When they first arrive overseas, many students don’t know how to contact their professors. Many professors leave after class and leave only a few hours of office time a week for students.
Therefore, besides face-to-face contact with professors, email is one of the necessary tools to contact professors. In North America or Australia, most professors prefer students to ask questions via email rather than text messages, phone calls or even meetings.
Compared with text messages and phone calls, emails are more formal and help to explain questions clearly without time constraints.
So study abroad and learn to send high-quality emails to help make a good impression on your professor. Today, I have prepared an email template for professors. You are welcome, just take it and use it.
Professors abroad really care about email etiquette
1、Title
The essence of the title is four words: concise.
Because professors receive a lot of emails every day, it is very important to explain the purpose of the email and attach personal information, such as studentID, if necessary.
In the subject line, there are usually these keywords.
Ph.D. application
Application for scholarship: Application for scholarship
Question about essay: Question about essay
Excused Absence: Excused Absence
Asking for an appointment: Asking for an appointment
Request for extension: Extension for xxx
2. Address
You should address your professor by his/her official title. If your professor is a Ph.D., address him/her as Dr. XX. If you don’t know whether the TA is a Ph.D., address him/her as Prof. XX.
Dear Prof. (last name)/ Greetings Prof. (Last name)/ Dr. (last name) are fine.
3. Body
The body is divided into several parts.
A brief greeting, an introduction of yourself, the purpose of your email, and details.
Greetings
Common greetings can be used as follows.
I Hope this email finds you well./I hope all is well./ We send you our best wishes.
Introduce yourself
Just mention your name, class, and contact with the professor (so that Ta can remember you).
My name is XX and I am your student in XXX class.
Write down the specific class number
Because professors are likely to teach multiple courses in the same major at the same time, this will help improve the effectiveness of communication.
After you have introduced yourself, you can Flatter them by saying how much you enjoyed their course, e.g. I enjoyed your lecture/seminar/XXX.
Purpose of the email
After the greetings and introductions, it’s best to tell the professor the focus or purpose of the email in a clear and simple way.
I am writing to inquire…
I am writing in reference …
I am writing in reference . .
I am writing in reference to .
Details
This is the most important part! To efficiently express your request to your professor, remember the 3C’s: clear, correct, concise.
concise.
I am hoping you would be willing to write a strong/ positive letter of recommendation
(Recommendation letter)
4、Thanks to the paragraph
At this point, the professor has finished reading the email, don’t forget to send out the rainbow fart of thanks again.
You can use Thank you for your time or Have a great rest of your day.
Don’t forget to capitalise the first letter.
Sincerely, (the most formal and secure)
Yours sincerely
Respectfully
Best regards
Best
I am writing in reference … . I am writing in reference .
Details
This is the most important part! To efficiently express your request to your professor, remember the 3C’s, i.e. clear, correct, concise.
I am hoping you would be willing to write a strong/ positive letter of recommendation (推荐信)
