How to contact faculty you want to study under?

[WordToUrMother]

One of the acceptance letters I've received said that I should feel free to contact the faculty member that I would like to "study under" (guessing that means the faculty member I would like to have as an advisor?). The department's website also says that RAships are given out by individual faculty, and that applicants who would like to be considered should contact them. I'm a little in the dark about how all this stuff works. Should I just send a professor an email like:

"Hey man, what's up? I was recently accepted into the doctoral program. From looking at your webpage and publications, it looks like your area of interest is the area I'd like to study. If you could give me an RA position, that'd be awesome. KTHXBYE."

I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like it would be a little off-putting to directly ask for a RA position. Also, about half the faculty in the department do research in the area I'm interested in, and I have no idea which faculty members will be taking on new students. What's the proper etiquette for this kind of thing?

[Langoustine]

"Hey man, what's up? I was recently accepted into the doctoral program. From looking at your webpage and publications, it looks like your area of interest is the area I'd like to study. If you could give me an RA position, that'd be awesome. KTHXBYE."

HAHAHAHAHA That is a great email. I would say shoot out a brief email to maybe your top five? I think sometimes you can see on their individual webpages what the funding situation is (current grants they received, amount, timespan, etc) also see how their lab looks. Look at their grad students to see what they are working on...again stalking their webpages gives you a good idea who they are too (that is if they update it regularly!). Say that you are accepted and have broad interests in yada yada yada, at the end ask if they are accepting any new students? Don't ask directly for an RAship I think it is implied in the email since you are not attached to anyone yet...

Hope this helps or gives you ideas! Good luck and congratulations!