Communication between professors and students is normal in the educational field. Students are advised to reach out to their professors if they have any academic challenges.
Emails are the preferred means of communication between faculty and students. To facilitate this, most educational institutions provide both faculty and students with professional email addresses.
Students looking to submit assignments and other relevant documents can send them through these emails. To make it easier to send emails to your professor, we’ve also created some templates, that can easily be modified for the purpose.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re sending an assignment on time or you missed the deadline, we’ve put together some great emails to make things easier.
Tips For Emailing Professors
There’s no need to worry about the content of your email to your professor. Simply follow some basic and professional curtsy to avoid any problems while increasing the chances of a positive response.
Use Proper Title
You should avoid using informal titles when addressing them. Keep in mind you’re addressing their station and using their official email address.
No one wants their school to think they’re over-friendly with one of their students. School administrators have access to these emails so you should address the professor properly.
Additionally, professors put in a lot of effort to achieve their titles. So, you should address them as such.
If they aren’t yet professors, address them as Dr. if that’s what they are. Addressing a professor as Dr. could end up causing problems.
Students may not consider it a big deal but professors appreciate it when students use the title, they worked their hardest to earn.
Examples:
Dear Professor {{Last name}}
Dear Dr. {{Last name}}
Use School Email
In this age of information, colleges worldwide provide their students with emails they can use to communicate with their peers and faculty. Any communication between faculty and students is expected to pass through these emails.
Students are usually forbidden from contacting professors through their personal email addresses. Not only does this help you the student but it also helps the professor.
The school would be able to moderate any conversation between staff and students and the emails can easily be retrieved in the event of any investigation.
Contacting a professor through their personal emails is a good way to get them into trouble or receive no response from the professor.
They expect work-related emails through their official email addresses. Contacting them through their personal email addresses could end up annoying them.
Formal Tone
It doesn’t matter how close you may be to the professor. You should always use a formal tone in your emails. Refrain from using emojis and other slang that are considered informal.
Keep in mind that the professor is not one of your peers. Using formal language is a sign of respect for the professor and their station.
You’re writing to the professor at their formal station. Ensure that you use a formal tone when communicating with them. Additionally, any sign of over-friendliness between students and professors could lead to questions.
Correct Grammar
No one likes reading bad vocabulary and this includes professors. They expect students at that level of education to have good writing skills, especially when writing simple emails.
To avoid common grammar errors, students can use tools like Grammarly to identify and rectify such mistakes. These tools are completely free and integrate well into your favorite email client.
That said, it’s worth noting that these tools aren’t perfect. So, it’s advisable to go through your writing even after Grammarly corrections have been made to avoid any mistakes.
Be Polite
It doesn’t matter how entitled you may be feeling, you should always be polite in your emails, especially to people in authority. Even if you dislike the professor, you shouldn’t show it in your email.
Try your best to be polite in your email, unless you’re looking for a negative or no response. The professor would most likely skip over your email if your tone isn’t polite.
Identify Yourself
Don’t give the professor unnecessary work to do. They have busy schedules and the last thing they want to do is spend the next few hours looking through their student list to identify who you are or which class you may be in.
Introduce yourself, your class, and section (if applicable) in your email or add it to the email signature.
Clear And Brief
Don’t write them an entire essay, it isn’t an assignment. Keep your message as short as you possibly can, while maintaining all necessary formality.
Professors receive emails from different sources daily and wouldn’t have the time to read through your long email. So, it’s advisable to keep your email short and to the point while maintaining a polite tone.
Explain Your Situation
Explain what you need from them as politely as you can. Don’t just demand something from them as if you’re entitled to it. They would simply ignore your email and focus on more pressing matters.
If you’ve already discussed what you need from them earlier, you can politely remind them in a single sentence. You don’t need to remind them of the time you met and everything that occurred.
Don’t Forget Attachment
If you’re submitting an assignment, you should ensure that it’s properly attached. Those things can be quite tricky sometimes.
Can’t remember the number of times I sent an email informing someone of an attachment only to receive a response that I didn’t attach the documents.
