I like getting email. I don't like getting emails written as text messages. Besides showing very little respect for the reader, receiving emails which aren't written properly forces the reader to decode just what your correspondent actually wants from you, wasting their time and frustrating them. Sometimes the intention is obvious, like the email I received two years ago.
Hi wht cum up n exm thx
In my lectures, I try to emphasize just how maddening it is to get hundreds of poorly written emails a week. Part of your training at UL should include training in how not to annoy those directly responsible for educating you. So, rather than swear at my computer every time I see a poorly written email and end up pulling my hair out like the chap to the right, I'm writing this guide for you. Please use it when you correspond with me, or I just won't reply. The policy will benefit both us, honestly: it will be good for my mental health, and it will help you learn something about spelling, composition, grammar, and professional etiquette, which you will need to know once you head out to the world of work in any case. So learn now.
Subject: [Module Title if appropriate] Something you want from me/want me to see/want me to do/etc
Subject lines speed things up, writing them well is a fine art, see here for tips.
Greeting: Dear Stephen,
You don't need to call me Dr (I'm not a real one), or Professor (I'm not one, I'm just a lecturer). If we aren't friends, 'Hi/Hey/Yo/etc' isn't appropriate. 'Dear' is a bit old fashioned, but it will do. The comma is important. Formal emails and letters use a colon (:) instead of a comma, and you should always hit return twice before beginning the main body of your email, which should, of course, be as short as possible.
Body of the email. State your question, pose your problem, give the information, etc, as precisely as you can. Brevity is good.
Here I don't have any specifics for you, just write the email using the rules of grammar and, perhaps, your word processor's spelling software. Keep the tone formal, but this is an email, not a royal letter, so there is no need for grandiloquence in the language used.
I can tell you what not to write. Don't put yourself down. "I know you're really busy but...", "You don't remember me, but...". Your time is valuable, and you are writing to me for a reason. If you are in one of my classes, I see it as my job to reply to reasonable and well written requests from students. Just give the email twenty seconds more thought, and everyone will be happy.
Closing. Close the email with Regards, [your name, your student number if appropriate].
And we're done. I'm looking forward to reading your next email.
If you're curious about writing well, read this book, and if you can't be bothered with that, here are my notes from the book.
Hah, the "Hi wht cum up n nxt exm" is amazing.
I don't usually open an email with 'Dear', rather 'Hello' if I don't know the person. However, that's usually because I'm emailing a person I'm looking for information from for a story. Thus, I'm trying to be personal with them - one never knows what someone may tell a person they feel friendly with...
Similarly I tend to close with 'Best'...
Relevant post though, txtspk screws with my mind - even in text messages.
By the way, nice new look round these parts.
"The policy will benefit both us, honestly"... I take it the start of term is a bit stressful then? I can relate... and lets all remember the wise words of another grammatician (is that a word?):
"For 800 years have I trained Jedi, proper grammar, never learnt have I"
-Master Yoda
Hope things get better on the e-mail front 🙂
@ Mark,
I also find the 'Dear' opening a bit strained, it doesn't quite suit the email format, but it is better than 'Howaya Head', and generally I do close with 'Best', but when it comes to asking people I don't really know for things, I do tend to err on on the formal side. Thanks for the kind words on the blog, it is a work in progress!
@ Ben,
This semester's classes are great, but there are a lot of students to converse with, so it'll take some time to iron out all the bugs in the system!