Monday, September 30, 2013

E-mailing professors

The New York Times reports on college students’ reluctance to use their school e-mail accounts. Says University of Iowa student Brittney Carver,

“I never know what to say in the subject line and how to address the person. Is it mister or professor and comma and return, and do I have to capitalize and use full sentences? By the time I do all that I could have an answer by text if I could text them.”
But you can’t, at least not for the most part.

You can, however, read the guidelines that all the cool kids are reading: How to e-mail a professor. They will answer all your questions. By they I mean the guidelines. The cool kids are too busy to answer any questions.

Thanks to Matt Thomas’s Submitted for Your Perusal, which again and again points me to Times articles I would otherwise miss.

comments: 2

Matt Thomas said...

Every year it feels like fewer of my students are even aware the school has given them an email address, let alone know how to use it, which is why on the first day of class I remind them of it and give them a link to your "How to e-mail a professor" post. Brittney Carver, it seems, wasn't one of my students.

Michael Leddy said...

You can’t reach ’em all. :)