18 Etiquette Tips for E-mailing Your Professor

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I have a student that sends me emails that start with "Hey," like I am their smoking buddy. I would be happy with Ms., Prof., or Dr. at this point. A salutation would be nice.
Maybe I'll start his letter of recommendation to a company with "Hey, company rep.."

Betsy of DC 7:32PM November 29, 2011

I agree with the suggestions in this article. I work at a Foundation and you would be shocked by the email responses submitted by applicants.
1) Many applicants do not address the Foundation, Director or Staff at all.
2) They will provide the required documents but not acknowledge to whom they are sending it to.
3) There are misspelled words throughout their email message.
4) There are incomplete sentences in their email message.
5) Their email address is unprofessional for colleges and scholarships/foundations.
6) Since students text all of the time, they do not know when to turn that option off, which is really annoying to the reader.
7) Yes, students need to address professors in a business manner. You are not friends...... yet.
8) Use spell check when sending emails to all recipients.
Lastly, I will share this article with our scholarship recipients heading off to college. If know one shares this information with them, they'll never know.

Pamela Brown of IL 10:52AM February 21, 2011

I am a professor. The advice here is good. And I both use our university's email system and expect students to use it. As bad as it is, the university's email system is for official business, which is what students and professors do.
So students who fail to check their email will likely fall far behind. And Ed of NY is right--you can forward your university email to another address. Just be sure that, when you reply, you reply from your university address. This is very easy to set up in Gmail.

Tom of NC 9:52AM January 17, 2011

You mean showing some respect actually gets you ahead in life. And here I thought my parents were just old fashioned and stuck in a bygone age.
I had one professor the first day stated: call me "Robert or Bob or Dr. XXXX" I earned the right to be called Doctor. Do NOT use mister.

andrea 11:44PM January 16, 2011

I actually have a hand out that addresses these points. It does get their attention!

John of TX 11:53PM December 07, 2010

At my university, students are expected to check their university email accounts, as these are the accounts of record for all official university services. I feel the same should be expected of instructors, as they are interacting with students on behalf of the institution.
It's a simple process to have email forwarded from a university's system to another address, if preferred.

Ed of NY 10:54AM November 06, 2010

I hate to be "that guy," but .odt files are supported across word processing software. I am a professor and I use OpenOffice...it is more useful, more economical, and part of a vital tradition of open-source computing. It is actually Word's proprietary .docx file that require special plug-ins and whatnot. This is to say nothing of the dreaded Microsoft Works files. To my mind, students SHOULD use universal file formats like .odt, and not proprietary ones.
Which is only to say, "sticking to Word" means sticking to a proprietary system that may not even stay the same from version to version of very expensive software (recall.doc to .docx, while using a format like .odt not only makes a commitment to an open and collaboratively produced computer environments, it guarantees access to people with old software, new software, free software and overpriced software.

Michael Dwyer of PA 7:55AM October 14, 2010

I work in a university and completely agree with this article. Regardless of your relationship or your age, the way you treat professors and adminsitrators prepare you for life as a professional and the comportment required. While some professors "may not mind it" many do - so well written!

Mal of PA 4:50PM October 04, 2010

I don't think anyone would be foolish enough to Tlk lyk dis in an email to a professor, or ever except maybe if they were drunk or very busy. But yes, that also raises the point that one should never drunk email a professor.
One point this article forgot to include is to be cautious of when you are sending the email like 3AM compared to 8-11PM. Professors might question why you are contacting them so late.
I think the most relevant tip is to keep is short and concise. They love it if you know you are asking and can ask it in a simple, direct way. They don't have that much time.

Sadia of NY 3:26PM October 03, 2010

My parents though me to always respect people, and so I was nearly the only student in my class at collega who tried to be nice and correct (and said sir and madam without being uptight about it), the other students treated the staff quite badly at times.
And then those students wondered why the professors always had time for me, allowed my special projects, generally had good advice and didn't make a hassle out of the occasionally missed deadline. This while being more strict and tight towards those who didn't play nice.
And don forget it is YOU who need something from THEM, they don't need you (not really). But they're humans like everyone else and enjoy honest interactions.
The lesson learned: when you're nice, honest, show some respect and maybe some manners you can get away with anything, and people will love to let you do it. And if you give them some credit where credit is due (name them when doing a presentation or talk) they will adore you.

Bart 1:12PM October 03, 2010