L8er G8er
- November 18, 2010
If you can understand this sentence with no hitches, this article pertains to you.
According to the article "College Profs not LOL about Student's Texting Lingo" in the Chicago Tribune, professors are not only telling their students to leave the lingo out of their academic papers, but may additionally advise students to stray from that type of language in less formal writing, such as e-mails. Faculty members are not impressed when they read the language of acronyms and abbreviations, and find the language dampers a student's professionalism.
One such professor, Alejo Enriquez, at California State University, East Bay, clears the air and does not tolerate any text lingo. His syllabus reads, "Despite the fact that I happen to be perfectly capable of reading any incoherent drivel you may send to my (e-mail) inbox directly from your phone keypad, ‘wut up ya I cnt make it 2 class lol' is insanely unprofessional." Of all the ways to invalidate or tarnish your credibility as a student, word of advice: do NOT let inadequate writing in an e-mail be one of them.
While the youth of the nation call this lingo IMing or texting, the other generations call it IM-glish and E-illiteracy. In an effort to help you distinguish yourself from the students who begin an e-mail, "Yo, teach!", here are some "e-mail netiquette" tips for successful communication with your professors.
Starting from scratch; first, utilize an official e-mail account. Your Gmail, Hotmail and Facebook accounts and e-mails from these unofficial addresses could be deleted, spammed or ignored. Most likely, they will not be read.
Next, establish who you are! Include your first AND last name. Many professors have several classes, so it would be ideal to also include the class title and section number. Instructors have incredible e-mail traffic as they are committee members, may conduct their own research and teach multiple classes. In other words, be frank with your message so the professor may quickly understand what it is in reference to.
In the greeting and acknowledgment, maintain a sense of respect. Before you even begin type out an e-mail, review your syllabus to correctly address the professor and determine their prefix. If you are unsure about what prefix to use, use "Professor." In the midst of your stare-down with the class syllabus, double-check to see if your question is answered to save yourself and the professor some time. Remember, no matter how fly or laid-back your instructor may seem, never begin your message with "Hey, teach!"
The message itself should be organized and specific. Leave out the scenarios, situations or elongated stories if possible. If you find your message evolves into a series of paragraphs and you are producing a small novel out of pure improvisation, perhaps setting up an appointment with the professor or visiting during office hours may serve you well. When submitting assignments through e-mail, again, take pains to organize the material; use breaks and spaces when necessary and format the e-mail to ease the angst of reading.
Finally, end the message with appreciation. And one more piece of advice: do not use any instant messaging lingo or texting abbreviations. LOL. (Pretty abrupt, eh?) Some professors may take one look at the jumble of letters and think you zonked out at the end of the e-mail and found the keyboard made a comfortable pillow for your head.
Instead, a simple "thank you" will be satisfactory. Signing off with your full name (skip your middle name), as well as the course name and schedule again, will set the professor leagues ahead of other professors receiving a message such as this:
hey, Jamison!
wat up? i was hopin u could tell me y i did so bad on that test……? also, sry i cnt make it 2 class fri.
L8er G8er,
Mary
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