Support for International Students from DLC

Email Etiquette

When emailing your lecturers etiquette is important. Getting it right is basic and requires a little time and energy, but many students don't bother and send things quickly from their phone as if in a text message to their friends.

Activity

Consider the two emails below. Why might these not put your lecturer in the best of moods?

The previous emails:

• don't have a subject line or one that gives any detail for the reader.
• don't give details of why the student is emailing. The lecturer has to work out what the student is saying
• appear quite demanding, i.e. Do this!
• the attached file doesn't include details in its labelling, e.g name, task, etc

Activity

Consider how you would approach these two situations:

1. If you miss a class and email your lecturer about the missed work, what would you say and how would you set up the email?

2. How should an attached file be labelled and then sent?

Here are two examples of good email etiquette in these situations.

These emails are:

• Politely written
• Concise
• Precise
• Easy to understand with a clear subject line
• Labelled correctly to save the lecturer working out who has sent what.