How to e-mail your professor to ask for things, if thatâs something that makes you anxious.
Midterms are approaching, and one thing that Iâve always noticed in my own students is that some of them are really anxious about e-mailing me to ask for things. This is frustrating for both of us, because I canât help them if they donât ask for it, and they canât get what they need if theyâre too anxious to ask for help! So, Iâve written up a bit of a guide with some advice.Â
Generally, the types of e-mails students are anxious about are requests for things like extensions or excused absences. Iâve been a TA/head lecturer for six years now and have gotten literally thousands of student e-mails. The fact is, your professor isnât going to dissect your e-mail for every little tonal shift. Donât worry about it! I give you official permission to not over-analyze the e-mails youâre sending to your professor/TA/whomever asking for a couple extra days on that paper! Just be polite, honest, and succinct. Generally, student e-mails are read very quickly, unless thereâs extenuating circumstances or the request is unusual. The format I suggest to my students and that I often use when Iâm contacting someone for the first time professionally goes like this:
Greeting
Introduction, if itâs a big class or you donât know the professor well.
Description of problem/Question.
Steps youâve taken so far to correct your problem.
Where youâre at now.
Query about further steps.
Thanks, Your name (first and last)
This is just a skeleton- you donât necessarily need every single part. But it is good to let your professor know what youâve done to fix the problem on your own- whether thatâs getting notes from a friend, taking things to the writing center, etc. Not all problems have an obvious solution, but if youâve done something, letting them know shows your instructor that youâre taking ownership of the situation.
A formal e-mail like this also helps you judge their response to your situation. If youâre overwhelmed and having emotional distress, thatâs not something that every professor is sympathetic about, unfortunately. If you donât have a good gauge on how they react to students, keeping your e-mail very task-oriented without giving too much away about your emotional state can be healthier for you and will lead to better outcomes re: the thing you need.
- Check your syllabus for your teacherâs absence policies. Many universities and/or departments require documentation, and if you can provide this ahead of time, itâll be easier for you.Â
- Talk to the person who has the most direct contact with you in the class. This means that if you have a TA who leads your section, ask them your questions before the professor or head lecturer. Most likely, the TA is the one whoâs handling the direct permissions for excused absences or extensions. If youâve gotten to know your TA a bit, they can advocate for you for things like permission to take a test earlier or later.Â
- If you need to make arrangements for alternative test dates, always go earlier if you possibly can.Â
- Donât make up fake excuses or exaggerate; honesty is important, and professors have seen some very creative lies. By now, weâre good at detecting them. I once had a student who e-mailed about a car accident and attached a photo of a car with a smashed headlight as âevidence.â The picture was the fourth result on google for âcar with broken headlight.â Had the student just asked for what they wanted, they may have gotten it; instead, all they did was infuriate their TA and give me a good example of why you shouldnât lie about why youâre missing class.Â
- If you have a disability that affects your work or your ability to attend classes, your school should have an office of disability/disability resource center. In the US, disabled studentsâ accommodations are protected by the ADA, and getting a letter of accommodation will ideally ensure that your needs are met. If your professor pushes back against your accommodations (unfortunately, that happens sometimes), go back to your DRC and let them know, because thatâs a violation of federal law. Remember that learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental illness are all protected by law- you can get accommodations for any of those conditions!Â
- Always end your e-mail with a question. The question mark flags the e-mail as something actionable, something the person can answer immediately. Just seeing the ? makes your e-mail something to deal with now rather than later.Â
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- Boomerang is a free* tool for Gmail that can:
   o Schedule your e-mails, so if youâre writing an e-mail at 3 AM and you feel     weird about your instructor seeing youâre up that late, you can set the mail     to send at 8 AM instead.
   o Attach read receipts that tell you when the e-mail was opened, if youâre      worried about it not getting read.
   o Score your e-mail on how likely a response is based on subject length,       word count, question count, reading level, and advanced features you can     pay to unlock including positivity, politeness, and subjectivity.
*Mostly free- a lot of the basic tools are free, but some you have to pay to unlock. Iâve never used any of the paid features.
The screenshot below shows you how Gmail integrates with Boomerang- if you install it as a browser extension, it automatically generates the buttons. No special work required. Thereâs also an app for iOS and Android. I wrote this e-mail using the template that Iâve provided at the end of this post; itâs short, polite, and gets the message across clearly. For initial contact e-mails, you really can just fill in the blanks.
The little blue envelope in the bottom center-right is how you turn on the read receipt feature. Your recipient will not be notified that you got a read receipt, so donât worry about that. The green bar in the bottom right is the respondable score, and the red button on the bottom left is how you schedule your e-mail to go out at a scheduled time.Â
This is a screenshot of how the respondablity is graded. Thereâs sweet spots for different aspects of the e-mail. It can tell you if your e-mail is too wordy or too concise to be helpful, based largely on statistical estimates. Itâs not always right! Some e-mails need to be wordier or more complicated than others! But itâs a helpful guideline.
Copy and Paste (and then edit) (unless your name really is [Your name]
Finally, a template that you can just copy and edit to your heartâs content. Donât be afraid to talk to your professors- even if they are brusque or donât give you the response you want, polite communication wherein you outline your problem and your solution is a really worthwhile skill to develop. And the more you communicate with your teachers, the more comfortable youâll feel. So donât be afraid! Reach out to your instructors whenever you need something!
My name is [Name] and Iâm in your [Time] [Course title and course number] class. [Brief explanation of problem], and was hoping that I [brief description of solution]. I currently [steps youâve taken- pages written, are you getting notes from a classmate, etc.], but need [state exactly what you need]. Is there any way I [proposal for solution]?
This isnât the ONLY way to word an e-mail, of course, and if youâre comfortable with your style, donât change things up! But if youâre feeling lost or unsure or just want a guide, I really hope this post helped!