Page 106 - digitalliteracy

5.2 Writing Academic and Professional E-mails

Personal Versus Professional E-mails

In academic and professional settings, e-mail has
become an essential communication tool. It is an
easy, convenient, and quick form of professional
communication when it is prepared in a profes-
sional manner. In an informal e-mail to a friend, a
quick note like “Luv your pics. See u later. :)” may
be fine. However, when you write an e-mail to an
instructor, staff member, or a fellow classmate at
school or use e-mail for business purposes, the
language and the format of your message must be
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more professional. It does not have to be overly for-
Mastering the art of writing a profes-
mal, but your e-mail is a reflection of you, and you
sional or academic e-mail will make a
should make sure it creates a favorable impression.
favorable impression on your instruc-
tors and colleagues.
Just as the content of your e-mail speaks to your
professionalism, so does your e-mail address. As
an Ashford student, you are assigned an address that you should use when communicating
with professors. Likewise, many employers provide their employees with standard e-mail
addresses for work communications. However, you should also be mindful of your personal
e-mail address and how it reflects you. Addresses like “CoolMom” or “Sparkle24” are very
casual and should only be used when communicating with friends. Consider an employer who
receives an e-mail from an applicant whose e-mail address reads, “LoveN21@xyz.com.” What
faulty assumptions might the employer make? How might this hurt the applicant?

To avoid such missteps, keep the following guidelines in mind for your academic and profes-
sional e-mail messages:
Subject line:

• Always create a clear subject line for your message that states exactly what the mes-
sage is about.

Message:

• Avoid launching right into your message; begin with a greeting first. If you are writ-
ing to an instructor or to a business client, use the person’s title (e.g., Dr., Prof., Mr.,
or Ms.). If you are writing to a classmate or have been given permission to use an
instructor’s first name, say, “Dear Elena Maria,” “Hi, Jason,” or simply “Hello.”
• Write your message in complete sentences, with standard capitalization, punctua-
tion, and grammar. Do not type in all capital letters or in all lowercase letters.
• Keep your messages short and readable. Get to the point quickly and break up the
text into short paragraphs to make it easier to read. Click Enter to put a blank line
between each paragraph.
• Save your smiley faces and abbreviations for personal notes; do not use abbrevia-
tions such as u for you or r for are. Spell out terms in school or business e-mails.
• Be polite and careful about using humor; the other person may not get the joke and
may misunderstand your message.

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