Email etiquette

[VulpesZerda]

I'm TAing for the first time in a very large intro course section. The number of students in the course is double the number of students I walked with at my undergrad graduation! Since my ug was so small, we had lots of help as freshman with things such as email etiquette, managing schedules, staying healthy, etc. (yes, a little hand-holding, but ultimately helpful). I don't believe my students have this type of resource since the school is so large.

Anyway, some of their emails to me are basically atrocious. Some aren't the worst thing in the world, for example calling me Mrs. [Lastname] is weird but probably done out of caution in an attempt to be polite. Some emails have no greeting, read like a text message, and have no sign-off. I have lots of other examples, lol. 

Has anyone ever informed students of better email etiquette? How would I even go about it? Or, should I just let them figure this out for themselves?

 

[fuzzylogician]

This happens oh so very often. You could take 15 minutes for "professionalization" at the end of one of your sections. Especially for freshmen, there is a good chance that no one's ever told them half of these things, and they can easily cause a lot of anxiety. I like this piece on what students should know: https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/your-emails-should-contain-a-greeting-and-a-closing/. Also, this wiki is surprisingly detailed: http://m.wikihow.com/Email-a-Professor. 

If it were more isolated, I might just say something in the reply email itself. For the "Miss/Mrs" thing, I've written something along these lines as a ps at the end of the email: "I wanted to let you know that some professors really do not like to be addressed as "Ms." or "Mr.", and "Miss" and "Mrs."––which are intended to indicate a woman's marital status––can be particularly problematic. When in doubt, it's best to use "Prof." unless someone tells you otherwise. Personally, I am happy to be called by my first name, but again, this varies so it's always good to check first. I know that this is new to many students, so please rest assured that I am not offended, and let me know if you have any questions."

 

[VulpesZerda]

Thanks, fuzzy!

[bhr]

Honestly, I think you are overthinking it. I don't see why students need to send formal emails to me for simple exchanges (I encourage DMs for that though)

[fuzzylogician]

I don't think it's much to expect to be addressed respectfully. Students are going to need to do that in any other professional correspondence they have in their future. Have some kind of greetings, spell out full words instead of using abbreviations and emoticons, tell me what course of mine you are taking, sign your name so when the email comes from "theDude2967584@yahoo.com" I know who I am talking to. I'm not asking anyone to spend hours carefully editing their email, but you should do better than “hey i am sick and couldnt make class today can i pass in the hw next week and my last quiz grade didnt show up online did u correct it yet  thx”

[rising_star]

bhr, I have to strongly disagree with you on this. I primarily teach first and second year students. What I've found is that many have no clue about what professional correspondence should look like, so I teach them that. When they lapse, I gently remind them of it in my reply before answering their questions. I spell out in my syllabus that emails should be professional (so not like that example fuzzylogician gave), not to expect replies outside of business hours (8:30-5:30 M-F), etc. I do this because students need to learn this before they start doing internships where people will expect them to know this.

I mean, I had to explain to a student why choosing the username "psycho" for his campus email may not have been the best idea. His reaction? "I just thought it was funny so, I picked it when I realized it was available." As it turns out, none of his other professors or TAs that semester told him about how unprofessional it was and, he'd already been including it on his resume when sending out summer job applications. *sigh*

[Gvh]

I mean, I had to explain to a student why choosing the username "psycho" for his campus email may not have been the best idea. His reaction? "I just thought it was funny so, I picked it when I realized it was available." As it turns out, none of his other professors or TAs that semester told him about how unprofessional it was and, he'd already been including it on his resume when sending out summer job applications. *sigh*

[Gvh]

I was once a TA for a student who got so offended by my feedback on a paper (I think he got like a B+ on a prelim paper so it wasn't catastrophic for him) that he went on to send me a 5 page (!) response containing a pseudo "psychoanalytic" analysis of *my* life, (yes, my life), based on the feedback I provided. Psychology classes are fun. 

Edited October 9, 2015 by Gvh

[MonstersU-Terp]

I don't think it's your responsibility to correct your students. I know you only have good intentions, but it's not your place and could come off as you "mommy"ing them. Let them figure it out on their own.

[fuzzylogician]

I don't think it's your responsibility to correct your students. I know you only have good intentions, but it's not your place and could come off as you "mommy"ing them. Let them figure it out on their own.

Of course it's a teacher's responsibility to correct their students. How are they supposed to figure it out if no one tells them? 

That aside, as I already noted, I have some minimum conditions for how I would like to be addressed, and I don't want to wait for anyone to "figure it out." I'm going to tell them. Again, as noted above, it's nothing fancy or complicated. Just a bare minimum of how one should behave in professional contexts. I understand that for most students this will be the first time they find themselves in such a context, so I'm not upset if they are lacking some knowledge, but I also don't see the point in waiting for them to just pick it up (or not) at their leisure. 

[TakeruK]

I do think there is a balance in deciding on what kind of things to correct as an instructor (whether it's a TA, lecturer, faculty member etc.). However, I also do strongly believe that as an instructor for a certain course, we are responsible for more than just instruction in the course material! 

