Want a Faster Email Response from Your Professor? Follow These Four Tips

Email makes taking classes so much easier these days. Among other things, you can reach out to your instructors about an assignment or grade with a few keystrokes.

However, email can make users careless. Students sometimes fire off messages without putting much thought into them, leaving instructors scratching their heads as to what the student is asking and how best to respond.

You can give your instructors all the information they need by following four easy steps:

1. Tell us which class you are in.

Believe it or not, you instructor probably doesn't teach just one class. Full-time professors may teach anywhere from four to seven classes, or more, at a time. Adjunct instructors may teach several classes at different institutions. So, even if the instructor recognizes your name, he or she may not associate it with a particular class.

You can tell the instructor precisely which class you are in by including the course section number in your email.

Most college courses have a course number and a course section number (CSN). For example, the course number may tell you the course name and level, such as "English 101" or "Business Administration 250." But there may be hundreds of individual courses, or sections, and your professor may be teaching several at the same time. 

At some institutions, a CSN may look something like this: EN101-001 or BA250-327N. At other institutions, the number may be a more generic series of numbers, such as 32466. 

Where do you find the CSN? Try looking in the course catalog or the list of courses you are currently taking. If you are taking an online course, the section number can usually be found on the course home page or menu. 

2. Send emails only from your college email account.

In the modern world, people have many different email accounts, and sometimes those accounts are linked for convenience. But if your instructor receives an email from your personal or work account, she has no way of knowing if the sender is you or someone else. She also has no way of knowing who else has access to your account: your spouse, your children, or your employer.

Your college account should not be shared with anyone. Your instructor must be able to respond with the confidence that you and only you are receiving the messages.

For this reason, many instructors will respond to emails only if they are sent from the student’s school account.

3. Be specific about what you are asking.

“Hey, prof, I don’t understand the assignment” tells us very little. “Hey, prof, I don’t understand the Week 6 assignment” tells us only a little more.

If you really want to blow your instructor’s mind, write something like, “The Week 6 assignment asks us to write in third person, but I don’t know what this means. Can you show me some examples?”

The more specific you can be, the more specific a response you will get. 

Otherwise, you may receive a ton of information you don’t need. Even worse, the instructor may ask for clarification, which means you have to send another email with more detailed information anyway.

And while you can ask as many questions as you want, it may be more meaningful to focus on one at a time. Make sure you understand the instructor’s response before going on to another concern. You can always send another email later.

4. Be polite.

This one should go without saying, yet I sometimes receive emails which make demands or even threats—usually over a low grade.

No one likes to receive a low grade. If you receive one, it's okay to be upset. But this is also an opportunity to practice your readiness for a professional career by keeping your emotions in check. Instead of writing, “I don’t agree with my grade. I’m going to file an appeal,” write something like, “I was stunned to see I had received a D. Did I miss something?”

If, after receiving the instructor’s response, you still feel you have been wronged and have evidence to support your claim, by all means you should file an appeal. But making threats comes across as childish and can shut down communication with the person who is most interested in helping you succeed: your instructor.

Always practice the Golden Rule—treat others as you want to be treated. Even better, practice what Dr. Tony Alessandra calls the Platinum Rule—treat others as they want to be treated.

If you follow these steps, your educational experience will be immensely improved by helping us help you.

The Thesis Statement: This One Sentence Can Make or Break Your Essay

Below is another of my posts on college writing. This post originally ran on the Grantham Blog in 2015.

Here’s a quick quiz.

Let’s say you are writing a paper for one of your college courses on whether or not colleges and universities should change their grading systems.

Which of the following would make the best thesis statement?

A. This essay will discuss whether or not colleges and universities should abolish grades. 

B. In my opinion, colleges and universities should do away with grades altogether. 

C. The traditional grading system of A-F does not adequately measure student achievement inside and outside of the classroom. 

D. Should colleges and universities change their grading systems?

Before you select an answer, let’s get a clear understanding of what a thesis statement is and what it is not.

Get to the Point

A thesis statement is the most important part of an essay. It is the central idea of the paper—the “thing” you most want to get across. In a persuasive essay, it is the idea you want your readers to accept.

In other words, it is the point of your paper distilled down to one sentence or two—at most.

A thesis statement must be specific. It does not leave room for readers to guess what you mean or for you to weasel out of a position by saying, “Well, it’s just my opinion.”

This can be a challenge because, in writing an essay,  you commit yourself to a position. A position in writing is like a position in baseball: you must be standing in the right place (or on the right base) to get home. If you are in the wrong place or too slow in getting to the next base, you will be “out.”

Unlike baseball, there are rarely winners and losers in writing. Writers try to express some universal truth that their readers can agree on. If you can get your readers to agree, we are all “winners.”

