MEMO- email to Evan Crisp

To:  Evan Crisp

From: Anna Li, ENGL 301 Student

Date: March 7th, 2022

Subject: Best Practices for Effective Communication with Professors

Introduction

Thank you for reaching out to ENGL 301 students for advice on writing emails to professors. Below are some suggestions to improve technical writing skills, hope it is helpful!

List of Suggestions

Emails receive a fast response follow these guidelines:

• Including a subject line to allow the professor to immediately know the purpose of the email.
• Greeting the professor in a formal way,  so that professors would be more likely to read through the email.
• Including a short self-introduction on your name, programs, student number. Emails from an identifiable source are more likely to be responded to.
• Providing some background information about why this email is sent in a neutral tone, avoiding using negative tones in sentences and wordings. 
• Focus on why getting this course is important, such as showing interest and related academic or career goals, and avoiding a negative tone.
• Being flexible about accommodation that the professor may provide. Recognizing it is not the professor’s job to ensure student enrollment is aligned with students’ schedules.
• Avoiding using imperatives sentences or wordings, such as the pronoun “you”.  Emails sent for assistance or help should not be imperative, be sure that the professor is put first.
• Avoiding using abbreviations, being formal and professional. Writing in a formal way leaves a good impression for further communication.
• Showing gratitude for the professor’s time to read your email. 

Conclusion

Writing to a professor is not an easy task, it not only involves a sound statement for the professor to consider why the student should be admitted into the course but also the choice of wording and sentence to further correspondence. Feel free to reach me at yuxuanli0224@gmail.com if you have any further questions and good luck on getting admitted to the course!