The following is a set of protocols that I would like us to follow in communicating with one another via e-mail. Some are designed to make my life easier (when you get as many e-mails per day as I do, the process of sorting and prioritizing can be complicated). When my life is easier, you will get quicker responses and more helpful feedback from me. Others are designed to call attention to some of the expectations concerning communication that you will meet with regularly in the university setting. Many of the people you will be taking courses from are products of a time before e-mail, text messages, online chatting, etc. It is important (both for the sake of politeness and respect, and for the sake of avoiding the impression that you don’t care what others think of you) to be aware of the preferences of the person to whom you are sending a message. If you don’t happen to know them, my advice would be to err on the side of politeness and formality, and allow that person to indicate to you whether or not a more casual approach would be alright.
- When you send me a message via email (to mark fisher@psu.edu), the subject line should begin in the following way: Phil003
- If you simply have a general question of some kind, follow that with the word ‘Question’ and your last name (e.g., if I were sending me a question the subject would be Phil003 Question Fisher).
- If you are attaching an assignment, follow it with the name of the assignment and your last name (e.g., if I were attaching my first journal entry, the subject would be: Phil 003 Journal1 Fisher).
- If you are contacting me to notify me of something, follow it with the word ‘Notice’ and your last name (e.g., Phil 003 Notice Fisher)
- Whenever you initiate communication, your message should begin with a polite address (Dr. Fisher, Hi Dr. Fisher, Hey Dr. Fisher) and it should end with a signature of some sort (other than the mere indication of the device from which the message was sent). You can also expect that my reply will have a polite address. From there, the standards loosen a little bit, just like they do in normal (polite) conversation–if you are replying to a reply, the conversation is already underway, so the address may not be necessary.
- If you are attaching something to the email that you would like me to notice, please call attention to that fact in the body of the message (e.g., ‘I am attaching journal entry 1 to this message’, ‘Please find attached my first journal entry’, etc.)
- Please do not include personal details in your email message. If you need to notify me of something personal, politely signal that fact in an email requesting to set up a time to talk about things face-to-face.