University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences 2012 – 2013 Student ...

Applies to all University of St Augustine for Health Sciences Students6. Don’t email a draft of your assignment to your professor for review. If you want guidance oncompleting an assignment, make an appointment to talk on the phone during office hours.Emailing your assignments to your professor asking for an informal review is a way of saying“My time is more valuable than yours; tell me exactly what I need to do to get a good grade.7. Don’t expect an immediate response to your email. In some cases, the recipient may not haveaccess to information about your question, unless they are in the office. Twenty-four or even 48hours is a standard window for an email response during the business week.8. Don’t wait until a day or two before a trimester-long project is due to ask for feedback or adviceon the project. Doing so reflects poorly on you.9. You are what you email. Your email messages to faculty or staff help shape their professionalopinion about you. In some settings, email is the primary means by which they will be able toform an opinion about you. Remember that you may find yourself asking a professor to write aletter of recommendation for employment, graduate school, or a scholarship. Everycommunication that you have with your professors will contribute to the impression that theyform of you. Make sure that it’s a positive one. Read each email twice before sending.10. Closely related to the previous tip-consider your audience. The persona you use when you areinstant messaging friends is usually inappropriate for communication with faculty and staff,where a higher degree of formality is expected.11. Check your syllabus and/or handbook before asking unnecessary question. Professors, who haveto balance an enormously demanding schedule – including course preparations, paper grading,committee meetings, and other types of appointments may take umbrage at being asked toprovide information that has already been made available.12. Use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. Whatever professional field you enter, adherenceto basic writing skills will serve you well. By ignoring such basics, you risk making a negativeimpression, which will be extremely hard to erase.13. Include a detailed subject line. Never leave the subject line blank, and if you are responding to anold message with an outdated subject line, replace it with the current subject.14. Keep your message concise and precise. If you find yourself writing more than two or three briefparagraphs, consider making an appointment.15. Don’t use all CAPITAL LETTERS or overdo punctuation!!!!! This common practice is theonline equivalent of yelling and is considered by many people to be very rude.16. Avoid angry outbursts. Do not send or reply to a message when you are angry. Wait until youhave calmed down, and then compose the email.17. Lay out your message for readability. Use spaces and breaks between paragraphs and longsentences to make your messages easier to read.18. Provide your full name at the end of every email.This work was adapted from: http://www.elearnmag.ort/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=62-1It is being used with permission from the authors: Denise D. Knight and Noraly Masselink, StateUniversity of New York at Cortland.University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences 46