How to e-mail your professor to ask for things, if that’s something that makes you anxious.
Midterms are approaching, and one thing that I’ve 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 can’t help them if they don’t ask for it, and they can’t get what they need if they’re too anxious to ask for help! So, I’ve written up a bit of a guide with some advice.
Generally, the types of e-mails students are anxious about are requests for things like extensions or excused absences. I’ve been a TA/head lecturer for six years now and have gotten literally thousands of student e-mails. The fact is, your professor isn’t going to dissect your e-mail for every little tonal shift. Don’t worry about it! I give you official permission to not over-analyze the e-mails you’re 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 there’s extenuating circumstances or the request is unusual. The format I suggest to my students and that I often use when I’m contacting someone for the first time professionally goes like this:
Greeting
Introduction, if it’s a big class or you don’t know the professor well.
Description of problem/Question.
Steps you’ve taken so far to correct your problem.
Where you’re at now.
Query about further steps.
Thanks, Your name (first and last)
This is just a skeleton- you don’t necessarily need every single part. But it is good to let your professor know what you’ve done to fix the problem on your own- whether that’s getting notes from a friend, taking things to the writing center, etc. Not all problems have an obvious solution, but if you’ve done something, letting them know shows your instructor that you’re taking ownership of the situation.
A formal e-mail like this also helps you judge their response to your situation. If you’re overwhelmed and having emotional distress, that’s not something that every professor is sympathetic about, unfortunately. If you don’t 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 teacher’s absence policies. Many universities and/or departments require documentation, and if you can provide this ahead of time, it’ll be easier for you.
- 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 who’s handling the direct permissions for excused absences or extensions. If you’ve gotten to know your TA a bit, they can advocate for you for things like permission to take a test earlier or later.
- If you need to make arrangements for alternative test dates, always go earlier if you possibly can.
- Don’t make up fake excuses or exaggerate; honesty is important, and professors have seen some very creative lies. By now, we’re 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 “evidence.” The picture was the fourth result on google for “car with broken headlight.” 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 shouldn’t lie about why you’re missing class.
- 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 students’ 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 that’s 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!
- 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.
- Boomerang is a free* tool for Gmail that can:
o Schedule your e-mails, so if you’re writing an e-mail at 3 AM and you feel weird about your instructor seeing you’re 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 you’re 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. I’ve 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. There’s also an app for iOS and Android. I wrote this e-mail using the template that I’ve provided at the end of this post; it’s 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 don’t 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.
This is a screenshot of how the respondablity is graded. There’s 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. It’s not always right! Some e-mails need to be wordier or more complicated than others! But it’s 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 heart’s content. Don’t be afraid to talk to your professors- even if they are brusque or don’t 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 you’ll feel. So don’t be afraid! Reach out to your instructors whenever you need something!
My name is [Name] and I’m 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 you’ve 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 isn’t the ONLY way to word an e-mail, of course, and if you’re comfortable with your style, don’t change things up! But if you’re feeling lost or unsure or just want a guide, I really hope this post helped!
