.
The infographic provided excellent details pertaining to what a proper email should look like. When I email my professors/advisers I look to the subject line as being one of the most critical pieces of an email. Due to professors/advisers constantly being sent emails, I try to make the subject line as detailed and concise as possible so that they know what they are about to read. Being concise allows them to not only get through the subjects of an email quicker, but also allows them to get back to you much faster. It also shows that you respect their time and acknowledge that they have many more emails to respond to.
I always look to be respectful with emails to professors because I believe the levels of respect are held accountable similarly to that of a manager you would work for. I think it is a good habit to write professionally to everyone, including people you may know because you’re able to hold yourself accountable for every email you write.
First of all I think when I’m writing an e-mail to someone especially a teacher, I have to show my respects. It’s just important to be polite for someone who is older than me or teaching me. The proper salutation and correct grammars or punctuation are the way to show them I’m paying attention on the email I’m sending out and I’m not writing at will. Also proper language use and a clear subject line could make my teacher understand me better than doing it trickily. It’s fine for me to use a humor way to write the email but just not too much. So just like I said I agree with the article about the formal email to professor.
My freshman year at Virginia Tech I stayed in Lee hall under the Galipatia program. We were taught methods of professionalism like writing emails to professors. They explained the importance of an informative subject line and a proper introduction. I have always been very cautious about my email etiquette because it is quite easy to misinterpret text. When writing to professors I try my best to be as brief as possible as to not waste any of their, or my, time. I would say I am more cautious writing to my professors than I am writing to my boss because I have a personal relationship with her. How well you know a person strongly influences the way you communicate with them.
While much of this article seemed like simple common sense, I’m surprised to hear there are those who have been sending e-mails similar to how they send text messages. I’ve never actually received or sent an e-mail in such a format. Coming from a more formal environment (military/NSA), while brevity was used, e-mails were always treated very formally, and that is something I generally apply to all e-mails I construct. In fact I’ll often find myself writing too formally, as I’m used to writing e-mails to superior officers. On the note of emojis, I’d disagree with the points made here. They convey emotion well, and after a little correspondence I see no issue with using them. They are a result of a progressive change in language and are already integrated in a large portion of electronic communication.
During my senior year of high school, my teacher for my dual-enrollment English class made it a point to teach us proper email etiquette after having received one too many messages that reflected the poor communication skills mentioned in the referenced article. Because of this, I have been fortunate enough to avoid making these mistakes. However, it is a good refresher as I will be graduating this May and entering a field that heavily relies on communication via email. Often times these emails are sent to individuals that you have not met face-to-face and because I will not only be representing myself, but also my employer, these articles and graphics are resources that I will be able to reference throughout my career.
I found the article to be a good initial response to students who are may have sent poorly worded emails or soon plan to send an email to their professors. From my experience, I find that the first email sent to a new professor should most closely follow the guidelines presented in both the article and infographic. I believe that if you put time into carefully wording your question and present it in a well-structured format, your professor will be more willing to take their time with their response. If additional discussion is needed, I may match the formalities or lack thereof from their email.
I take a similar approach to sending an email to a professor as I would my boss. I think both recipients deserve a well-written and organized email. In a class my freshman year on campus I was taught that the subject line of an email to a professor is extremely important. I think this would apply to an email to a boss as well. Both people would most likely receive many emails a day, and using a good subject line can help your email standout from the rest. I am always as careful as possible in an email to a professor and a boss. I think it can be very easy to misinterpret what someone has written if you don’t give your text a review before sending.
I have found my experience writing to professors to be a mixed bag. In some cases, my professors seemed overly relaxed over email, and in other cases, they were strictly professional in their responses. In most of my classes, the professors give strict requirements for emails if we want a reply from them. Those requirements ranged from having specific requirements in the subject line to even having strict formatting rules for the body of the email. Since they go through tens or hundreds of email per day, I can see how this would make reading and replying to emails much easier for them.
But in the workplace, I don’t think managers and executives would have that many requirements for sending an email to them. Because of this, I find that learning how to write professional emails is definitely an important skill to learn. If I’m writing to a professor or a manager in the workplace, I prefer that we keep the exchange strictly professional if the matter is work related, regardless of the relationship we have with those people (friends or acquaintances) outside of school or the workplace.
When I’m emailing professors, I always try my best to be polite, keep grammars correct and be specific about the subject and reason why I’m emailing. If a simple greeting, introduction, and main body are included in the email, I think it should be good enough to communicate with professor via email. However, I feel that being too polite every time writing email is a little awkward since the relationship between students and professors is getting better as time passes by. From my experience, the first email to the professor must be polite and it can be a little softer afterward gradually.
In my opinion, one of the most important parts of writing to anybody in a professional setting, including professors, is to remain conscious of the fact that everybody has different personal preferences when it comes to reading emails. Usually, if I am sending a blind email with no prior communication, I will use very standard fonts, formatting, and organization, usually simple paragraphs with clear separation of ideas. If there are any topics being discussed that can be ordered, I’ll include bullet points or lists where necessary. Overtime, I do my best to get to know my colleagues preference and only then begin to incorporate less generic structures like color, unique fonts, bold, or other attributes where they may provide further relevant detail to my colleagues.
My first exposure to writing professional emails is from my high school English teacher; we once discussed the importance of writing professional emails. Both good and bad examples were shown for comparison. Some of my professors even listed the required subject line in the syllabus if we want the email to be read.
In my opinion, formal emails are one level up compared to professional emails. When I write emails to professors, I would always keep it formal. However, as I get along with the manager, I would write a less formal email in a professional manner.
Every time I write an email to my professor, I try my best to write in a formal. The most helpful tip for me is the main body part. I always write a lot in main part but I am not sure is that clearly for the reader. After I read that article, I know the main body should write a clear statement.
I always write the first email to the professor in a formal with subject, Greeting, and Main Body. However, sometimes the emails became like a conversition after I start the first email. Then, I just wrote the main body to the professor. I am not sure this is a right way to do it, but it saves time and straight forward to the point. I always try to be as polite as possible to the receiver, I think it’s nice way to get a good reply.