Memorandum: Writing Effective E-mail Messages to Professors

To: Evan Crisp, UBC Student, <bahaguy5454@hotmail.com>

From: Tanya Mozafari, English 301 Student, <tanyamozafari@gmail.com>

Subject: Writing Effective E-mail Messages to Professors

Introduction

Here is the memorandum on best practices in writing an e-mail to a professor seeking to be added to a full course. These principles result in more professional email.

Tips for writing an e-mail to a professor

Successful writers follow these guidelines:

• Using an email address that is professional.
• Including a subject line that briefly indicates the purpose of the e-mail message.
• Beginning the e-mail message with a formal salutation followed by the professor’s title and last name.
• Keeping to the point and avoiding conversational text that waste the professor’s time.
• Respecting the professor’s expertise by expressing reasons for interest in their course.
• Creating a positive tone by expressing appreciation, not annoyance.
• Eliminating typos and abbreviations that label us as lazy and careless.
• Ending the message with a formal signature block that thanks the professor and includes the student’s full name and student number.

Conclusion

E-mail is a very helpful tool for communicating with course instructors. Following these tips can aid us in creating a schedule that meets our needs as students. If you have any questions, please email me at tanyamozafari@gmail.com.