ACA 111 College Student Success

Email is a convenient and important method to communicate with instructors and other college professionals. College students are expected to follow proper email etiquette when emailing their instructors. Instructors will identify your email in their inbox and respond to you in a more timely fashion when you follow proper college email etiquette and ensure that your email message is clear and specific.  

Why should you use proper email etiquette when you email your college instructor, advisor, or any college employee? 

• The emails you send reflect you as a student and as a professional. College instructors, advisors and many other college employees have connections to various resources, such as academic and career opportunities, scholarships, internships, career references, etc. Instructors will share these opportunities with students they know will be successful in a professional setting. That includes demonstrating how you communicate in a professional setting. 
   
• You are more likely to receive a timely response. Instructors often check emails between their many classes. Following proper email etiquette makes it easier for the instructor to determine if they will answer your email between their classes or wait until they get back to their office (which could be the next day).  
   
• To practice and gain experience using effective communication. Employers look for employees that possess and display outstanding soft skills, such as problem-solving, teamwork, creativity, and communication. Communication skills, like writing effective emails, are some of the most sought-after soft skills hiring managers look for. Use this time while you are in college to learn about and practice writing professional emails.  

Email Accounts – College vs. Personal 

Students should always use their college email account to send college-related emails. Campus IT departments typically employ security measures to keep campus and student communication and information safe. Using your college account when emailing college faculty and staff helps keep this information secure.

However, you should never assume that email is completely private. Never write or send anything that you wouldn’t want read in public or possibly forwarded on to another person. You have no control over whether the recipients forward it on to others, what the server administrators do with it (legally or not), or if your account or the server is hacked.

In preparation for your future career, it is important to reflect on your personal email account now. Let's think about what an email address reflects to others. 

Consider the following email addresses: 

• ipartyeverynight631@outlook.com 
• ilovetequila745@gmail.com 

Now pause to reflect on the following questions: 

• What assumptions might be made about individuals sending emails from the email addresses above? 
• If you received an email from a student who used one of the email addresses above stating that they were not going to be in class, what might you assume? 
• What if you were an employer? Would you consider hiring someone who emailed you from one of the email addresses above? 

The Subject Line 

The subject line of your email is extremely important in that it essentially serves as the title of your email. When an instructor has to wade through perhaps a hundred emails a day coming from students, campus administration, other faculty members and even junk or spam mail, they need a way to quickly recognize emails that are essential. For this reason, some instructors may have specific instructions or policies about how they want you to format email subject lines. If so, that information will likely be included in the course syllabus. If they do not have specific requirements, then you should, at the very least, include your course information and a brief description of what the email is about. 

What to include in an email subject line: 

• Full course information:   
  • When you include the full course information, it lets the instructor know the name of the course (i.e. College Student Success or Intro. to Sociology) and what day/time the course meets.  
  • Example: ACA 111-05IN 
    • ACA = course prefix 
    • 111 = course number 
    • 05IN = section number
• What your email is about: 
  • Include a brief statement on what your email is about. 
  • If you are referencing an assignment, be specific about which assignment. 
  • If you are requesting a meeting, use the words “meeting request” in your subject line. 

Subject Line Examples: 

• ACA 111-14IN - Questions About Email Etiquette Assignment 
• ACA 111-07HY - Trouble Submitting Assignment #1 
• ACA 122-02TR - Meeting Request 
• ACA 111-05IN  - Assignment #1 File Format

Email Format 

Format your email like a letter and include an opening salutation, the main body or content, and a closing salutation or sign-off, in that order.  

Section 1: Opening Salutation 

• Use an appropriate opening or greeting word like Hello, Good Morning, or Good Afternoon.  
• Use the instructor's last name (spelled correctly) with their proper title: Good morning Ms. Smith, Hello Dr. Smith, Good afternoon Mr. Smith. 
• Example: Hello Mr. Smith,

Section 2: Body (Main Content) 

• Use proper punctuation, grammar, and spelling.  
  • Do not use text or chat speak. You are not texting a friend.  
  • Do not type in all caps. 
• State the main purpose of your email. 
  • Be factual and avoid irrelevant details and information.
  • In other words, stick to the point, and be as concise as possible.  
• Be aware of the language you use. 
  • Avoid using negative or confrontational wording. You are more likely to get a positive response if your message is positive and avoids confrontational or blaming language. 
  • Read your email out loud and listen to how it sounds spoken. How would you interpret the email you just read out loud? 
  • Are there certain words you use that may convey an unintended meaning? Is there a better way to write the message you are trying to convey? 
• Thank the instructor for their time at the end of your letter. 
• Proofread your message before you send your email. 
• Example: I am working on Assignment #1 and I have a question about submitting my work. What file format should my finished assignment be saved as? Did you want a PDF, a Word Document, or something else? Thank you for your time.

Section 3: Sign-off Salutation 

• Close with an appropriate farewell salutation. 
  • Examples: Regards, Best regards, Sincerely, Thank you, Thank you for your time, etc. 
• Use your first and last name as it appears on the class roster. 
• Include your PCC Student ID # and the full class information (course prefix, course number, and section number). 
• Example:  
  • Sincerely, 
    Billy R. Student 
    Student ID # 01234567 
    ACA 111-05IN 

Email Timeliness

The timestamp that automatically comes with each email means that punctuality matters and raises the question of what the expectations are for acceptable lag time between you receiving an email and returning an expected response. The courteous course of action is to reply as soon as possible. 

In general, while you are taking classes, you should:

• Check your campus email every day. You never know when an instructor will have to cancel class, make changes to an assignment, or alert you of other important information. 
   
• Allow at least 1-2 business days for a reply. Do not expect a reply on weekends, breaks, or holidays. Some instructors indicate their email response time on their syllabus. If you do not get a response within 1-2 business days (or the response time listed in the syllabus), politely ask for a status update of your email. You can do this by emailing the instructor again or by speaking to them after class.