But in order to find that truth, you have to take a position.

Don’t Argue with Me (Well, Yes You Can)

A thesis statement must also be arguable, which means someone can, in fact, disagree with you. This, too, is a challenge because most people feel uncomfortable when others disagree with them. Who wants to be told we’re wrong?

However, a good writer prepares to take that risk. He/she does this by showing confidence in the position and welcomes the opportunity to address others who hold different views.

Don’t Just Lie There. Get Up and Move!

A thesis statement should propel the reader forward. It should make the reader curious about how the writer arrived at this conclusion.

These statements are active, not passive (“This paper will discuss …”). They engage the reader in dialogue, making the reader feel he or she has a stake in the issue.

Last, a thesis statement is never a question. It is by definition a statement. It ends in a period. Think of a thesis statement as the answer to a question.

Drumroll, please!

It should be obvious that the correct answer is C. It is the only answer that meets all of the above criteria: It is specific and arguable. It propels the reader forward, and it is not a question.

Does this mean that the thesis statement has all the answers? Absolutely not.

One can easily argue the opposite position—that grades provide students with easily identifiable goals and employers with a quick measure of an applicant’s academic record, for example.

Because this counterargument exists, the writer now has a clear job: to convince the reader(s) to take his/her side.

And the best part of a thesis statement? If you distill your entire paper down to one sentence, you now know where you're going and so does your reader.

The Blacklist: Topics to AVOID for your college paper

Last week, we talked about how to pick a topic for your college essay. This week, we talk about topics to AVOID. 

This article originally appeared on the Grantham Blog in 2014.

One of the challenges students face in college writing is topic selection.

Some instructors determine in advance what topics their students are allowed to write about; others give students a more or less free rein.

The good thing about such a course is that you may get to write about a topic that already interests you. The bad thing? You have to choose your topic wisely.

The Blacklist of Topics

Some instructors allow students to write about anything they wish; others discourage certain topics or ban them outright. Often called “the Blacklist,” these topics rarely result in good college essays. Although the Blacklist varies from professor to professor, it commonly includes the following topics:

• abortion
• stem cell research
• same-sex marriage
• legalization of marijuana or other drugs
• gun control/gun issues in general
• any sports-related topic
• death penalty

Topics like these should be avoided for three reasons:

1. "Not This Topic Again!"

Students often select these topics because they aren’t sure what else to write about and they can easily find information about the topics via a quick search of the Internet.

However, students with nothing new to say about abortion or the legalization of marijuana often lapse into summary, merely repeating what their sources have already said instead of making an original argument. Professors cringe when they get such papers. Some want to tear out what little hair they have left.

Other times, students are so dead set on their position that they make questionable claims. If you support the legalization of marijuana because you tried it and turned out just fine, you might want to consider whether or not it is advisable to admit to engaging in an activity that is still illegal in some states.

And it’s tough to make an original argument about divisive issues, which leads us to Reason No. 2:

2. "You're Wrong, and I'll Prove It!"

“Hot button” topics polarize readers who already have strong opinions about them. You can turn on the television and watch most any debate on gun control turn into a shouting match.

Some instructors also have strong opinions about certain issues. Your argument to the contrary is not likely to change their minds, which defeats the purpose of writing the argument. But aren’t professors supposed to be objective?  Yes and no. Professors are human beings, too. The last thing any writer wants to do is bore or antagonize the audience.

Besides, if you have strong feelings on a topic and aren't willing to change your mind, what makes you think your readers will change theirs?

3. Preaching to the Choir

Some topics matter only to readers who already have a strong interest in them.  For example, if you want to argue that so-and-so should be considered the greatest baseball player ever, your audience is already limited to fans of baseball.  

Even so, only fans of that particular player or those who believe someone else should be considered the greatest are likely to care.  (And, in the latter case, you are unlikely to convince them otherwise — see No. 2, above). For other readers, it simply won’t matter who the “greatest player” is.

So, if you can’t write about these topics, what should you write about?  

Begin with your own life and your community. What interests you enough that you want to know more about it? What problems do you see need that need to be addressed? Browse your college databases to get a sense of what topics are relevant to your field of study.

If you have any concerns about whether or not your topic is on the Blacklist, ask your instructor before you proceed. 

How to Choose a Winning College Essay Topic

Sorry it's been a while since this blog was active. There are some big changes afoot in Greg Gildersleeve Land, including a new Power Club website. Meanwhile, I'm returning to this blog and expanding the focus. Since all writing is connected (at least in my mind), and good writers should be able to do a variety of things, I'm including some non-superhero and non-how-to-be-a-writer topics. 

This first offering addresses something that vexes college students everywhere. It originally appeared on the Grantham Blog. Enjoy.

