4. E-Mail Anatomy
0 To: If you are creating a message, you may put in one or more e-mail
addresses separated by commas.
0 Cc:
0 Send people courtesy copies.
0 Bcc:
0 Send a "blind" copy to another person. The "To" and "Cc" people won't
know. If you are sending a group of people and don't want everyone to
see the addresses, enter them as Bcc.
0 From:
0 Tells you the name and Internet address of the person who sent the
message. When you are creating an e-mail, the program will put in the
address and name you gave when you setup the software.
0 Subject:
0 Condense the main point of your message to three or four words. Your
readers will thank you.
5. Useless Subject Lines
0 What to do?
0 ???????
0 Re: FYI
0 Two Things
0 Great News
0 Urgent
0 Tomorrow
0 How is This?
0 Quick Question
0 We would like your assitance
Subject lines from Send: why people email so badly and how to do it better By David Shipley, Will Schwalbe
: http://books.google.ca/books?id=s6NB6m1nAK8C&pg=PA82&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
6. Useful Subject Lines
0 Rescue Event 4/29 in New York
0 Comments on the Strat Plan
0 Join us at the Merc
0 Tom and Andy’s Itinerary
0 Mum’s Birthday
0 Expenses Approved
0 Missing Subscription Documents
0 New Year’s School Schedule
Subject lines from Send: why people email so badly and how to do it better By David Shipley, Will Schwalbe:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=s6NB6m1nAK8C&pg=PA82&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
7. E-Mail Etiquette - Formal
0 Be sure to include a meaningful subject line; this helps
clarify what your message is about and may also help the
recipient prioritize reading your email
0 Just like a written letter, be sure to open your email with a
greeting like Dear Dr. Laccetti, or Dear Ms. Clarke:
0 Use standard spelling, punctuation, and capitalisation.
THERE'S NOTHING WORSE THAN AN EMAIL SCREAMING A
MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS.
0 Write clear, short paragraphs and be direct and to the point;
professionals and academics alike see their email accounts
as business. Don't write unnecessarily long emails
0 Be friendly and cordial, but don't try to joke around (jokes
and witty remarks may be inappropriate and, more
commonly, may not come off appropriately in email)
Information from OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/636/1/
8. E-Mail Etiquette
0 Begin your message right at the top of the reply.
0 Include the original message you are replying to below.
0 Make sure your signature is above the quoted text.
0 Do not make any changes to the quoted material.
0 You can, of course, cut excessive length and (should often
remove) inline attachments. Replace them with "[...]".
0 Do repeat, in as few words as possible, questions you are
answering.
0 Instead of a mere "Yes.", try "You asked whether we want apples.
Yes we do." or "We want apples, yes.”
0 Make sure the quoted text is not indented, neither using '>'
characters nor quotation bars.
0 If you reply to the reply of a reply, you can remove old, now
unnecessary messages from the bottom.
9. E-Mail Greetings
0 Hey
0 hiya
0 I was wondering…
0 Friend
0 Greetings
0 Dear Colleague
0 Dear Reader
0 Dear Dr. Jessica Laccetti
0 Dear Dr. Jesie Lechecti
11. Acronyms
0 2L8 0 IMHO
0 too late 0 in my humble opinion
0 AAMOF 0 KWIM
0 as a matter of fact 0 Know what I mean?
0 AFAIK 0 ROTFL
0 as far as I know 0 rolling on the floor laughing
0 B4N 0 TIA
0 bye for now 0 thanks in advance
0 CMIIW 0 TTYL
0 correct me if I'm wrong 0 talk to you later
0 CUL
0 see you later
0 IKWUM
0 I know what you mean
13. Gender Neutral Language
Male Subject Neutral Subject
0 When a student 0 When a student
writes a paper, he or
writes a paper, he she should use the
must proofread spellchecker on his or
carefully. her computer.
0 When students write
their papers, they
should use the
spellcheckers on
their computers.
From Jennifer Klein, Avoiding Sexist Language: http://www.hamilton.edu/writing/writing-resources/avoiding-sexist-language
14. Sexist Vocabulary
Problem Words Solutions
0 the average
0 the common man
person, ordinary people
0 cavemen
0 cave dwellers, prehistoric
0 chairman/chairwoman
people
0 businessman, businessw
oman 0 chair, presiding
officer, chairperson
0 congressman/congressw
oman 0 business
0 salesman/saleswoman executive, manager
0 fireman 0 congressional
0 stewardess representative
0 waitress/waiter 0 sales clerk, salesperson
0 fire fighter
0 flight attendant
0 server, food server
From: Jennifer Klein, Avoiding Sexist Language: http://www.hamilton.edu/writing/writing-resources/avoiding-sexist-language
15. Example Student E-Mails
0 Received at the start of the third week of classes:
0 "hi, this is ___and I'm in your ___ class but have been
golfing in [sunny vacation destination] for the past
couple weeks so i have missed the first few classes.
just wondering if there is anything important that i
have missed ... please let me know what i should do."
16. Example Student E-Mails
0 Here's one I received from an internet student the day
AFTER an essay was due:
0 "i lost totally can u send help"
17. Example Student E-Mails
Hey Doc
needs a meeting with you advising next semester
classes this week ASAP or whatever. get back me now.
18. Your Turn
0 With a partner you will be e-mailing a professor, make a
google doc & share the link in a blog comment on today’s
lecture post
0 Introduce yourself
0 You would like this prof. to become your project/thesis
supervisor
0 Show you are serious & qualified
0 Use proper English
0 Show that you know why the Prof. would be a good fit with
your work (google her/his publications)
0 Be concise: 2-4 paragraphs.
19. Sample E-Mail to a Prof.
Dear Professor XXX,
I am a student at XXX College with a major in xxx. I am a junior and will be graduating next May. I
have a 4.0 GPA and experience in our college’s summer program in xxx.
I am planning to attend graduate school in xxx, with a focus on xxx. In one of my classes, “xxx,”
which was taught by Professor XXX, I had the chance to read your article, “xxxx.” I really enjoyed
it, and it gave me many ideas for my future research. I have been exploring graduate programs
where I can work on this topic.
I hope you don’t mind my getting in touch, but I’d like to inquire whether you are currently
accepting graduate students. And if you are, if you’d be willing to talk to me a bit more, by email or
on the phone, or in person if I can arrange a campus visit, about my graduate school plans. I have
explored your department’s graduate school website in detail, and it seems like an excellent fit for
me because of its emphasis on xx and xx, but I still have a few specific questions about xx and xxx
that I’d like to talk to you about.
I know you’re very busy so I appreciate any time you can give me. Thanks very much,
Sincerely,
XX XXX
From: http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/06/30/hello-world/
