How to email your teacher
It is 12:30 pm and you are at the computer trying to refresh the email inbox page. The big test is tomorrow and your teacher hasn’t answered yet, but why? Contrary to popular belief, that your teacher wants you to fail, the problem could be due to the fact that your email never reached you. Therefore, the purpose of this guide is to show students how to write effective email for their teachers.
The field of
Always use your university or college email address when emailing your professor. This not only reassures the teacher that you are a student, but also prevents your email from being put in the spam box. Many universities and colleges now employ a system that allows only to receive emails from certain domains (hotmail, yahoo … etc) which are automatically placed in the spam box or forwarded to the professor as potential spam. .
Example:
Field
This is the most important field, if you make a mistake here, you can say goodbye to your email. Avoid putting the teacher’s name with the email (To Prof), as not all email systems can handle this format. It is always best to send your email to the professor’s college or university account, as that is the email account that your professor verifies, or should verify, the most. And again, before sending the email, check that the email address has been spelled correctly.
Example:
The subject field
The subject field must have the following format:
CollegeName-CourceCode-Title-Subject
CollegeName: is the name of your postsecondary institution (America Learning College, Boston University … etc). Yes, I realize this may seem a bit redundant, but it is important. Most professors (usually new professors) teach at one or more universities and colleges in a given period, and email from those institutions is forwarded to a primary address, usually the email address of your ISP. So, to keep things organized, it is best to write the name of the college or university in the subject field.
CourseCode: is the codename of the course (MTH140, CPS124, GEF345 … etc). It is better to keep the letters capitalized and without spaces between the number and the letter.
Title: here you write the title of your topic. (Test 1, Partial, Exam, Task 5 … etc.)
Subject: Here write what concern or problem you might have (Expiration Date, Missed Test Problem, Hardware Problem # 45 … etc). Remember to keep it short, no more than 5 words.
Example:
Boston College-MTH140-Assignment 4-HW Issue # 45
The body text field
Try to keep things simple, clean, and to the point. By that I mean no 2 page emails or fancy fonts and colors, remember your first priority is getting your message across, not showing off your email editing skills. Begin by writing the name of the teachers (Prof C. McGill, Prof U. Stan … etc). Continue with the subject of your email, as a reminder, repeat the course code and title field (during the MTH140 class on Monday you indicated for Task 4). The next line should indicate the problem or concern. Remember to provide details and avoid repetition. It is best to end the email with a statement of greeting (Thank you, Sincerely, etc.) and use your name, student number, and name of the college or university as your signature.
Example:
Professor C. Mcgill,
During class MTH140 on Monday, you indicated that question # 41 in Task 4 would use the second derivative theorem. However, am I having trouble finding delta X? In particular, during the situation where the time is 3 seconds and the delta Y is 0. Do we set delta Y to Ymin and solve from there?
Thanks
_________________
Any student
#: 0101010101
Boston University
Things to keep in mind
– Give a minimum of one business day for teachers to respond before sending another email.
– Avoid sending multiple duplicate emails at any one time.
– Try to send emails during weekdays and, if possible, during teachers’ office hours.
– Try to be respectful and professional (ie no offensive language, spell check … etc).
– Avoid eliminating frustration by spamming teachers’ email inbox.