I have had students email me without including necessary information so that I could respond to them appropriately. I have received emails where students do not tell me what their name is or what class they are in. And in this simple process via email, I have had students unknowingly alert me to the fact that they do not know basic skills like capitalization or comma usage. To clear up a bit of confusion here are some very simple rules when sending an email to a teacher or professor.

1. In the subject field put the class you are in, the time of the class, and the subject matter of the email. It could look something like this: “RWS 305W, 8am, Question about Project 2″.

2. Start the email off with a respectful address to your teacher, like “Hi Mr. Barhoum” or “Hello Professor Barhoum” or “Dear Sim”.

3. Explain the intention of the email quickly and professionally. Use punctuation correctly. Capitalize the first letter of each sentence. Do not use emoticons: smiley faces, “u” instead of “you”, or anything that is considered shorthand.

4. Sign the email with your full name, similar to “Best, Sim Barhoum” or “Regards, Sim Barhoum” or “Thank you, Sim Barhoum”.

Here is a sample of how NOT to email a teacher or professor

Subject: Hey

a few student say i should put my metaphors in quotation marks and use em as quotes. but i have question on that. i quoted the forest gump one as (forest gump) but the site doesnt say its his quote..is that ok if i put it that way in the paper anyway? also the other one doesnt have the persons name who said the quote, should i still have it in the quotation marks? and if so what to I put as the person im quoting? will (unknown) work?

Here is a sample of how to email a teacher or professor

Subject: ENG 105, 8am, Question About Project 3

Hello Sim:

I am writing to you because I realized I made a huge mistake on my end. As I was looking over my calendar I realized that the final version of Project #3 was due online by 10pm last night (and not tonight). I know blaming this on my partial deliriousness accompanied by the stress from numerous final exams and projects are far from an excuse, but I can honestly say I have never missed a deadline and I feel terrible about this. I realized that the project board was left open and I immediately posted the final PDF version of my project. I apologize for making this mistake and I hope that it can still be considered for credit. Is that okay?

Thank you,
Rebecca