I do think that email etiquette falls within the "jurisdiction" of an instructor for an introductory college class. I also think there are multiple levels here too. As fuzzy said, there is certainly a minimum set of conditions for how you want to be addressed and this is absolutely a legitimate thing for an instructor to address, no matter the level of the student. For large classes, I think it is a good idea to spell this out in a syllabus or some kind of handout/email/mass message to the whole class. I agree with fuzzy and the links in their first post to do a brief and concise of overall communication expectations/standards and then address individual issues with individuals as they come up.

Another way to teach this is to roll it in with general communication expectations. Each person might find their own best way to do this, but in the classes I TA for, I run tutorials/recitations/discussion (whatever you'd like to call them) where we are in small groups and we discuss the course material together. On the first day of each course, I always go over some "ground rules" for discussion---basic things to encourage collaborative and friendly communication so that we can all learn. I think this is a natural place to include email along with in-person communication.

To give another example of where I think it is certainly within "our place" to teach beyond the syllabus: when I teach more senior students (i.e. those that are going to be entering my field, not just taking the class because they need to fulfill breadth requirements), I do take the extra time to correct things that are not quite wrong but not the "norm" of our field. Just small convention things. An example would be that for some types of diagrams, astronomers like to plot the horizontal axis so that temperature increases to the left, instead of to the right. If a student plots it the intuitive way (left to right), I will make a note that standard convention is the opposite. But unless it is a criteria of the assignment, they won't lose points, it will just be a "friendly correction" to help them learn the community's norms. I said that there is a balance based on the students and I would agree that this type of extra correction would not be appropriate for an introductory class, because in that class, the emphasis is on much more basic things and I wouldn't want my students distracted by small conventions like this and miss out the real reason for making the plot in the first place.

[MonstersU-Terp]

Of course it's a teacher's responsibility to correct their students. How are they supposed to figure it out if no one tells them? 

That aside, as I already noted, I have some minimum conditions for how I would like to be addressed, and I don't want to wait for anyone to "figure it out." I'm going to tell them. Again, as noted above, it's nothing fancy or complicated. Just a bare minimum of how one should behave in professional contexts. I understand that for most students this will be the first time they find themselves in such a context, so I'm not upset if they are lacking some knowledge, but I also don't see the point in waiting for them to just pick it up (or not) at their leisure. 

I understand your point but I disagree; I think email etiquette does not fall under a TA's responsibility. I believe the TA should focus on instructing the students in the class subject, not other matters that do not relate to the class topic. If you as a TA personally want to take the time to teach on other things, that's your call. But it's hardly your responsibility. 

[TakeruK]

I understand your point but I disagree; I think email etiquette does not fall under a TA's responsibility. I believe the TA should focus on instructing the students in the class subject, not other matters that do not relate to the class topic. If you as a TA personally want to take the time to teach on other things, that's your call. But it's hardly your responsibility. 

I feel like you have said two different, but similar things. Maybe not intentionally? But the first post sounded like:

1. It is not the TA's place to correct email etiquette and therefore it is wrong for a TA to do so.

And the second post sounds like:

2. It is not the TA's responsibility to correct email etiquette and therefore, a TA should not feel obligated to do so.

I do not agree with the first statement. As I wrote in my post above, the scope of things a TA could correct goes beyond the class material. I believe the TA could also help students develop better email etiquette or just generally improve communication skills in their field.

However, I do agree with the second statement that no TA should feel like they must correct email etiquette. I think there are a very large number of things a TA could do and almost every TA will not have the time to do all of them. TAs have to prioritize what is important to them and what they want their students to get out of the class. If there are other more pressing concerns (or if the TA is simply overworked---assigned too few hours for the class size), then it is very reasonable that a TA may choose not to address this. TAs should not be required to correct email etiquette unless it is specifically part of their contract / job description.

Edited October 19, 2015 by TakeruK

[PinkPsychologist]

I let small things slip - I don't need a "Dear Ms" for example and my time is too good to get hung up over minor issues. If things are terrible, I tell them to look up the section on email etiquette in the course guide or, if the course coordinator didn't include one, add a link on the topic. Many universities put guidelines up, too. I'm their tutor, not the lecturer and consequently, do not spend a lot of time on things like that.

That being said, if the tone of their email is disrespectful I WILL lecture them on it. I have a "tough love" approach to teaching, though, which helps. The Miss/Mrs issue one of my pet-peeves, it either "Ms Psychologist" (listed on the department website) or "Hi Pink" and I will correct them on that but honestly, the worst they've done is to make me a Dr and I had journals and publishers do the same, so hey.

To be fair, if it were a mass epidemic, I would probably set aside 10 minutes at the end of class to tell them off and let them know they have to read up on it. That is what I usually do when an issue affects the majority of a class because it saves me from having to tell them all individually.  "It is disrespectful and I expect better of you" combined with a death stare seems to do the trick and takes less than 5 minutes.

Maybe let them know at the beginning of their first class that you expect any emails directed to you to consist of full sentences and show proper etiquette? If they do not know what you mean, tell them to google "email etiquette". They are old enough to use the internet for the greater good.

