Transcript Professional Email Communication: Writing to Your Instructors

Professional Email Communication:
Writing to Your Instructors
Teaching and Learning Toolkit
Conventions for professional communication differ from the
conventions we follow when we write to family members and
friends. In the workplace, a poorly-written email message conveys
disrespect and may be taken as evidence of insufficient effort and
technical skills.
To build students’ communication skills, many instructors at CMU
encourage their students to observe professional conventions for
course-related communication via email.
This presentation is an overview of those conventions.
Professional Email Communication
» Write a meaningful subject line.
Poor subject line: Question
Better subject line:
Professional Email Communication
» Always include a salutation (a greeting line), and address your
instructors as they have requested.
Professional Email Communication
» Identify yourself in the first sentence when writing initial notes to this
instructor.
Professional Email Communication
» State the purpose of your email.
Professional Email Communication
» Keep your message clear, brief, and to the point.
Professional Email Communication
» Identify attachments in the body of the email.
» Do not use email to submit assignments that should be uploaded to
the online course management system or turned in during class.
Professional Email Communication
» Use standard capitalization, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
» CAPITALIZING EVERYTHING IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING.
» leaving everything lowercase is seen as lazy or even disrespectful.
» Avoid using emoticons or textese (e.g., OMG, LOL, BTW).
» Like this: “I’d like to make an appointment to review #3 on the homework for
October 3. I know you went over it in class, but I am having trouble understanding
that problem.”
» Not like this: “Hey, can u tell me how to do number 3 on the homework. I no you
went over it in class but i missed.”
Professional Email Communication
» Consider the tone—make requests or suggestions, not demands.
» Like this: “You mentioned a book in class today that sounded interesting.
Could you send me the title?”
» Not like this: “Send me the name of the book you mentioned in class
today.”
» Don’t ask instructors of on-campus classes to explain complex course
topics via email. Instead, use email to set up a face-to-face meeting,
if possible, to get help with course material.
Professional Email Communication
» Finish with a polite sign-off.
Professional Email Communication
» Re-read the email.
» Edit to improve content, and to correct punctuation and grammar,
before sending.
Professional Email Communication
» Never send your instructor this email:
Professional Email Communication
» If you reply to a note from your instructor:
» Include the entire message chain in your reply.
» Remember that instructors may write to dozens of students each week and
may not remember the content of your prior note.
Professional Email Communication
» Remember that email doesn’t “go away.”
» Never put anything in an email that you would be embarrassed to
make public or that could cause harm to you or another person. Any
private or sensitive communications should be handled in person or
over the phone.
References
Microsoft Corporation. (2014). 12 tips for better email etiquette. Retrieved from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/12-tips-for-better-email-etiquetteHA001205410.aspx
The Writing Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2013). Effective
email Communication. Retrieved from
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/effective-email-communication/
Writing Center, Central Michigan University. (2014). Before you hit send. Retrieved
from
https://www.cmich.edu/colleges/chsbs/Centers/WritingCenter/Documents/email_c
onventions.pdf