How to Email Subject for a Professor You Dont Know

The fashion in which yous communicate and present yourself when writing to your professors is extremely important.

When you lot write to a professor, you should view information technology as a professional substitution. How you choose to interact conveys your level of seriousness and professionalism. It not only affects how your professor views you, but it as well determines how much fourth dimension they are going to take to deal with your bug. If you come up off as rude, clueless, or irresponsible, then it will affect how your professor responds. This volition have consequences for how the professor interacts with you and peradventure also how they evaluate you. Equally with any professional interaction, it is in your best interest to exist respectful, polite, and courteous when communicating with professors. Your emails, and the words you use, are a reflection of you and your attitudes.

Here are a few bones tips that y'all should follow when emailing your professors or instructors.

View an Email to a Professor as a Professional person Interaction. In many means, writing to a professor is no different from writing a business alphabetic character. Keep in mind that you are not texting with a friend or writing a casual bulletin to an associate -- this is a professional interaction with someone who is an expert in their field and in an official position to evaluate you and grade your work. Your emails should contain the proper parts of letter, convey respect and courtesy, and reverberate the fact you are a serious student. Here are a few specific tips:
- Brainstorm your email by addressing your professor past title and proper noun, and cease your electronic mail with a closing and your signature. A message that begins without a greeting or ends without a signature could be viewed as rudeness or indifference on the office of the author. Refer to your professor by the title "Professor" or "Dr.". If your professor has a Ph.D, you should address them as "Professor LastName" or "Dr. LastName". If they exercise not take a Ph.D., or if you are not sure, address them merely as "Professor LastName". Unless explicitly instructed to practice then, never address your professor past their first name. Begin your email with a greeting addressing the professor politely, such as "Beloved Professor Smith" or "Howdy Dr. Jones". After your message, terminate with a endmost and signature, such as "Sincerely, YourName" or "Thanks, YourName". If the professor does not know you well, use your full name. If the professor knows you or y'all've spoke in person a few times, your first name will suffice.
- Be clear and curtailed. Make sure your bulletin is like shooting fish in a barrel to understand, and that you do non go into unnecessary details. Writing in a professional person mode does not mean your bulletin must be long. If your question is short or directly, a one-sentence email (provided it includes a greeting and signature) is fine.
- Use correct spelling and proper grammar. If your email is filled with spelling and grammar errors it indicates one of two things: (i) You are woefully uneducated; or (two) You care and then picayune about the person you are writing that you lot are unwilling to take the time to write properly. Neither is something y'all desire to convey to your professor. Use complete sentences. Use proper spelling, capitalization, and grammer. Be particularly conscientious using homophones, such every bit there/their/they're or to/2/too. Do non use grammatically incorrect colloquialisms, such every bit "gonna" or "could of". Do non employ emoticons. Do not apply text abbreviations, such equally "R U gonna have ur class 2morrow cuz i won't b there".
  "Adept English, well spoken and well written, will open more doors than a college degree. Bad English will slam doors y'all didn't even know existed."
  --- William Raspberry
Use Proper Email Etiquette. In add-on to the content of your message, there are other technical aspects to being professional and courteous in email.
- Use an account with an appropriate electronic mail address. Ideally, yous should apply your academy electronic mail account. Cutesy, offensive, or kittenish email addresses are inappropriate in professional interactions, and information technology is a large error if you use one. If you accept an email address of the form sweet_darlin_nikki@yahoo.com or cutie_pie_98@hotmail.com or mikey_g@aol.com then it's time to retire that address in favor of something more grown upwards and more professional person. If you don't want to apply your academy email address, create a Gmail account of the class firstname.lastname@gmail.com. If you like, you tin frontwards email from your other accounts to your new one. Your email accost, including both the username and the domain proper noun, is a reflection of your professionalism. (See this comic past The Oatmeal.) In addition, silly email addresses have a much higher chance of getting flagged every bit spam and never making it to your professor's inbox.
- Make sure the emails you send display your total name in the "From" field. In your e-mail preferences, you can gear up the "From Name" that recipients run into when they get your emails. This should be gear up to include both your first name and final name. It should not be your electronic mail address; information technology should not exist only your first name; and it should not exist a nickname or a handle. When your professor looks at their inbox, it helps them if they tin see immediately who the message is from, and recognize you as a educatee in their class. If y'all're non sure how the "From Proper name" appears in emails from your account, send an e-mail to yourself and accept a look. Again, emails that don't display your total name accept a higher chance of getting flagged equally spam and never making it to your professor's inbox.