Writing a persuasive paper or a researched argument can be a daunting task for online students, particularly when you’re given the freedom to choose your own topic.  What topic should you pick when the sky is the limit?

So, you pick a hot subject of the day. You go online, find sources both for and against the topic, write your paper, make sure everything is cited properly, and sit back in anticipation of the A that is surely yours.

Then the paper comes back.

“I got a C!”  What’s up with that?

You did everything the instructor wanted, didn’t you?

Well, yes and no.                     

From someone who has graded hundreds of papers, here are three factors to consider when choosing an essay topic.

Hot Topics are Lukewarm

The problem with selecting a “hot” topic is that you must have something new to say about it.  When instructors ask for an argument, they are not looking for a summary of what other sources say or a rehash of others’ arguments.  They want you to bring something new to the academic conversation.

No “Safe” Topics

To write well, you must take risks.  Writing means exposing some aspect of your soul, your thinking, or your inner world to an audience who is going to react to it. 

For example: When I was in college... I was (and still am) a huge fan of Star Trek.  However, I grew up with the notion that a science fiction television and movie series was not worthy of “serious” discussion in school.  Then, during my freshman year, I took an upper-level course called Transformations of Myth through Time.

One of the required readings was Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  In this influential scholarly work, Campbell identifies the paradigm of the hero—a universal pattern that occurs in the heroic literature and mythologies of diverse cultures throughout history.  To me, this paradigm sounded eerily familiar: It reminded me of the back story of Star Trek’s iconic Vulcan character, Mr. Spock.  

So, I wrote a paper showing how Spock’s fictional history could easily be plugged into Campbell’s paradigm. Comparing and contrasting a popular modern character to ancient and universal themes increased my own understanding and appreciation of Star Trek.  It also held significant implications for readers.

Guess what?  I got an A.

When you write a college-level essay, you must look beyond your immediate audience (your professor) and consider who, in a larger context, should read your words.

“Safe” topics won’t take you there.  They ask nothing of the reader because they ask nothing of you, the writer.

Dare to Be Original

Select a topic in which you have a deep, personal interest.   Better yet: draw a topic from your own life—something that excites or annoys you.  A topic you care about is one you will invest the time and effort to research.  It is one you probably already know a great deal about.  It also has significant consequences for your audience, should they accept your viewpoint.

That isn’t to say your topic must be earth shaking.  In fact, the smaller, “quieter,” and off-the-wall topics sometimes work best.

Look for connections between your own life and interests and the material you are studying.  Write something original. Write something you would want to read.

Apprehensive about whether or not the topic will go over well with the professor?

Ask first.  Professors don’t bite. They love it when students save themselves (and the professor) time by troubleshooting a topic first.

Keep in mind that your professor has probably read hundreds or thousands of papers on those hot topics that have been covered to death.  Dare to be different.

Why Writing is Selfish—and Why That's a Good Thing

The Semi-Great One will be at ConQuest in Kansas City, MO, on Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24, with copies of The Power Club. Come on down and say hello!

Every time someone says they have never liked to write, I wish I could wave a magic wand and make them start liking it. 

But I can't.

What I can do is encourage each person to find something they like—anything at all—and build on that. 

As a writer, I've come to enjoy several aspects of writing, including: 

• the physical sensation of typing 
• being able to share my thoughts (without interruption!) 
• learning more about myself and my ideas through writing them down 
• watching a piece of my writing evolve through revision
• the payoff of publishing a book I've worked so hard to nurture and shape

If some of this sounds selfish, it is! There's no point in undertaking a serious effort such as a career, vocation, or learning a new skill unless you derive some personal benefit from it. 

But you can also expand on that personal benefit and reach out to help others (which is personally rewarding in and of itself). 

For some people, it works for them to see writing as a step in a process—you need to write in order to get a job, graduate from college, etc. This thinking has never worked for me. 

It takes too long to think of doing all that hard work for some distant goal that may or may not ever come to fruition. (You may die before you graduate, the economy may tank before you get that job, and so forth.) 

I'm selfish. I need instant gratification. Writing provides that instant gratification while, at the same time, serving as a step to larger goals. 

So I get to hit two targets with one arrow, but I focus only on the one target.

Find something you like, whatever it is, and embrace it. Build on it. 

Also, don't think you are restricted to writing in a particular way. Explore fiction, screenplays, poetry, and other genres until you find something that clicks. 

Most important: Don't expect perfection from yourself. Have fun and play around with your writing. Write a crappy first draft, just because you can. Write your entire essay in reverse, just for the heck of it. Make up your own language, just because.

If you find something you like about writing, you will probably find the other aspects you struggle with falling into place.

It won't happen over night, but you'll enjoy the ride! And that's what writing basically is: a journey toward self-discovery and connecting with others.

