[En espa\u00f1ol]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nWriting an email does not seem a very complicated task. However, every year I receive e-mails from students that, to put it mildly, have a lot of room for improvement. I find this striking, since they are supposed to be digital natives, and therefore they should handle this issues properly. But I am afraid that they know the tool (e-mail) but not how to use it properly (i.e., how to correctly write an e-mail). I have also noticed this issue in the mobility students that come to our university, so it seems we have an international problem (I know, I know, it’s a fool consolation…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here you have are some tips for students that have to write a formal e-mail, for example, to a teacher, though they could be also helpful in other situations, like contacting a company in order to apply for a position, etc. I do not care if you are writing on your mobile phone or you are in a hurry (excuse me, but neither you nor me are so important \ud83d\ude42 ): you must be polite in every situation and, besides, a bad first impression is not easy to forget.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Always<\/strong> use a proper heading in your e-mails. Depending on how much you know the receiver (for example, if it is the first time you address to that person), it can be more or less formal: “Hello”, “Dear Sirs”… <\/li>
- Then, you should identify yourself<\/strong>. Aside it is the correct thing to do, keep in mind that we teachers usually handle several courses, and in each course, we have a few (or many fews) students. Just write your name and the course you are enrolled into, unless you have been explicitly requested more information.<\/li>
- Do your best to write a clear and concise<\/strong> text. Opening an e-mail and finding an epistle demoralizes anyone. Try to explain what you want\/need in the most resumed way you can. You know, short and sweet.<\/li>
- Do not write like you speak.<\/strong> It is not the same, and texts written in that way look very poor. You should also be careful with you writing tone, take into account that the teacher cannot perceive your intonation nor your body language, and things you write in a easy mood sound awful when the teacher reads them without seeing your face. <\/li>
- If you are asking for some paperwork or info (like getting a signature on a document, or which are the office hours -though you should check if you can find that information elsewhere by your own means), say thank you<\/strong>. Being nice is cheap, and I can guarantee you that is really appreciated.<\/li>
- Finish your e-mail with a polite closing<\/strong>. A simple Kind regards<\/em> is enough. <\/li>
- Before clicking on Send <\/em>(I): go over the text again<\/strong> and correct all the spelling errors, typos, and the like (there will be quite a few, trust me \ud83d\ude42 )<\/li>
- Before clicking on Send <\/em>(II): choose a short and informative Subject<\/em><\/strong> that gives a hint of what you expect from your mail (for example, receiving an e-mail with Subject: doubt<\/em><\/strong> does not help a lot, to be honest).<\/li>
- Before clicking on Send <\/em>(III): check that you really attached all the files<\/strong> you have to sent. I am the world champion of forgotten attachments: if I had been given a euro for each mail I have sent without the attachments, now I would be a millionaire. And it really annoys me, because it is a waste of time for me and for the receiver; to solve this, I try to attach the document just when I write about it in the mail, instead of attaching the documents as the final step. <\/li>
- Never, never, EVER <\/strong>send a mail when you are angry, despite how right you think you are: if in the effervescence of the moment you clearly cross the line and then you regret it, it is difficult to solve because your words were written. The same applies if you are going to send a (more or less) evil joke… my advise is not to do it, but if still you are going to send it, check thoroughly and several times the list of receivers. <\/li>
- Finally, it you still use that e-mail account you created when you were 14 (something like LoRdOfKaoSSS@whatever.com<\/strong>), it is the perfect moment to stop using it (or just leave it for strictly personal aspects) and create a new acceptable e-mail account. <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[In English] Escribir un correo electr\u00f3nico no parece una cosa muy complicada. Sin embargo, cada a\u00f1o recibo correos de alumnos que, vamos a decirlo suavemente, son manifiestamente mejorables. Esto me llama mucho la atenci\u00f3n, porque se supone que son nativos digitales, y por tanto deber\u00edan manejarse sin problema. Pero me temo que conocen la herramienta … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Please Mr. Postman”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[66,65,67],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1442"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1555,"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442\/revisions\/1555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Facebook\"](\"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/facebook.png\" "\\"Share")
<\/a>![\"twitter\"](\"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/twitter.png\" "\\"Share")
<\/a>![\"reddit\"](\"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/reddit.png\" "\\"Share")
<\/a>![\"pinterest\"](\"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/pinterest.png\" "\\"Pin")
<\/a>![\"linkedin\"](\"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/linkedin.png\" "\\"Share")
<\/a>![\"mail\"](\"https:\/\/jafma.net\/ana\/theweekendarchaeologist\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/mail.png\" "\\"Share")
<\/a>\n