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Composition 101: How to email your professor

Professors get hundreds of emails - how do yours stack up?

You’ve been taught how to write essays since 7^th grade, but none of us were ever taught how to email our professors. Yet, we often have to in order to beg for extensions on papers or privately discuss questions on the class. If there was a course on Professor emailing etiquette, I’m afraid many of us would fail miserably – and you’ll never get a due date extension with a poorly written email. Here is a quick How To Guide for correct correspondence.

The first rule of asking a favor is to not irritate your potential benefactor. All guidelines below are written with that goal in mind.

1. Do not abuse the power of email. Yes, you have a direct line to your professor’s attention. No, you should not use this line to get information that you could get from your classmates, like homework assignments.  A lot of students want to be spoon-fed all the information they could need or want – at least that’s how professors see it, and they don’t like it. So only ask questions that you could not possibly find the answers to yourself.

2. Use your university email account, not your private account, which may or may not be inappropriately named. First, you want to look professional, but most importantly you want to bypass the spam filter.

3. Include the course number in your subject line: “Question on English 230 assignment.” Do not use “Question,” or “Question on assignment,” because those look like spam and are irritatingly vague.

4. Success is in the phrasing. Do not give commands, like “Please send me the assignment from last Wednesday.” Similarly, do not make statements, like “I need the assignment from last Wednesday,” because the Professor’s likely response will be “Why, yes. Yes, you do.” In fact, don’t ever email for an assignment if you can help it (see #1 for why this is). If you need something, make a polite request with a brief explanation of why you need help*:

Dear Professor Soandso,

I accidentally superglued my fingers together last week while helping my younger sibling create a dinosaur diorama for her first grade art project. As a result, I was delayed in being able to type up my final paper. The Emergency Room nurse tells me I can expect the full use of my fingers tomorrow, and I was hoping that I might be able to submit my final paper on Monday of next week so as not to burden you with it over the weekend. Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Jane Doe

English 230, MWF 10-12pm

*On the flip side, do not make your professor suffer from Too Much Information. If you were late to class or couldn’t complete an assignment because of anything you wouldn’t discuss at dinner with your Grandmother – don’t tell it to the teacher.

5. Always include your name, class and section number at the bottom of your email. Your English teacher has many English classes, so you have to specify which one you are in. When you get a reply, send a quick “Thanks!” email back.

6. Proofread. Yes, it’s only an email, but please proofread anything you want your professor to see. It’s common courtesy.

7. Do not ask your professor to be your tutor – that is what tutors are for. Yes, this goes back to #1 again.  Sending a 10-20 page rough draft to your professor to “look it over” is very bad form. Instead, make two appointments: the first with an English tutor at your Student Resource Center to go over your paper, the second with your Professor during his or her office hours to discuss a few specific points of confusion. This unfortunately requires you to have written the paper at least one full day before its due date.

8. Above all, don’t send this message:

Dear Professor Soandso,

Sorry I missed class yesterday, did I miss anything important?

Sincerely,

Jane Doe