Proper Email Etiquette

BY SHALYNN LONG

anything like that, because our emails are so secure, it gets sent straight to our spam or trash,” said Jordan Noller, student success lecturer of the Center for Student Success and Retention.

It’s important to use a professional email when emailing an employer. While one is a Washburn student, using the student email is considered proper. Avoid using a personal email for professional work if the email doesn’t have your name in it. Handles such as “hotgirlherex69” or “imsexyandiknowit” are examples of personal email IDs that should not be used professionally. Being concise is also essential when writing emails so that recipients can quickly understand what you’re informing them about.

Kent McAnally, director of Career Services, emphasizes that starting an email like a letter is a good way to greet someone.

“Dear Kent, or Dear McAnally, or Dear Dr. Smith or Dear Professor Smith … If you don’t know Professor Smith’s gender or identification, it is okay to say ‘Dear Sam Smith,’” said McAnally. “Using someone’s first and last name is always a safe greeting, especially if you don’t know the person.”

A common mistake that students make is presuming that the recipient knows them from the beginning.

“Students need to understand or remember that faculty teaching core classes can have 100-plus students in a semester, so at the beginning of the semester students need to identify themselves not just by name, but also identify which class they are in and which section of that class they are in,” said Kim Morse, professor of history.

Now that your greeting is respectful, you’ve addressed your recipient and clearly introduced yourself, it’s time to get to the main point. State your reasoning for the email in a simple and quick paragraph for the reader to understand what you need.

“An email is not a text. Spell out the words, no slang and remember you need to be respectful of the other person and their time,” said McAnally. "So have an appropriate greeting, get to the point and have an appropriate closing with your name at the bottom."

McAnally has tricks students can use while writing emails. This includes setting the font size to 12 point font for easier readability, using standard fonts like Times New Roman or Arial, and using bolded words and sporadic underlining to highlight important aspects of the email such as dates or times.

This being said, sometimes communicating over email can be misleading due to the absence of tone. If communicating over email is not efficiently clarified, it might be easier to communicate in other ways. McAnally suggests it might be easier to discuss certain conversations on the phone or in-person.

“You can’t easily get tone across in emails,” said Noller. “I strongly suggest, ‘Hi, I need help with this … Do you have office hours when I can come in and meet?’ because tone can be misleading and many things are better explained in person.”

Another personal tip from Noller to help students find faculty and staff information is to search their name in your Washburn email. Helpful information about the person’s office hours, email, office location or phone number can be found using this method.

Now, let’s recap how to write a good email. First, write an appropriate greeting and introduce yourself. Be sure to be polite and respectful. Get straight to the point of your email and be as clear as possible. Don’t use slang, but do write complete sentences and use proper punctuation and capitalization. Finish the email with an acceptable sign off, such as “kindly,” “best,” or “sincerely,” and insert your signature.

Hopefully this information helps you on your way to success when you are writing your own emails. Best of luck!

Sincerely,

Shalynn Long