To: Evan Crisp, Student
From: Money Dhaliwal, Student
Subject: Best Practices for Emailing a Professor
Date: July 17, 2020
As requested for ENGL 301, I have reviewed your email and included some recommendations for best practices when emailing professors.
Tips for Improving Emails to Professors:
- Greeting – When emailing a professor it is important to start with a polite greeting and include their appropriate or preferred title (ex. Hi Professor Lambert)
- Professionalism – Ensuring that an email has proper grammar, spelling, and tone is a great way to show respect to the receiver of the email. It shows that effort has been put in to write the email and that the professional nature of the relationship is being recognized.
- Politeness – A polite tone is essential in any professional/business email but even more so when requesting something of the reader.
- Imperatives – Avoiding commanding language (imperatives verbs) will greatly improve the tone of an email and how it will be perceived by the reader.
- Sign Off – Similar to the greeting, it is important to include a professional sign off with a name. This closes off the email with the same tone as the beginning and clearly indicates who is writing.
Hopefully these best practices are useful in any future emails you may need to write to professors during your degree. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out.
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