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- by Charlotte King
- In Other
Posted Sept. 28, 2014
Emailing Academics: Where Should a Postgrad Start?
Communicating with an academic out of the blue is something that requires a certain amount of care and common sense. This is your first contact, and while it is possible to be somewhat more relaxed in emails when you have established a relationship with the recipient you would be well advised to adopt a more formal approach to begin with. Consider that a member of a university’s academic staff will receive dozens, if not scores, of emails every day and will not necessarily be inclined to read all of them. If you don’t want your vital communication to be sent unread straight to the bin, then it would be wise to follow some straightforward guidelines. The watchwords are politeness and clarity. Keep them in mind and you won't go far wrong.
You should treat this initial message as if it were a job application: avoid informality, get to the point and sign off appropriately.
How to address them Most academics are not overly concerned with titles, and you almost certainly will have been used to addressing your teachers and tutors by their first names as an undergraduate. However it is definitely a mistake to open an email to an academic who does not know you with his or her first name. In subsequent messages, of which there will be a number while your thesis is being supervised , a more relaxed style will be appropriate so long as you take the recipient's lead. For instance he or she will probably sign off a reply to an initial message with something like 'Best wishes' and a first name. In this case you may follow accordingly.
Equally important is the recipient's title. Your supervisor for your thesis will be a PhD and should be addressed as 'Dear Doctor Y', unless he or she is a professor, in which case 'Dear Professor Y' is correct. Note that 'Prof.' is best avoided. Be sure to find out your chosen academic's title before making contact. At best it looks sloppy, at worst disrespectful, to get this wrong. Calling a male academic Mr. is careless enough; calling a female academic Miss, Mrs or even Ms could cause offence.
Be sure to use your university email account unless you are forced to use another one. The recipient will be able to see at a glance that your message is from a student and therefore more likely to read it.
Your style should be concise, with no waffle or mistakes in grammar or spelling. Even if your spelling is perfect it's worth using spellcheck to eliminate typos. Only use standard English. Don't ruin your otherwise professional-looking email by using emoticons, hashtags or such abbreviations as lol, rofl, omg, etc. Remember that good manners not only cost nothing but that forgetting them makes you look foolish, so use 'please' and 'thank you' when requesting something. And take care to stay away from the caps lock. Tying whole words, sentences or paragraphs is the online equivalent of scrawling on coloured paper in purple ink and will make you come across as either immature or angry. You should as a matter of course read your message over before sending it.
Attachments If you are sending an attachment, mention it. It could easily be missed by a stressed academic negotiating a long, onerous list of messages.
Signing off 'Cheers', 'Ta very muchly' or similar phrases are a little bit too informal. They can seem overly friendly or a bit jokey. Appropriate are 'Best', 'Regards', 'Best regards' 'kind regards' are fine, and 'Yours sincerely' isn't really necessary for an email, although it wouldn't look bad to use it. But whatever you do don't sign off with 'Love' - and definitely no kisses!
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You should treat this initial message as if it were a job application: avoid informality, get to the point and sign off appropriately.
How to address them Most academics are not overly concerned with titles, and you almost certainly will have been used to addressing your teachers and tutors by their first names as an undergraduate. However it is definitely a mistake to open an email to an academic who does not know you with his or her first name. In subsequent messages, of which there will be a number while your thesis is being supervised , a more relaxed style will be appropriate so long as you take the recipient's lead. For instance he or she will probably sign off a reply to an initial message with something like 'Best wishes' and a first name. In this case you may follow accordingly.
Equally important is the recipient's title. Your supervisor for your thesis will be a PhD and should be addressed as 'Dear Doctor Y', unless he or she is a professor, in which case 'Dear Professor Y' is correct. Note that 'Prof.' is best avoided. Be sure to find out your chosen academic's title before making contact. At best it looks sloppy, at worst disrespectful, to get this wrong. Calling a male academic Mr. is careless enough; calling a female academic Miss, Mrs or even Ms could cause offence.
Be sure to use your university email account unless you are forced to use another one. The recipient will be able to see at a glance that your message is from a student and therefore more likely to read it.
Your style should be concise, with no waffle or mistakes in grammar or spelling. Even if your spelling is perfect it's worth using spellcheck to eliminate typos. Only use standard English. Don't ruin your otherwise professional-looking email by using emoticons, hashtags or such abbreviations as lol, rofl, omg, etc. Remember that good manners not only cost nothing but that forgetting them makes you look foolish, so use 'please' and 'thank you' when requesting something. And take care to stay away from the caps lock. Tying whole words, sentences or paragraphs is the online equivalent of scrawling on coloured paper in purple ink and will make you come across as either immature or angry. You should as a matter of course read your message over before sending it.
Attachments If you are sending an attachment, mention it. It could easily be missed by a stressed academic negotiating a long, onerous list of messages.
Signing off 'Cheers', 'Ta very muchly' or similar phrases are a little bit too informal. They can seem overly friendly or a bit jokey. Appropriate are 'Best', 'Regards', 'Best regards' 'kind regards' are fine, and 'Yours sincerely' isn't really necessary for an email, although it wouldn't look bad to use it. But whatever you do don't sign off with 'Love' - and definitely no kisses!
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