How should you email a professor professionally?
Professor Smith - I am a student in your XX class, and was wondering… blah, blah.
Thank you,
Rachel Jones
as @intparent said:
Formal salutation: Professor X
State what class/section you are in.
State the question issue.
No text speak.
Use proper grammar
Make requests, not demands.
Sign off
Professor Smith -
I am a student in your MWF 10:00am Calculus 1 class, and I had a questions about …
Is it possible that you can…
Thank you,
Rachel Jones
Whether you need to list your class section depends on the customs of your university and the size of the class.
Class size of say, 50 or more, definitely list the class section.
At my university, most classes are 15-25 students and its very rare for a class to be larger than 32 students. Therefore, professors usually know all their students, so it’s not necessary.
However, for their ease (especially with organizing emails) I usually include the course name/number (or shortened form) in the subject line.
Using the subject line appropriately is very important!
An example of an email I might send is:
Subject: descriptive subject such as “absent from CSXXX class tomorrow”
Hello Professor/Dr./Mr. xxxx,
I will be out of town tomorrow due to a family emergency, so I will be absent from CSXXX.
I will be sure to get notes from another student in the class and keep up with any assignments.
Best,
(my real name)