Email Basics

Written by Ms. Alyssa Soto

Published on 7/22/25, Updated on 9/24/25

How much do you know about sending an email?

Email has been a main form of public communication since the 1990's and continues to be the core of online communication today. Chances are, you were taught how to compose and reply to emails sometime in grade school. This article is here to serve as a refresher for some basic information and to provide some info that might not have been explicitly explained to you.

Anatomy of an Email Address and Email

TO vs. CC vs. BCC

Reply vs. Reply All vs. Forward

Anatomy of an Email Address and Email

This is the basic of basic information, I know, but all knowledge should start somewhere, and it's good to have a refresher now and again.

Email Address Anatomy

Let's begin with your email address. Your email address is made up of two simple sections:

Diagram showing the parts of an email address. The address "asoto2@aguafria.org" is displayed. The part before the "@" symbol, "asoto2," is labeled "Username" in red. The part after the "@" symbol, "aguafria.org," is labeled "Domain Name" in blue.

Username: your account's identifying name

Domain Name: identifies the mail server you are messaging from (Google, Yahoo, Outlook, Apple, etc.)

These two sections are separated by an "at symbol" or @. This is why we describe our emails as "asoto2 at aguafria.org."

Email Anatomy

Then, we have the email itself. An email is made up of four main fields. These are:

Subject: briefly describes what your email is about

usually less than 10 words in length
uses sentence-style capitalization (first word and proper nouns)
Recommended Format: Name, Student ID# - Subject
- - Ex. "Jill Goodall, 62376 - English I Bellwork" or "Mark Yslas, 72459 - Biology Lab"

To/From Fields: who the email is going to and who is sending it

Greeting: can be a simple "Hello," or a formal "To whom it may concern:"

address the recipient by last name
- - addressing by first name is fine if you are their friend
if the recipient's name is unknown, "To whom it may concern:" can be used

Body: your email's content, usually consisting of...

reason for contact
additional, relevant information related to the reason for contact
question or call to action, usually asking for a response

Signature: a proper sign-off and your name should be at the end of your emails

Respectfully, Sincerely, Your Student, and other sign-offs may be used

TO vs. CC vs. BCC

There are three ways you can add someone to an email: the basic "TO," the "Carbon Copy" or CC, and the "Blind Carbon Copy" or BCC.

Aren't these all the same thing? Not really. While all three options share the same end goal of delivering an email to a recipient, the method each option uses to do so are different. This means there are times when it will be appropriate to use one option but inappropriate to use another.

Illustration with stick figures explaining the difference between TO, CC, and BCC in emails. Under "TO:", two people are shown holding envelopes with the caption "We got this email. We should reply soon!" Under "CC:", one person holds an envelope with the caption "I got this email, now I know what’s going on." Under "BCC:", two people are shown separated by a diagonal line, each holding an envelope and both saying, "I got this email. I should reply soon!" indicating they don’t know about each other.

TO

The TO field is the most common option used to address emails to people. It is the option for relevant people who need to take action upon receiving the email.

People addressed in the TO field are considered the main recipients of your email. If you are explicitly addressing people in the body of your email and expect a reply from them, chances are they should go into this field. Generally, all people included in the TO field will see the entire email thread as replies are sent and can see everyone else addressed in the TO and CC fields.

Carbon Copy (CC)

The Carbon Copy or CC field is meant for people who are related to the subject but are not expected to take action upon receiving the email.

The name "Carbon Copy" comes from the old concept of producing a single copy of a document to keep on record. If you've had a parent or guardian sign a school form with a yellow and pink paper attached that printed copies of their writing, then you've seen carbon copy papers at work!

People addressed in the CC field are typically there to be kept in the loop. If you need to keep someone up-to-date on what's being mentioned in the body of the email but do not expect them to reply or take action, chances are they should go in this field. People included in the CC field usually will not see the entire email thread, but they can see everyone else who is addressed in the TO and CC fields.

Blind Carbon Copy (BCC)

The Blind Carbon Copy or BCC field is meant for multiple people whom you want to keep from seeing other recipients of the email.

The BCC field works similar to the CC field by sending a separate copy of the email to each recipient. The difference lies in the fact that the recipients cannot see who else received the email and can only see their reply thread. This option is typically used when sending an email to a large group while maintaining the privacy of the other recipients.

Examples

Scenario 1: You need to send an email you designed for a project to multiple people. You do not want the recipients to see they were part of an "email blast" or for them to see who else received the email, so you add everyone to the BCC field to keep them from seeing the other recipients.

Scenario 2: You need to send an email to a classmate, but you also need your teacher to know about the conversation. You do not need your teacher to respond to the email. You add your classmate's email address to the TO field and your teacher's email address to the CC field.

Scenario 3: You need to send an email to a few people about the same subject. Rather than sending them all individual emails, you decide it's quicker to type one email and then send it to all of them. You don't want them to know that they received the same email as other people, so you add them all to the BCC field.

Reply vs. Reply All vs. Forward

You may have noticed that emails you've received have three options for responding: Reply, Reply All, and Forward. What makes the difference between them all? That would be who winds up receiving your reply.

Reply

Reply is the default response presented upon receiving an email. This option is used for situations where you want to respond to only the person who had sent the email regardless of whether other people were added to the email thread. Replies will often have "RE:" at the start of the subject line.

Reply All

Reply All lets you send a response to all people who were addressed in the TO and CC fields. This option is often used in group discussions where everyone involved needs to stay in the loop of the conversation. Be mindful when using Reply All, as there may be situations were not everyone in the TO and CC list needs to be involved in the whole thread. Like replies, responses sent with Reply All will often have "RE:" at the start of the subject line.

People addressed in the BCC field will not receive a response through Reply All. They would have to manually be added as a recipient to the reply.

Forward

Forward is used to send a copy of an email to a person who was not originally on the recipient list. This may be used when needing to show someone an email without involving them in future replies. Forwarded messages will often have "FW:" at the start of the subject line.

You can add a message to the beginning of the email before you forward it, or you can forward it as is. The original sender and any other recipients will not receive a forwarded message unless you add them as a recipient to the forwarded message.

Examples

Scenario 1: You need to respond to an email from a friend about a group project. The rest of your groupmates have been involved in the same email thread on the TO field. You would use Reply All when you respond to make sure everyone sees your response and continues being part of the thread.

Scenario 2: You need to respond to an email from a classmate about an assignment. Your classmate has CC'd your teacher to the email to update them about where you and your classmate are on the assignment. Your teacher does not need to be continuously involved in the conversation, so you use Reply when you respond to respond to only your friend.

Scenario 3: You need to ask your teacher a question about an email you received. Your teacher was not the original sender and was not one of the recipients. You use Forward to send a copy of the email to your teacher, adding a message with your questions before you send it.