3 Steps for Moving Beyond the Rules of Writing and Saying Something New

By popular demand (okay—one person requested it; to me, that qualifies as popular demand), here are some more thoughts on when to break the rules of writing and when not to.

When people become too concerned with the rules of writing, they seem to be focusing on the wrong things. Sure, rules are important and writers must know them well enough to know why they exist, when to break them, and when not to.

If you don’t know the rules, writing can seem like bumbling through a landmine: a single comma splice or POV shift can blow your story apart.

But too much concern about the rules can distract you from the deeper purposes of writing and inhibit you from exploring what your story is really about.

The deeper purposes—the questions you should focus on—are these: What are you saying and why are you saying it? Who will be reading your story? What do you want them to get out of it?

Writing a story is fundamentally not much different from writing a college research paper: You still have to narrow your topic, expand on what others have written about that topic, and say something new about it.

A lot of writers fall into trouble by simply regurgitating what’s already been said. Their story (or paper) adds nothing new or says nothing different. It aims at merely recapturing the experience the readers had in another and probably better story (or paper).

But readers want new experiences.

Don’t you?

Here are three steps for moving beyond the rules and saying something new:

Step 1:  Get the Reader to React

How can you say something new when everything has been said before? A good example can be found in the textbook The Writer’s Way by Jack Rawlins and Stephen Metzger.  One of the student essays in the book is a brilliant piece, “Lucy, You Have Some ‘Splainin’ to Do” by Nicole Benbow.

Benbow does what I like to call connecting the dots. She takes seemingly unrelated sources such as the 1950s television show I Love Lucy, the country band the Dixie Chicks, and Dove's 1990s "Evolution" commercial, finds their common ground, and weaves them into a compelling essay with an original point.

Her point (or thesis):

Classic television sitcoms tend to depict the same story over and over again. Women belong inside cooking, cleaning, sewing, etc., while men are supposed to be out working and bringing in the money. (336)

Why pick on I Love Lucy, one of the most beloved television shows of all time, one that is often considered ground-breaking for featuring an unconventional female lead in an unconventional mixed marriage, and whose comedy continues to hold up decades later?  

Without disputing any of Lucy's achievements, Benbow examines the content of the show: “What is unfortunate . . . is that when [Lucy and Ethel] try to go out and get a decent job they fail miserably. Once again the show was subtly hinting that women did not belong in the work force” (340). Think about the famous chocolate factory episode.

Is Benbow right? 

It depends on your point of view.

Is her thesis arguable? 

Absolutely.

And that’s fundamentally what any research paper or story should do: Make an argument. State a case. Get the reader to think, feel, or react.

Step 2: Use Your Topic to Address the Reader's Present Concerns

If all Benbow did was challenge our perceptions of a beloved sitcom, she would have done her job. But she goes further by suggesting that modern TV shows aren't much different:  

On Desperate Housewives, Susan writes children’s books (note that her office is in the home). Lynette is a working mom, and there have been several episodes where she has taken the brunt from family, friends, and strangers for not taking enough care of her family and working too much. (337)

Such attitudes, Benbow argues, spill over into other expectations of women in the media. The scorn heaped by former fans upon the all-female Dixie Chicks serves as an example. After one of its members criticized President George W. Bush in 2003, the band became the target of hostile Internet postings. Benbow claims that such reactions show how our society still frowns upon women with strong opinions.

Instead our culture continues to favor images of women as homemakers and beautiful models, the latter idea challenged by the Dove commercial.

Step 3: Get Over the Notion that You Have to Say the Last Word

As I said, though, Benbow’s point is arguable. When I ask students to identify positive depictions of women in the media, they mention Oprah Winfrey, characters from the Law & Order franchise, and even Lara Croft, Tomb Raider as examples of strong, independent, and competent women.

None of these examples diminish Benbow’s argument. Rather, they highlight the fact that she doesn’t have to say the final word on the subject. All she has to do is get her audience thinking about how women are portrayed in the media. The reader can agree or disagree, but the reader must react in some way.

And that’s what you have to do as a writer of stories, as well.

Sounds easy enough, but it ain’t. In many ways it's easier to focus on rules instead. Errors are usually easy to spot and fix.

It’s much harder—and riskier—to think about how your readers will respond to your work. What if they don’t like it?  What if my point of view is wrong?

But writing soars when it takes those risks and gets the reader fully engaged in the work. Instead of walking through a minefield of rules, the author becomes like the Wright Brothers, boldly pioneering new and dangerous ideas . . . flying.

Work Cited

Benbow, Nicole. "Lucy, You Have Some 'Splainin' to Do." The Writer's Way by Jack Rawlins and Stephen Metzger. 7th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. 336-41.