Comments on: #WednesdayWrite: Emails to Your Professors

By: shuai liu

shuai liu — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 02:20:04 +0000

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.

By: Luyi Wang

Luyi Wang — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 04:15:08 +0000

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.

By: Jiayu Li

Jiayu Li — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 02:09:33 +0000

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.

By: Brandon Shaw

Brandon Shaw — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 00:31:40 +0000

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.

By: Brandon Shaw

Brandon Shaw — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 00:26:00 +0000

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.

By: Youngsu Kim

Youngsu Kim — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 23:39:53 +0000

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.

By: Khang Lieu

Khang Lieu — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 22:37:32 +0000

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.

By: Ben Joel

Ben Joel — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 21:47:34 +0000

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.

By: William Heckman

William Heckman — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 20:23:20 +0000

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.

By: Kimberly Williams

Kimberly Williams — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 19:58:08 +0000

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.