#acwri

This is my productive procrastination on a new level 😂

I am tired, stressed, emotional, etc. today. But, I am still going to make this happen. So, here goes.

- write 1000 words (break this up into 55 minute blocks? perhaps?)

- teaching meeting (11-12:30)

- review orals reading (1 hr) (find some articles, make some notes, write little summaries, etc.)

- walk or indoor cycle (45 min)

- yoga

- nap

optional/can be done a different day this week:

- email advisor 1

Bean: Hm. So, writers have demons?

Luci: Oh yea, most of 'em have dozens!

Bean: And the demons...help with writing?

Luci: Sure! We also cause depression, self-doubt, insomnia, suicide, and...drug addiction. The writer's life!

Bean: Uh, I don't know...

Luci: Eh, you're no writer anyway. Nobody gives an elf's ass what you gotta say about your trite little life.

Bean: Up yours, yes I am! *scribbles madly*

Luci: Ehhh, ehhhhh?

Bean: OK, you can stay.

Luci: That's a good start, but if you want to be a real writer, you need to procrastinate a lot more.

...

Luci: Wow, you gotta read this guy's story! It's a lot like yours, but better.

Bean: *grumbles*

...

Luci: You know what would really get those ideas flowing? A nice long nap!

Bean: Oh yea, good idea...NO!

...

12.03.19

I’m back. Slowly but surely.

My life currently consists of working in my university office or in cute cafés. ☕️

A lot of my colleagues complain that ‘students these days’ don’t know how to send good emails. Email is a genre of writing, and it’s a genre of writing that some students don’t get much practice at before starting university. I’ve taken to including a three minute summary of how to email at the start of each subject. I got the idea to do so from my colleague, Katharine Firth, who has blogged about how it is important to teach these skills. 

Because it’s the start of the academic year in the northern hemisphere I thought I’d share my 3 minute guide to email. Good email skills aren’t just useful at university though - these skills can also be used in any professional context that you have to use email, or send requests.

Learning to send good emails makes your teachers happy, it will make your future colleagues happy. A good email is polite, but doesn’t need to be full of unnecessary “I hope you are well… etc.”. It requires you to think about what the other person needs to know. As a student you may only get a few emails from the university every day, but staff often feel overwhelmed by the number of emails they have to reply to. The more direct and easy to reply to your email is, the better.

Email is a genre. Being a linguist means becoming critically aware of how genres use particular language. Look at what language people use in emails to you. How are people addressed? What sign-offs do people use? Does the lecturer for the always include the class subject code in the email subject line? Using your genre analysis skills can help you be better at email!

Lauren’s 3 minute guide to email

Emails should be:

Relevant

Concise

Polite

Before sending the email, think for a moment:

Have you read the subject handbook?

Would it be easier to talk about this in person?

Here’s a template. Remember, different places have different conventions for how to address teaching staff at a university. Australia is quite informal, a ‘Dear Lauren’ will suffice. In other places, such as the USA, ‘Dr. Gawne’ might be more appropriate. 

Subject: [subject code and a tl;dr summary]

Dear [name],

Straight to the point but polite [e.g. Sorry I missed class last week, I was ill]

Any additional relevant information [e.g. I’ve listened to the lecture and don’t have any questions at this time/I have this question, let me know if it would be easier to meet at discuss it],

Thanks,