Instructions - Short Version:
- Be professional and polite in your email exchanges with professors, staff members, potential employers, and anyone else whose impression of you matters.
Instructions - Detailed Version: - Use an email account that is associated with your real name, like your college email account. This gives the prof an idea of who's sending the message. It also saves you from looking uncouth to your prof because of some inappropriate personal email username like FriskyWhiskey1992@yahoo.com.
- Begin your email by addressing your professor directly; don't just launch straight into a request. Examples: "Dear Prof. Smith," "Hi, Dr. Jones," "Dr. Zimmerman, I hope all's well with you..."
- Make sure your first sentence identifies who you are by name. If your class is large, or taught in multiple sections, you may want to include your class and meeting time as well. Example: "This is Zach Jones from your English 320 class."
- Be polite: Don't make demands, don't accuse, remember to write please and thank you. If you think there has been a mistake or error, be especially polite about it, for example "I'm not sure why, but my grade is showing up as a 72 for the paper that I got back last week with a score of 75. Could we meet to clarify this?"
- Be succinct: Make your email as short as you can -- your prof is probably busy and might not care to read the entire backstory of how you had to miss class because of random exploits. Do NOT tell your story if it is inappropriate. Just get to the point and politely, respectfully, make your request.
- Be specific: Make sure you are as clear as possible about what it is you need to ask of your prof, without writing a novel.
- If you're going to have to miss class for a documented event like sports travel, offer to bring written proof up front, don't make your prof have ask.
- Close your email with something polite like 'Thanks', 'Thanks for your time', 'See you in class Wednesday', etc. Then re-type your first name
- Proofread your email before hitting "Send" -- You shouldn't write your email as though you are texting your friend. Make sure it's got full sentences, proper grammar, and real spelling. Don't use texting abbreviations or slang.
Adapted from http://www.ehow.com/how_4612604_writing-college-professor-university-professor.html
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