I have noticed that far too many of you seem not to have learned how to write a professional email. Below are a few minimal guidelines that I ask you to follow when emailing me, and you would be well advised to follow them when emailing any of your other professors as well.

Your relationship with me is a professional one, so you should adjust the tone of your emails accordingly. Although you may write to your friends in lower case sentence fragments, this is not appropriate in emails to your professors.

At the very least, you should do the following in your emails to me and your other professors:

• Use correct grammar and spelling. This includes the usage of capital letters at the beginning of sentences.
• Address your email as you would with a letter (e.g. "Dear so-and-so,"). You may address me as Professor Vavrichek or as Diane.
• Sign your email with your name, either manually or with an automatic signature. Not only is this common courtesy, but it is also helpful, as I may not know who you are from your email address.

Happy emailing.

Sincerely,
Diane