{"id":1003,"date":"2022-07-21T19:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T19:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/queenscollegeadvisors\/?p=115"},"modified":"2022-07-21T19:00:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T19:00:30","slug":"how-to-write-an-email-to-a-professor-or-staff-member-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/2022\/07\/21\/how-to-write-an-email-to-a-professor-or-staff-member-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write an Email to a Professor or Staff Member"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Emailing your Professors and Macaulay or QC Staff<\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-151\" src=\"https:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/queenscollegeadvisors\/files\/2022\/07\/jeshoots-com-2vD8lIhdnw-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Female college student writing an email.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Throughout your four years as a Macaulay-Queens student, you will inevitably have a litany of questions related to coursework, requirements, registration, activities, parking, and another thousand things not listed here. To obtain answers, you may have to contact a professor or staff member if you can&#8217;t find the information online.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most important skills to learn early in your time with us is\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">how<\/span> to compose an email to a professor or staff member that will elicit the response you want. If you follow these basic guidelines, you are more likely to be successful.<\/p>\n<h2>Your professors and staff are not your friends.<\/h2>\n<p>This means that you should make your emails formal unless you are told to do otherwise. When in doubt, use a formal address. As in: &#8220;Dear Professor Chen&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Include a subject line that is specific.<\/h2>\n<p>First and foremost, NEVER leave the subject line blank. Emails with blank subject lines are unlikely to be opened, as this is a common feature of spam.<\/p>\n<p>You should also be specific. &#8220;Question about today&#8217;s class&#8221; is NOT specific because it does not say which class. Most professors teach multiple classes. Instead, write &#8220;Question about today&#8217;s lecture in Anthro101.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Keep your email as concise as possible.<\/h2>\n<p>Professors and staff are busy. We receive scores of emails per day. Get to the point. If you have a question about, say, community service requirements for Macaulay, ask it directly. For example, you could ask your advisor, &#8220;I&#8217;m interested in volunteering at an animal shelter. Does this work count as community service?&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Try to look up the information before sending an email.<\/h2>\n<p>There is a lot of information available on Macaulay&#8217;s website, Queens College&#8217;s website, and this very website! Professors and staff will be irritated if you ask a question to which there is a readily available answer online.<\/p>\n<h2>Sign your name and include your EMPLID.<\/h2>\n<p>Obviously, all emails should be signed. But, don&#8217;t merely sign &#8220;Sincerely, Lucy.&#8221; How many people named Lucy do you think a professor or advisor might have? Include your last name! And\u2013this part is important\u2013if you&#8217;re asking your professor or advisor to\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">do something for you<\/span>, such as register you for a class or check something related to your record, you must include your EMPLID. Otherwise, the person you&#8217;re emailing will have to look it up and that takes time and so you are less likely to receive a prompt response, if you receive one at all.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you follow these simple guidelines, you will send effective, respectful emails and you are increasingly like to receive prompt replies.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emailing your Professors and Macaulay or QC Staff Throughout your four years as a Macaulay-Queens student, you will inevitably have a litany of questions related to coursework, requirements, registration, activities, parking, and another thousand things not listed here. To obtain answers, you may have to contact a professor or staff member if you can&#8217;t find [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/mhc-qc-advisors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}