Email communication

As email usage becomes increasingly prevalent in academia, skills for its appropriate use and management ought to be acquired as part of your graduate student experience.

If you are working as a teaching/laboratory assistant or teaching an undergraduate course you may receive a high volume of emails from students, especially during peak times like exams and term work deadlines. However, you will likely only have a limited amount of time to dedicate to the task of reading and responding to messages. Regardless of how much or how little time you have allotted to manage your email, you do need to follow some basic rules of discourse. Being busy does not negate the need to be civil when corresponding with others through email. 

Before you login to retrieve another email here are some tips that you may want to consider.

• To avoid constant and disruptive checks for new messages, it may be helpful to develop an email management schedule. Then, let your students and other relevant people know what your schedule is so they can expect responses from you accordingly. This allows you greater control and sets limits on how much time you spend on emails each day. For example: check emails one hour before any class you teach and then only two other times a day according to your stated schedule. 
• Decide if an email is really the right medium. Sometimes a quick phone call is appreciated or if the message contains very sensitive or confidential information perhaps speaking directly with the person or a formal letter is a better means of communication.
• Confirm that you are sending your message to the right person and to the right email address.
• Consider what level of formality is required. Address the intended recipient accordingly.
• Take a moment to ensure that your message conveys an appropriate tone and contains suitable language for your reader. Refer to the University of Manitoba's Language Usage Guidelines for more information.
• According to email conventions, the use of all capital letters is the equivalent to shouting at the message recipient.
• Be mindful of who you include as a recipient of the email. Ask yourself, “Does this email really need to be copied or forwarded to someone else?” and “Am I in accordance with The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA)?” especially when dealing with third party information.
• Bear in mind that what is funny to one person may not be to another person before using humour or passing on a joke. Refer to  Use of Computer Facilities and Respectful Work and Learning Environment for more information.
• Proof read your email for spelling and grammatical mistakes that may obscure your message.
• Use appropriate subject-line references to cue your reader to the email’s purpose.
• If you want to “confirm receipt”, send the message tagged by using the appropriate function if your email supports it.  However, also state in the body of the message that you are asking for the recipient to confirm receipt of the email even if they do not have the time to formally respond to the content. 
• Be timely in sending a response but also very cautious about constructing or replying to messages when you are upset or otherwise distracted.

Remember that sending an email translates into a hard-copy document that you can’t get back once the recipient receives and opens it.  Therefore, after you’ve performed a spell check, perform a “civility” check. Then, hit ‘Send’.