ENGWR/RD 56
Corbin & Pries
Essay 1: The Professional Email
Background
Email has quickly become the fastest, easiest way to communicate with
others in writing. While its popularity has grown, so have its pitfalls. Its
informal, chatty nature is one of the many reasons so many choose email
over writing letters. However, this informality has also shown up in emails
which should be much more professional, such as those from students to teachers and from employees
to bosses. Whether you have never sent an email before or you send an email every hour, email is here
to stay. The challenge is to know when you can be informal and when you must be professional, and if
the situation requires it, you need to know how to create a professional email.
Task
Using an appropriate subject line, send your classmates and us a 250- to 400-word professional email
introducing yourself as a student. You will send this email to everyone in our class through the
Desire2Learn (D2L) course management software. We’d like all your emails (to us) to be professional
(at least early in the semester until we get familiar with each other). If you don’t sign your emails we
have no idea who babygirl@aol.com is, so please clearly identify yourself with a first and last name
(especially at the beginning of the semester).
Even though this email is your chance to introduce yourself to the rest of the class, you need to be
cautious about the information you include. If you met someone at a party, you might share the kinds
of music you like or what you do on a typical weekend. However, in this email you are introducing
yourself as a student to the rest of the class. Therefore, you should consider topics more appropriate to
an educational setting, such as
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How many years or semesters have you attended college, and specifically ARC?
What is your major? If undecided, what kinds of topics interest you? What interests you
about your major or these other topics?
What are your educational goals?
What are your greatest strengths and challenges as a student?
What is one thing that has surprised you about college so far?
What other classes are you taking this semester, if any?
What are your career goals?
What interests you about this career?
Goals
9 Subject line that clearly identifies content.
9 Appropriate greeting that clearly indicates recipients.
9 Clear organization plan: email is organized in chunks that make sense, i.e. subject line, greeting,
body, closing, signature, etc.
9 Paragraphs are cohesive and organized around one clear topic or point.
9 At least 250 words to a maximum of 400 words (not including greeting or signature).
9 Signature block that clearly identifies the sender.
9 Appropriate tone and word choice.
9 Structurally-sound sentences.
9 Careful proofreading.
--continued on back--
Due Dates
Idea draft:
Thursday, September 9
Rough draft: Tuesday, September 14 [Bring three (3) typed, double-spaced
copies to class.]
Final draft:
Thursday, September 16. Submitted in two ways:
1.
Bring two (2) final drafts with all essay formatting (see Sample
Essay Format handout) that you created in your word processing
program. Make sure this document
ƒ has your “To,” “From,” “Date,” and “Subject” lines
ƒ follows the sample essay format guidelines passed out in class (for example:
double-spaced, paragraphs indented, Times or Times New Roman font in 12
point, etc.)
2.
Send email to classmates and instructors by 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 16:
ƒ log on to D2L
ƒ click on our class
ƒ click “Classlist”
ƒ click on “Email everyone in this tab” to compose a new message
ƒ add an appropriate subject line
ƒ copy the message portion of your word processing document and paste it into
the message box.