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3.1. INTRODUCTION
This section will help you write your request, that is, the most important part in the body of your email. We will focus on (i) some linguistic devices that you can use to adapt your request to the given situation and (ii) general politeness strategies that you can apply.
Before we start:
Think about the emails you write to your instructors in your first language and/or in English:
How much information do you include in your email? Do you usually write long or short emails?
Which factors affect the amount of information and level of detail included in your email?
How do you decide how to organize the ideas you want to express? Do you plan in advance or do you just write down ideas as you go?
Can you think of any strategies you apply to sound polite? Are they the same in your first language and in English?
Can you think of certain linguistic structures or words you use because they sound 'polite'? Are there any structures or words you avoid?
How much do I have to write?
The amount and quality of information included in your email will depend on the distance between you and the email recipient and the imposition of your request.
The more distance, the more information the instructor needs to understand who you are and what you need.
The higher the level of imposition, the better you will need to explain and justify the reasons for your request.
Consider this situation: The semester is almost finished; you have attended classes every week and have actively participated; the group is small, around 18-20 students; last week, you set up an appointment with your instructor for today; you can't remember whether the appointment was in their office or in the meeting room; you decide to write them an email to ask them about the correct place.
How much do you need to write?
Consider distance: Does your instructor need a lot of context to understand the situation? Do they know who you are?
Consider imposition: What degree of effort and amount of time is complying with your request going to take?
After considering this, can you imagine the type of email you would write?
Consider this situation: You want to apply for a scholarship to study a master's abroad. You need a reference letter from one of your English instructors. You think of Professor Eric Davies, who taught Renaissance Literature. He was very knowledgeable, but also nice and friendly, and you got good grades in his class. You took this class one year and a half ago, and the group was big, with around 60 students.
How much do you need to write?
Consider distance: Does your instructor need a lot of context to understand the situation? Will they know who you are?
Consider imposition: What degree of effort and amount of time is complying with your request going to take?
After considering this, can you imagine the type of information you would need to include in your email?
IMPORTANT: Even when emails to faculty are short, they still need to include all the necessary elements that organise the email, and keep an appropriate tone.
In the following sections you will find linguistic devices and politeness strategies to adapt your emails to different communicative situations. You can click on each title to go to the corresponding section:
Structures to phrase your request
Here you will find a range of syntactic structures and expressions that you can use to phrase your request (for example, I was wondering whether, Would it be possible to...)
Politeness strategies to frame your request
Here you will find general strategies that you can include in your email to make it more appropriate to the situation, particularly when dealing with higher imposition requests (for example, showing awareness of your instructor's schedule).
NOTE ON LANGUAGE: In addition to structures and strategies you will need appropriate and correct language to express your ideas. Don't forget to check the section EXTRA FOCUS ON LANGUAGE to learn, revise and practice useful vocabulary and expressions.
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