Asking professors about research assistantships

[BreathingSister]

How are you wording emails asking if profs have room for a research assistant???

I just realized I don't know how professional to make this. My masters is going to be in Cultural Studies, but I'm stuck on how to word? Like a cover letter? A proposal? A litte note asking if there's any room before I go into too much depth?

Help!

[_kita]

For each POI I sent a slightly different tailored e-mail. One of my e-mails was exactly:

Dear Dr. (insert last name),

I have my undergraduate degree in Psychology from Kutztown University of PA. I am currently looking at graduate schools to continue for my master's degree. My research interests are mainly in Moral Cognition and Neuroscience. I was wondering what your current focus is and if you would be accepting more research students for the Fall 2012 semester.

Sincerely,

my name

I was hoping to start a regular correspondence with the POI, but at least I got a response saying yes, and she'll look for my app