Email Elective

SLM 521 – Summer 2005

Kayse Moyer

The following suggestions for proper emailing etiquette are designed for my high school age English students. I receive a lot of emails from my students throughout the school year and these are the suggestions that I have for them based on my own experiences and Kaitlin Sherwood’s article “"A Beginner's Guide to Effective Email" .

Email Etiquette

1. Always put a short, specific title in the subject line. I realize that it is easy to simply skip this part of the message, but just as in any essay it is the first piece of information that your reader sees. If there is nothing, then the message carries no meaning and the reader sees no need to open it. Plus, many viruses will have no titles and your reader may simply delete your message due to habit.

2. Be careful of your audience. When you reply to an email be sure you want to reply to all or just the sender. Accidentally, you may divulge more information that you had hoped.

3. Use the spell check. In this day and age even free emails have a spelling and grammar check. Use it so that your reader does not assume you are ignorant.

4. When responding to emails make sure you say enough that your reader knows to which questions you are responding. In many cases, the original message will not be attached to the return and your reader may forget what he had asked you earlier.

5. Know your audience. Especially for high school age students, who are struggling for acceptance as adults, address people differently and more formally based on relationship, age, and distinction. Do not send the same email to your employer as your best friend.

6. Just as in any piece of writing reread what you have written. It takes just a few seconds and you will find repeated words, misplaced words, and confusing sentences.

7. Follow normal rules of grammar and formatting. That means: indent paragraphs, use punctuation, and capitalize first letters and proper nouns.

8. Do not forward emails that have every recipient attached. One big annoyance for most readers is to scroll through emails for pages in order to get to the message.

9. Use greetings and signatures. Whether it is a friend or a teacher, use a greeting and signature at least the first time that you correspond with the person.

10. Do not share too much information. In other words avoid rambling. Email is perfect for our fast paced lifestyles and reading long messages does not fit in to our busy schedules. Remember that, although it feels like your talking to your recipient, it takes a lot longer to read a message than listen to someone speak. Keep it short and keep your paragraphs short.

11. Know your goal in the message. If you do not want a response do not ask questions and remain firm. If you are trying to get a job or internship do not use slang terms or send the message with out editing and checking. If you are sending the message to your grandmother, change the fonts size. Be thoughtful.

Happy emailing!!