Memorandum
To: Evan Crisp
From: Phoebe Wu
Date: November 20th, 2020
Subject: Advice on Best Practices for Writing E-mails to Professors
Hello Evan,
Regarding the email you recently asked for advice on, here is a memo on writing emails to professors. These guidelines focus on the “you-attitude” and will result in more professional sounding emails.
Tips for writing business emails
Effective business writers commonly use the following techniques:
- Greeting and ending the message to the reader with how they prefer to be addressed
- Focusing on how the reader could benefit from the proposition
- Stating your main point clearly at the beginning of the email
- Showing that the most important person in the exchange is the reader by reducing the uses of “I” and “we”
- Framing negative phrases into positive ones
- Addressing the reader with dignity and respect by eliminating colloquial terms
- Avoiding imperatives and commands by limiting the use of “you” in the email body
- Proofreading the email for typos and grammatical errors
Email is a quintessential tool to communication in business. The “you-attitude” in email writing shifts the focus from the writer and emphasizes the importance of the reader. Utilizing these techniques can help us effectively communicate with our peers and professors. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
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