Electronic Mail etiquette. How to write a proper ?

Transcription

1 KUWAIT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Electronic Mail etiquette How to write a proper ? Prepared by Dr. Abeer A. Al-Hassan Eng. Hessa A. Al-Humaidan February, 2012

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 2 First Impression Sections Header The Address [FROM] Recipients [TO; CC] Subject Line Attachment Message Greeting The Body Closing Line Signature

3 Electronic Mail etiquette How to write a proper ? Introduction It is important for you, as a student, to recognize that in today s day and age an you send out, in many cases, could be your first impression. Many face-to-face, or phone activities have been replaced by correspondence. Sending may be your only means of applying to many international or local job offerings. So remember, messages that you initiate indicate something about personality and etiquette. Just as there is etiquette and protocol about answering a telephone in a work environment, greeting someone in an office, or attempting to enter someone s office, there is also etiquette that one should be aware of when sending an in a professional environment. A student sending a faculty an would be an example of such environment. First Impression Looking at the s in the Inbox, many times professors scroll down and try to pick the ones that they recognize, in other words, which one your professor will open/delete/or junk is always an option especially that faculty receive tons of s a day. Reading a proper Sender s Name and Subject will avoid giving the wrong impression about you or the thought that your might be considered scam or junk (unwanted mail). So proper naming and proper subject title is important when drafting a professional . (Figure 1) Figure 1 2

4 Sections is divided into sections [elements of an ]. (Figure 2) 1. Header [address, recipients, subject, and attachments] 2. Message [greeting, body, and closing] 3. Signature Figure Header The following is dedicated to the first section of an The Address [FROM] Professors in general do not reply to names/address that make no sense EX. tutu haaaa, dragon head, ba6alelq8telkatkoot, or smilyface@gmail.com If your account is not professional - bu6bu6@hotmail.com you should sign up for a new professional (figure 3). Moreover, If the sender s name in your account is not professional such as Katkooka you will need to change it in your options to enforce showing your proper First and Last Name such as Sara Mohammed. 3

5 Figure 3 We highly recommend signing up (getting yourself) a professional Sara.Mohammed@gmail.com or along these lines and that you should define it to show your First and Last Name properly [ Sara Mohammed] with proper capitalizations [lower letters with no proper punctuation may also send a message that it might be junk or spam]. This professional should be used all throughout your college career: You use it for corresponding with your professors You use it for your team and group work You use it for your resume/cv You use it when you apply for College Clubs and Committees You use it for applying for a part-time jobs You use it if you want to apply for a student assistant position. You use it if you want to apply for a student exchange program. You should keep it private and try not to share it in stores to avoid spam or advertisement Recipients [TO; CC] Another important aspect of sending an is who and how many people you are sending the to. If you have a question for the teacher assistant (TA) and you want the professor to know that you asked the TA that question. You would in this case send the TO: TA1@cba.edu.kw and you would use the CC: option to add Professor1@cba.edu.kw. In this particular the professor is only send a copy, he or she is not 4

6 obligated to answer. In this case the professor s address is included as an FYI (For your information) So it is important to distinguish who to add on the TO: and/or CC: line. (Figure 4) Figure 4 On another note, if you had a question and did not have a preference on who would answer, then you would include both the Professor s and TA s addresses on the TO: line. Whoever answers first would reply to all both so that everyone would know that the message was read by one of the intended recipients and the question was answered Subject Line Professors in general do not reply to s without a subject. For example: If you have a question over homework for a particular class, define your subject properly. Always keep in mind that professors have more than one course and section so identifying your section and the reason for the would be appropriate and important EX. QMIS [Homework1]. If you are sending your CV to a company maybe your subject line would be for Ex. Application for Information System specialist Job. It is important to name things appropriately to avoid them looking like spam or junk and also to get prioritized. A subject line that would appear as [question] or [FW: dwindle dee ] does not indicate what the is about. You can be more specific, instead of simply writing [question] it could be better and more identifiable if you wrote [QMIS a question over Homework1], this way your Instructor can spot the and prioritize it. (Figure 5) Figure 5 5

7 1.4. Attachment Today sending data [documents, pictures, videos etc..] are common in s. Keep in mind that those documents will be downloaded into the recipient s computer. So if a professor asks a student to send Homework 1 as an attachment and all students name the document Homework 1, the professor has to rename each document to distinguish it from the other. To avoid a chance of error always include your name and student number. For example _ Sara Mohammed_ Homework 1 unless specified differently from your professor. Also when sending in a resume via , you could name the file Sara Mohammed Resume (Figure 6) Figure 6 6

8 2. Message The following is dedicated to the second section of an Greeting It is very important that your first initial corresponding always include a greeting. No one simply jumps to a request, question or a statement without proper greetings. By avoiding a greeting, your would seem either authoritative or impolite. An example of simple and common greetings are - Dear Dr. Abeer, Hello Dr. Shariffah, Hi Dr. Ali, Good Morning Dr. Sulaiman, Good Afternoon Dr. Zainab, or Good Evening Dr. Abdulridha. Choose the one you feel is appropriate. Avoid unprofessional lingo such as Houdy or Hey besides the fact that they are unprofessional, they may send out a wrong message about you (disrespectful or rude). Make sure to always use proper titles. If it is your professor make sure to address them as [Doctor (Dr.), Professor, or Instructor]. If they are teacher assistants and they carry a title of engineering then you must also use the title properly Ex. Dear Eng. Osama or Eng. Hessa. If they do not carry the title engineer or professor but are instructors then you may choose to address them as instructors Ex. Dear Instructor Al-Muhri. If you are addressing an administrator in the department and not sure of the title you may use, Dear Ms. Zahra, would be appropriate. Again titles are earned not assigned so using them properly is very professional and not using them will say something about your effort and etiquette. (Figure 7) 2.2. The Body Writing down a message has its protocols. Once you are done with your greeting, it is time to write what your subject is about. Keep the following in mind when you write your is important. (Figure 7) o Keep it short and to the point o Punctuate and check spelling and grammar o NEVER WRITE IN CAPITAL LETTERS.. it is considered yelling o Use professional fonts, avoid decorative fonts. Avoid color or extreme large size fonts (size 12 is usually a standard) o If you have an attachment, mention the name of the file and the type Ex _Mona_Project1,doc o Make sure to double check that you have attached the file o Read your out loud before sending. 7

9 2.3. Closing Line Always end you message with a closing line such as Thank you, Sincerely, Looking forward for your answer, Best regards or Have a nice day. Avoiding such line may indicate that you are being curt. (Figure 7) 3. Signature A signature should not contain more than 4-5 lines. No need to include your (it is already defined on the header) in general you should have your name, student number, major if declared and a position if you are holding one at the university and if you have a personal website. Example would be: Sara Mohammed MIS Department Figure 7 So remember every time you draft an it is your image that is on the line, following the above etiquette will enhance your professional good habits. 8