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Student Email Etiquette

07.06.2021

 

Email Etiquette for Students

Once you have decided email is the correct medium over a phone call or face to face meeting, there are some things to take note of so that you come across professionally.

 

Last thing first - Add the email address last

You dont want to accidentally send a half written email, or an email that has not been proofed. This rule can also apply to replying to a message.

 

Subject Line - there for a reason

Teachers get alot of emails, so always ensure there is a short yet informative subject line.
Not entering one can cause the email to be missed, appear rushed or careless. Also, not entering a subject line increases the chances of the email being flagged and placed into the receiver's spam folder.

 

Addressing the person you are writing to

Always use a proper greeting
Dear Mrs Smith
Hi Mrs Smith
It sets a professional tone, and indicates respect.

If you are emailing a group of people for example "ithelpdesk@tenison.catholic.edu.au", you could just use "Hello" or "Hello IT Help Desk"....

 

Formatting and Grammar

Be clear, polite and succinct
Ensure it is written in clear complete, coherent sentences.
It contains no spelling errors.
It is not written in either all CAPS or all lowercase. All caps comes across as yelling, and all lower case looks like spam.
Stay away from non-standard fonts and colours, it is best to use black and the default font. However, it can be used when required, for example highlighting key words or phrases. Same goes for bold and italics.
Also avoid using SMS language [eg. u for you, r for are, etc]

 

Include a closing

As with opening the email with a greeting, you should also sign off with a set phrase such as "Thank you" or "Kind Regards". This will be followed by your name.
Use the same font, type, size, and colour as the rest of the email for this.

 

Confidentially

Your emails can accidentally be sent to an incorrect recipient or forwarded along to anyone. They can also be retrieved and read by an IT department or email service provider. So when sending an email please keep in mind they are not strictly private and confidential.

 

A note about your email address

For school purposes, you should use your school email address.
If using a personal email account, you should be careful when choosing or using that address.
You should choose an email address that conveys your name, so the recipient knows where it is coming from and looks professional. Stay away from using something like starwarsfan@example.com and use john.smith@example.com

 

Tenison Woods College respectfully acknowledges the Boandik people are the First Nations people of the Mount Gambier South Eastern region of South Australia and pay respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, past, present and emerging.