Do I think it is a TA's job to teach them email etiquette? Nope. However, it is our job to prepare them for academia and that real word thing outside of the ivory tower. Telling them that they do something wrong and where they can find the information to fix it takes less than 1 minutes. Sounds like a good use of our time.

[VulpesZerda]

I somehow missed all the notifications for my own OP! I appreciate all the insight. So far I have not talked to the students about my concerns as a whole (I'm not the lead instructor of the course).

As an update, I'm also frustrated with students emailing questions that can easily be answered from the syllabus, including my office hours and location. I know this problem happens to everyone, and doesn't go away. But I just can't stand it! Especially if I receive an email that combines the etiquette issue with the syllabus issue. Just venting... 

[TakeruK]

4 minutes ago, VulpesZerda said:

As an update, I'm also frustrated with students emailing questions that can easily be answered from the syllabus, including my office hours and location. I know this problem happens to everyone, and doesn't go away. But I just can't stand it! Especially if I receive an email that combines the etiquette issue with the syllabus issue. Just venting... 

 

[VulpesZerda]

4 hours ago, TakeruK said:

 

Haha, perfect! Thank you for this, TakeruK :-)

[Bschaefer]

I do get annoyed with this, however it's difficult to explain why their email is informal without coming off too strong because tone is untenable. I would pop open the website that the moderator posted and use that as a model for your students.

In my experience on both ends, I wait until the professor has deviated from the formal convention so that I know it is okay to continue this dialogue; to the same extent as addressing someone as, e.g. Mrs. Flagg instead of Cheryl. Otherwise the lack of respect is kind of annoying and also the emails may be indecipherable. If I receive and email with directions about adding a forum post blog with no other content, what does that mean, you know? 

[TMP]

I learned that my biggest student e-mail pet peeve is "Hello."  No name.  No nothing.  

I DO HAVE A NAME!

In all seriousness, continue to write as you wish (or hope) for the student to write back.  I always sign off my e-mail with my first name (I'm a TA) and students generally follow suit unless they forget several weeks later.  It is appalling that students come to college not knowing how to write an e-mail.  Have they sent a "thank you" note before?

[fuzzylogician]

17 minutes ago, TMP said:

I learned that my biggest student e-mail pet peeve is "Hello."  No name.  No nothing.  

I DO HAVE A NAME!

Also, "Hi there" and "Hello Professor." Seriously, how hard is it to use my name? 

[VulpesZerda]

On 11/14/2015, 10:28:36, fuzzylogician said:

Also, "Hi there" and "Hello Professor." Seriously, how hard is it to use my name? 

I've gotten a lot of "Hey"s. My aunt is a high school teacher and she told me she has received "What's up" as a greeting.

[Arcadian]

I'm seeing a lot of uptight traditionalism in this thread, to be honest. I don't care if a student addresses me by name in an email. As long as they're not being disrespectful, there is no problem. I care more about efficiency and conciseness - ask me your question, or convey your message, and make it brief and to the point. Efficiency is what matters, people, not archaic traditions. Even my 80-year-old co-advisor stopped using greetings and signatures in our email exchanges. He says what needs to be said, and he sends the email.

With that said, I do care about the proper use of grammar, and I silently judge people who write poorly in emails. Even when I write emails from my phone with a crappy touchscreen, I make sure everything is correct.

Caveat: If it's your first time corresponding with someone, or you don't know them very well, then yes, include a greeting and signature. But that's only because you don't know how that person thinks. If someone really cares that much about an email greeting, I can't agree with them, but I also don't want them to think less of me for something so petty.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Arcadian

[rising_star]

15 hours ago, Arcadian said:

I'm seeing a lot of uptight traditionalism in this thread, to be honest. I don't care if a student addresses me by name in an email. As long as they're not being disrespectful, there is no problem. I care more about efficiency and conciseness - ask me your question, or convey your message, and make it brief and to the point. Efficiency is what matters, people, not archaic traditions. Even my 80-year-old co-advisor stopped using greetings and signatures in our email exchanges. He says what needs to be said, and he sends the email.

As stated above, part of what I'm doing (or trying to do) is teach students about email etiquette which will apply when they're completing a summer internship or working a summer job. What I hate more than anything is getting negative feedback from an employer/internship supervisor about a student I sent their way because it's a poor reflection on me and can make it more difficult for me to get other students into that program/job. 

That said, I also really had a thing about students telling me what class they were in when I was in grad school and TAing for two different classes and a total of about 150 students. Having to look up their class to see what they meant was an added annoyance and time suck from an already demanding position. It's really not too much to ask people to be specific about what they need in an email. (And, it's even more confusing when said student is in both classes and you answer about the "wrong" class because they weren't clear in their initial email.)

[VulpesZerda]

I didn't want to come off as uptight at all. I am genuinely concerned for my students' chances of finding job with this particular skill lacking. After rapport is established I definitely like to ditch the greeting/sign-off as well. Maybe I wasn't being clear about how bad the emails can get, for example: (no subject) Hey where is the final???

[rising_star]

My favorite are when students I have in more than one course send an email like "When is the final paper due again?" but don't specify which class. It only matters because they're never due on the same day (that would be cruel to myself in terms of grading). So, I totally got what you meant @VulpesZerda.