The Key of Reason

How To Email Academic Staff/How To Reply

Emails are becoming an increasingly important mode of communication, both for socialization and information exchange.  One of the roles of an academic teacher (particular a communications academic teacher) is to help students develop a style of communication which is functional, correct, effective, and in their own voice.

Given the proliferation of posts in the blogs I read about how to email a staff member, it’s obviously not just a local problem.

So, in my ongoing attempt to illuminate, educate, and procrastinate, here are Aunty E’s tips for students email an academic staff member for help.  Note!  These lessons can also be applied to emails in other contexts!

Firstly, students should be aware that they are making a request, and should frame their tone accordingly.  Unless something has gone badly wrong in the staff-student relationship, you should be able to reasonably expect at least a courteous reply, so it behooves you to be courteous too.

DO: “Hello Professor.  Could I please make a time to see you this week to discuss the feedback on my first essay.  I am on campus all day Thursday.  Let me know if there is a time on that day that suits.  Thanks, Full Student Name/Class Name and Time”

DON’T:  “Hey, my mark was too low!  Where are you!”

See the difference?  The first would get you “Yes, of course, I am also free Thursdays after 2pm if that is better.”  The latter would get you at best an polite “My office hours are X, perhaps see me then?” and a prime place as a topic of gossip amongst the staff members’ friends later.  Especially if the email was sent at 11.30pm on a Saturday night (shocking, I know, but we do leave the office occasionally).

Secondly, and even more importantly, be clear, concise and specific.  Yes, the issue you are grappling with is the most important thing in your life right now.  But for your lecturer, it’s probably not even currently on their radar (to let you in on a little secret, assessments worry lecturers when they are creating them, and when they have to mark them.  In between, we pass the worry over to you and promptly forget about it to make room for all the other worries we have!)  Also remember that your class is just one of many obligations that lecturer has.   You are a precious and unique snowflake, just like everyone else.  Don’t expect a lecturer to even remember your name, particularly on a contextless email.  So provide that context to help them out:

DO:  “Hello Professor.  I am in your CLASS101 lecture on Thursday at noon, and I have a question about the first essay.  The topic I am working with is the one on post-feminism and superhero comic book representations of women, and I am having trouble making sense of McRobbie’s articulation of post-feminism in the required reading.  Am I correct in assuming that she thinks that post-feminism is a repudiation of feminist ideals?  If so, I’m still a little stuck trying to apply that to superheroines - I’m thinking of looking specifically at Wonder Woman, but not entirely sure yet.  Can you suggest any ways to link the two together?  Thanks - Student’s Full Name and ID/Student Number

DON’T:  “Hey, I’m stuck on the essay.  Help?”

REALLY DON’T:  “so my bfreind just brok up w/ me and ive just been slobbing around the house instead of lectures, hahahaha, u get what i mean.  anyway, totes stuck on that question thingy.  what does it mean?  oh, can i have an extension, probably gonna need one.  l8tr!

In the first email, I know which class, and which section (useful if there are multiple sections or tutorials), which question in that class the student is dealing with, where they are up to in terms of their research, and the general area of the problem.  It is in their ‘voice’ but it gives me all the information I need to make suggestions to help them progress.  I’d also remember this student as being switched on, engaged, and eager to learn.

The second email - I don’t know who they are, which essay they are dealing with, or what their problem is.  I’d probably email back requesting more info.  I’d remember this student as being slack, even if they’d been working like a fiend for two weeks on the essay.

The third has no structure, an informal tone, is unclear, and inappropriately demanding.  Remember kids, in academia as in the jungle - don’t make anyone above you in the food chain grumpy.

Finally, subject lines are important.  On an average day, I get over 100 pieces of email from all over the place.  No subject, or a meaningless subject like “hey” don’t tell me what I need to prioritize your email in the right place, so it will probably be the last thing I deal with when clearing the box.  You don’t want to be last.  Trust me.  Last is bad.

A class name and a suggestion of the content are much more useful.  For the good email above, perhaps “CLASS101: Question re: focus of first essay”  I know which class it is, I know it’s a question on an upcoming assessment.  Enough info to prioritize it correctly.

A third area in which emails have become problematic is timing.  It is important to remember that, for a staff member, academia is their job: working nine to five (or their equivalent of 9-5), as the song goes. Whilst you can, of course, email a staff member at any time, you must remember that any email sent after the end of that staff member’s working day will be dealt with the day after at the earliest.

Why is this important?  If you are emailing a staff member at 10pm on a monday night, looking to make an appointment for 10am on a tuesday morning, you are assuming on the staff member’s time.  They may not even see your email before 10am (see above points re: prioritizing), and they may already have something else scheduled at that time.  Even if they don’t have a prior engagement, you are as good as knocking on their door outside of office hours and demanding to be seen.  As a general rule of thumb, try to give one working day’s notice for important/urgent issues, and three for general queries.  I emphasize working day, because student’s often send emails on a weekend and demand an immediate response.  Not going to happen.  We do have lives outside of teaching you.

Replying to Email: Staff to Students

A lot has been made of the quality of student email to staff, but I would like to add that the same rules apply when staff email students.  Even if you cannot help the student, a quick email can still be polite.  To whit:

DO: “Hi {Student} - Sorry, but extensions can only be granted with a medical certificate or similar.  If you have one, drop it into the office and they’ll adjust your hand-in date accordingly.”

DON’T: “No”

REALLY DON’T: {radio silence}

The first says no, but gives a reason, and explains what the student might do to follow up.  The second gives the same information, but provides no idea of next-actions (Remember, guys, we know the procedures and policies, but students may not!).  The third provides no information, and is just rude besides (remember that first comment on courtesy - yes, it applies to you too!)

Polite replies not only respect the student as a human being and someone you are in a position of authority to, they also demonstrate best practice for writing emails.  How can we expect students to learn when we fall into the same bad habits?

Also, I want to single out not-replying.  To me, this is highly discourteous.  Whilst no-one is arguing that you need be wedded to your email at all hours of the day and night, a student (or colleague for that matter) should reasonably be able to expect that they should receive a reply within a couple of working days of sending.  Leaving emails unanswered for weeks on end (esp. brief queries), deleting or redirecting everything from a student account (yes, it happens), or taking the attitude that if they’re not bashing down your door, then it wasn’t important, all set the wrong tone as to the effectiveness of email as a mode of professional communication. Even the worst email demands a reply, even if only to note where the student went wrong and if they’d care to try again, so will you.  I would argue that the only valid time to not reply is:

1. when the student is a repeat offender and has been warned that subsequent emails of that type will not receive a reply

2. when you are out of the office and have left note (with the class, an automatic reply, whatever) that you are unavailable.  In this case, make clear to the students whether you’d prefer them to see a colleague/TA or that you’ll be responding on your return.

3.  When students know that you prefer other modes of contact (phone, office hours) and that you only clear your email irregularly.

In all these cases, the student is not left wondering, but has a clear understanding of the place of email in the conversation between teacher and student.

With such clarity, frustration is reduced and communication accuracy is increased.  And that is a good thing.  Really!