- Always use an informative subject line. Do non leave the subject line bare. Subject lines assistance the recipient to make up one's mind what the email is regarding before opening the message. The subject line also aids in organizing and locating e-mail in the future. It is helpful if your subject contains the class proper noun and a brief caption of the nature of the e-mail. For instance: "Math 3333-Question about Homework" or "Math 2331-Request for Meeting".
Do Not Waste product Your Professor's Fourth dimension. Professors are incredibly busy, and pedagogy is not the only part of their task. If you ship emails with petty requests, or if yous enquire a professor to do things you lot could easily do yourself, it indicates that you lot practise not respect your professor or value their fourth dimension. In improver, be very careful you practice not transport emails that convey the message "I demand to know this, and you need to tell me correct now." Here are some mutual student mistakes that y'all should avoid:
- Do not email to inquire basic questions yous can answer for yourself. If you don't know what a discussion means, attempt looking it upward in the alphabetize of the textbook. If you don't know how to do an do, bank check your notes to see if a similar one was washed in lecture. Grade policies, such as role hours, assignment details, writing guidelines, grading criteria, policies on missed classes and exams, etc. are well-nigh always addressed in the syllabus. If something is still not clear, then by all means enquire your question --- but beginning attempt to answer the question yourself and only write if you need farther clarification.
- Do not make demands. If you are asking for anything requiring time or energy, you should exist courteous and phrase it as a request. Do not presume your asking will be granted or that you automatically deserve special accommodations. If yous miss an exam, for whatever reason, do not write and say "I missed an examination. When can I make it upward?". Instead, explain why y'all accept extenuating circumstances, and inquire the professor if they volition allow y'all to make upward the test. Also, if you have special needs or a disability that requires accommodation, practise not write the professor an electronic mail telling them what they have to practice. Explain your circumstances and your needs, and ask politely for accommodation.
- Do not email to explain why you lot missed class. Most professors are tired of these kinds of excuses, and most do not care. If something serious has occurred, or you need special accommodations, you should become to part hours and hash out it in person.
- Practice not write your professor request for copies of their notes because you missed class. Professors are busy, and it'due south not their responsibility to do more than piece of work because y'all didn't come to class. Instead, ask a classmate.
- Do not write request for extra credit. If you don't understand why, come across this page.
- Do non email to ask what your current class is, or how many points you demand on the final to become a certain grade in the class. If at that place is a grader for your course, your professor may not even have your homework scores. Often the grader gives them to the professor at the finish of the semester. You should be keeping track of your scores on homework and exams. The syllabus describes how the portions of the form are weighted and how your terminal percentage in the class is calculated. You should be able to summate your current class and what score y'all need to become a certain final percentage in the form. If y'all are not keeping track of your scores on homework and exams, it shows you lot do non care very much well-nigh the class or your academic functioning. If you are concerned almost your grade, go to office hours and talk most it in person rather than writing an email.
Before Sending an Email, Check That What You Accept Written is Appropriate. Remember that you are engaging in a professional commutation, not writing to a friend. Here are some tips:
- Do not apply your email to vent, rant, or whine. If you take a complaint, or are not happy about something, explain yourself calmly and ask if anything tin can be done. You may very well be frustrated about a situation, only sending an angry email will non help things. In situations like this, information technology is also frequently more helpful to talk to the professor in person rather than ship an email -- particularly since tone and intent tin can oft be misinterpreted in emails.
- Do not share inappropriate personal details. Detailed data on your love life, health issues, home life, or family state of affairs are oft not advisable or fifty-fifty relevant. Talk over merely what relates to the class. If something serious is occurring in your life, talk to the professor in person.
- Exist respectful, and consider whether anything you have written might audio rude or offensive to your professor. For example, don't flippantly say that you lot slept through the professor's class, or say that yous hate the bailiwick or form, or that y'all think the professor is as well strict. These things are all offensive and inappropriate. Likewise, do non write your professor request if they covered anything important on a mean solar day you missed --- by doing so yous imply that nigh of what the professor covers in class is not important.
Permit Time For a Response. Professors are decorated and have many other task responsibilities in addition to your class. As well, you lot should not expect professors to exist responding to e-mail at night or outset affair in the morning. Permit up to 24 hours for a professor to reply -- possibly more if it is a weekend or holiday.
Do Non Use Email as a Substitute for Contiguous Conversation. Almost professors complain that students fail to have advantage of part hours and speak with them in person. Many problems are often meliorate handled in person than past e-mail. Discussions about assignments or grades, questions nearly homework problems, requests for a alphabetic character of recommendation, and in-depth conversations nearly academic topics are all best done in person.