Formal Email

Your last name

Your first name

Element #1: Salutation Right off the bat, here’s where you can establish that you view your relationship with your instructor, coach, or other staff member as a professional one. Use “Dear,” or if that feels horrifically formal to you, you can use “Hello” or “Hi.” (“Hi” is pushing it in a formal setting). What are the two safest options for use in a salutation?

• Dear
• Hi
• Hello
• Yo

Element #2: Honorific Add Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss/Coach before the recipient’s last name. If you are unsure whether to use “Miss” or “Mrs.”, use “Ms.” to be safe. If you happen to be emailing a college professor (at Running Start, for example), use the title “Professor”. If the recipient has a military title, use the formal abbreviation before their name. Why use an honorific?

Element #3: Name You might be surprised at how frequently students get their teacher’s name wrong. This is not difficult information to look up. It’s on your syllabus, your Google Classroom, and at the top of the very email you are composing. Use their last name. Spell out the whole thing. Spell it correctly, using correct capitalization. If there’s a hyphen in it, use both names and the hyphen (this really falls under spelling out the whole thing and spelling it correctly). Where can you find the person's name spelled correctly? Check all that apply.

• The course syllabus
• The course Google Classroom
• The top of the email you are composing (if in NKSD)

Element #4: Meaningless Nicety It never hurts to say something like “I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful weather today,” or “I hope you had a relaxing weekend,” to start off. It shows that you see them as a person who has some kind of life. Adults like it when you see them as people who have lives outside of their classroom. It doesn’t really matter what you say here, it’s more the ritual of polite interest that counts. If you can make it come off like you genuinely mean it, bonus points for you. Some other ideas: “I hope your year is off to a good start” or “Thanks for taking time to ______.” Define "meaningless nicety" in your own words.

Element #5: Reminder of how they know you This one is key, especially if it’s the first time you are contacting them. You can’t count on them to remember your name from their rosters or to be able to put your face with your name. If there’s something distinctive about you that would jog their memory and make them look upon you fondly, include that. For instance, “I stayed after class to ask you about the reading that one time,” or “I sit in the front row and have blue hair.” If you haven’t met them yet, explain your desired relationship to them, such as “I am interested in enrolling in your class next semester.” If you’re fairly certain they will know you by name, you can leave this out. But some adults are very bad at remembering names, so you might as well help them out. How does this step help you in your request?

Element #6: The real reason for your email; This is where you make your polite request This is the whole reason you’re sending the email, so make it good. The important thing here is to get in and get out, while remaining courteous. Concisely state what it is you need from them without offering a bunch of excuses or going into excessive detail or sounding like you are making demands. If you can’t explain why you’re emailing in a sentence or two, consider making an appointment to meet with them in person, in which case your line here will be “I was hoping we could meet to talk about X. What would be a good time for that?” If they can’t meet and just want to discuss it over email, they’ll let you know. If you’re asking a question you need an answer to, you can say something like “If you could let me know at your earliest convenience, I’d really appreciate it.” If you need them to fill out a form, or contact someone on your behalf, or do something that requires more action than just answering your email, state that very clearly here. Why make your request courteously?

• They are more likely to fulfill it.
• It builds or maintains a respectful relaitonship.
• All of the above

Element #7: Sign-off If you’re not sure how to sign off an email, “Thank you” is nearly always appropriate. You can do “Best,” or “All the best,” or “Sincerely,” or whatever you choose, but some form of thanks here does double duty as both sign-off and expression of gratitude. What are appropriate sign-offs? Check all that apply.

• Thank you
• Best
• All the best
• Sincerely

Element #8: Overall effectiveness CHECK FOR CORRECT SPELLING, GRAMMAR, AND CAPITALIZATION Take time to communicate properly. Sloppy writing reflects poorly on the writer. It shows a lack of interest and can be seen as disrespectful. What does sloppy writing do?