This page last updated 04/03/2007
Email is likely to be one of the primary mechanisms you have for communicating with your instructor and classmates. While email is a great tool, you will get the most benefit from it if you use it properly. As part of this awareness, you must remember that email is not private, so you should never put anything in an email that you would not want to be public knowledge. Treat an email message as if it were a postcard - you have no idea how many hands it will pass through nor how many people will be able to read it. The first thing to ensure this is to make sure that the email you are sending is actually going to the proper individual. If you aren't sure of the email address for a particular faculty member or student, you can find it in the CSU directory by clicking here. You should be very careful when using the reply function, because in many cases you'll be sending an email to more people than you suspect. For example, if you receive an email from your instructor, you might want to make sure that the email wasn't sent to the class email list (which will usually including something like "@lists.clayton.edu"), because if you reply to such a message it will be sent to the entire class! Many students have been embarrassed to discover that they had sent personal information out to the class email list.
Once you have identified the proper recipient of your message, make sure that the purpose of your email is completely clear. The easiest way to do this it to make sure that your email includes a subject line that is easy to interpret. Your instructor and classmates may not easily understand an email with a subject like "question about class". After all, your instructor and classmates are involved in multiple classes, so they won't know which class you are asking about. The reader should be able to understand the purpose of the email just from the subject line.
Start the text of your message with an appropriate greeting for the recipient. In general you will want to identify yourself to the reader, because many email addresses are difficult to decipher (e.g., csu12345@mail.claytonstate.net is not an email that you can recognize immediately). If you are communicating with an instructor you should also indicate what class you are writing about (and what class section as well). For example, you might say something like "This is John Doe. I am a student in your BIOL1111L section that meets at 9am on Thursdays". If you do not provide sufficient information, it may not be possible for your instructor to actually figure out who you are or what you want. Once you have identified yourself, get to the point of the message and be concise - long rambling emails are difficult to read and are likely to annoy the person reading them. However, keep the message polite, so you don't come across as being rude, either.
If you are replying to an email, you need to consider which parts (if any) of the previous message you should include. Most email systems will default to including the entire message. If only a portion of the included message is necessary, feel free to cut out any parts that are not relevant to the message you are sending. Once you have completed the email make sure you proofread it for any serious typos and you should take advantage of a spellchecker if it's included in your email software.
Another thing to avoid is the use of fancy fonts, graphics, or background images, as these do not always display properly on all computers and they often slow down the email system of the reader. If you are including an image as part of the message that's ok, but make sure you only include what is necessary.
Lastly, be very careful to consider the tone of your message. Email is a very different way of communicating, and it does not convey the subtle nuances of normal speech. You should read your email and imagine how the recipient will respond to it. If you are writing to someone who does not know you well, you should be even more careful to avoid any misunderstandings. One thing to consider is whether your email includes anything that you would not be willing to say to someone's face!
Some more information on email etiquette can be found at the following web sites. If you want more suggestions, do a google search on "email etiquette" and you'll get lots of sites to check out.
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Contents of this page copyright 2007 Department of Natural Sciences, Clayton State University.