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 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.

How to Use the Comma: Rule No. 1—Using Commas with Clauses

It's a new year, so I'm inaugurating a new round of blog posting. I'll start by posting some of the helpful writing tips I wrote for the now defunct Suite 101 site a few years ago. First up: the handy but not-so-dandy comma.

The comma: the most used piece of punctuation in the English language but also the most misunderstood.  

Students of writing are often told by well-meaning teachers to put a comma in a sentence wherever they would pause while speaking the sentence. However, this is not very useful advice. Pausing may depend on the individual writer’s preference, and it may also vary from oral communication to written speech.  For example, in the sentence

 Learning to use commas the proper way can only enhance a student’s skills in writing and reading.

some speakers may pause after the word “way.”  Others may pause after “writing.”  Either way is fine; however, no commas are needed in the sentence.

Learning a few simple rules can help students and even more experienced writers communicate more effectively and avoid embarrassing mistakes. We'll start off with the admittedly arbitrary Rule No. 1: Using commas with clauses.

Independent Clauses

A clause is an arrangement of words that conveys an idea. For example, “to go to the store” conveys an idea, although it is not complete. An independent clause contains a complete thought than can be expressed as a sentence: “John went to the store.”

A sentence, by the way, needs two elements: a subject and a verb.  The shortest verse in the Bible—“Jesus wept.”—has both elements and so it is a complete sentence.

On the other hand, a dependent clause needs something to complete it. If we stick the word “After” in front of “John went to the store,” we need another clause—an independent one—to complete the thought:

                        After John went to the store, he made dinner.

Joining Independent Clauses

                                                         

Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction to join two independent clauses:

                        John went to the store, and he bought milk.

A coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so--FANBOYS, mnemonically) is a short word that clarifies the relationship between elements of a sentence. It helps writers avoid a common error known as a comma splice:

                        John went the the store, he bought milk.

If two clauses can stand alone, they should not be joined together with only a comma. This is just one of those English-language rules that writers have come to accept as true. If you violate this rule--even intentionally--you will look as if you don't know the difference. (And, let's be honest: Don't you feel like your ready to stop the sentence after "store"?)

Notice that you could also put a period or a semicolon in place of the comma, and either would work just fine.

When to Leave Out the Comma

Suppose we want to shorten the sentence:

                        John went to the store and bought milk.

Notice that the comma is removed because the phrase “bought milk” cannot stand on its own.

Test Yourself

Are commas needed in the following sentences?  (Answers appear at the end of the article.)

         a. John went to the store and Mary made dinner.

         b. Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president and was assassinated.

         c. George Washington was the first president but he never lived in the White House.

         d.  John Adams came in second in the election so he became the first vice president.

         e.  Adams later became president but served only one term.

Commas help clarify relationships between the elements of a sentence and sometimes (but not always) provide a necessary pause. Knowing when to use a comma—to separate independent clauses, for example—can save you time and embarrassment.  (Answer: commas are needed in sentences a, c, and d.)

What do Writing Teachers Write?

This is a truncated post because I've been busy preparing something for JCCC Faculty Day of Writing, a special site set up "to celebrate writing in all its forms" as part of the National Day on Writing. Other professors from Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS, will be submitting their writing throughout the day.

My contribution is the first chapter of THE POWER CLUB™,  newly edited from the posting back in July.  Even if you've read it before, check it out the new version: It's only getting better!

So what do writing teachers write?  Check out JCCC Faculty Day of Writing to find out. 

 

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