3:1 Writing with You Attitude

To: Evan Crisp

From: Ayazhan Makhambetova

Date: March 3, 2019

Subject: Best Practices in Writing an Email to a Professor

Dear Evan,

Thank you for reaching out. As a fellow student, I can imagine your frustration with not being able to register to English 301 class, and disappointment of not receiving a reply to your email from the professor. I have compiled a list of emailing etiquette suggestions, that will be helpful when formally addressing a professor  in a formal setting.

1. Use an email address that sounds professional.
   • The email address used is a first impression for the professor. It will be better to use an email address that does not look like a spam email address.
2. Always have a subject line.
   • The professor is a busy person. The approach to the letter must have a subject line that refers to your situation.
3. Always address a professor by their last name and the prefix.
   • The professor is not a friend. There needs to be a prefix to carefully acknowledge the professor.
4. Use the first sentence as a brief introduction.
   • The first line of the email needs to explain the status of the writer. i.e. “Hello, I am Evan Crisp, 3^rd year UBC student, student ID, waiting for a spot in your ENGL XXX class.”
5. Do not include irrelevant personal information.
   • The email must focus on the issue in a quick and concise manner. The professor does not need to know information such as “I need any three credits to graduate”, “head off to the beach at 3:00” etc.
6. Tone of the email
   • The tone of the email should be positive, and formal. An email to the professor is an official request for help. If the tone is pushy or negative, it will be rejected quickly as the professor has many people to deal with.
7. Use of abbreviations
   • In a formal email, abbreviations are not welcome as it takes time for the reader to think twice to decipher what the writer meant. Please write in full sentences.
8. Pressuring the professor
   • The professor is a busy person with little time to spread amongst many different students for many different classes. If there is a sense of pressure sent to the professor, there is little incentive for the professor to follow through with the request.
9. Thank the reader
   • In a formal email, the act of reading itself is work. It is advised that the email end with a formal thank you for the act of reading to the reader.
10. Omitting postscripts
    • There is no need to include a postscript in a formal letter. The issue at hand should be conveyed in the main paragraph.

I hope list above will be helpful in writing a formal letter to a professor.

Best wishes,

Ayazhan Makhambetova