Ensure that the assignment is properly attached before you click send on your email. That said, most professors would excuse the mistake so long as the deadline for submission isn’t up.
Wait Patiently
Don’t send a hundred reminder emails. You can send a reminder after 24 hours, if your email requires them to respond. Otherwise, you should simply wait or you can visit their office within.
Remember that the professor might not view something as urgent in the same way that you do. They can be working on more serious problems than you are.
Therefore, if your request is urgent and you haven’t heard from them, you can go to their office. Sending them a ton of email reminders won’t advance your cause.
It’s okay to send reminders, but you should be mindful about when, how often, and how you do it.
Depending on how urgent your request is, you can send them a reminder if you don’t hear back from them within a day or two.
Act Early
Don’t wait till the last minute to send your assignment or contact your professor. While it’s advisable to submit your assignments before the deadline, you should still send them even when the deadline is passed.
Don’t wait around wondering whether they’ll accept it or not. Simply forward the document and also include an apology for the late delivery and the reasons in as few sentences as you possibly can.
It doesn’t matter how genuine your reason may be, professors won’t have time to read long excuses. So, try and simplify it for them as much as possible and they may accept your excuse with a warning or a few lost points.
Clear Subject Line
If you want a response, don’t forget to include a subject in your email. Every day, professors get a ton of emails from colleagues, students, and other academic and non-academic sources.
If your email doesn’t have a subject line, it will just be ignored. The subject line can be something like this:
Example:
Assignment Submission – {{Course Title}}
End Formally
Thank them for reading your email before ending it. If you didn’t provide them in the first paragraph, you can add your complete name, class, and section numbers when you sign off.
Example:
Thank you
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section}}
How To Find Your Professor’s Email
If this is the first time you’re emailing this professor and you don’t have their email address, you can find it by following any of these approaches.
School Website
You can locate your professor’s official email address on your school’s website. Most colleges feature faculty pages where you may learn more about specific professors, including their contact information.
You can also look at the course overview page on your learning management system for the professor’s contact details.
Course Syllabus
The course syllabus is another area where you can find the professor’s professional email address. The course syllabus often includes their contact information as well as attendance policies.
Other Students
Most likely, you weren’t the only student who occasionally had to email the professor. You can get the professor’s email by asking your friends. You’ll probably get some advice on how to look for the email if none of them have it.
Sample Email For Sending Assignment to Professor
Template 1: Assignment Submission
Email Subject
Assignment Submission – {{Full name}}
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to submit my assignment for {{Assignment/Class name}}. Please let me know if there are any issues with the submission or if you require any further information.
Thank you for your time and support.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}
Template 2: Assignment Submission
Email Subject
{{Assignment/Class name}} – Assignment Submission
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I am writing to submit my assignment for {{Assignment/Class name}}. Attached is the completed assignment in PDF format. Please let me know if there are any issues with the submission or if you require any further information from me.
Thank you for your time and support.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}
Template 3: Late Assignment Submission
Email Subject
Late Assignment Submission – {{Your name}}
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I hope this finds you well. I wanted to apologize for the delay in submitting my {{Assignment/Class name}} assignment. Due to {{Reason for the delay}}, I was unable to submit it on time.
I’ve attached the completed assignment for your consideration. Please let me know if there are any issues with the submission or if you require any further information from me.
I am sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}
Template 4: Requesting Feedback On Assignment
Email Subject
{{Assignment/Class name}} – Assignment Submission and Feedback Request
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to submit my {{Assignment name}} which is attached to this mail. I would greatly appreciate it if you could provide me with some feedback on my delivery to help me improve.
Please let me know if there are any issues with the submission or if you require any further information from me. Thank you for your time and support.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}
Template 5: Delivering First Part Of Assignment (Multiple Part Assignment)
Email Subject
{{Assignment/Class name}} Assignment Submission – Part {{Number}}
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I hope this email finds you well. This email is to submit the {{First/Second}} part of my {{Assignment name}} assignment as you requested.
Please let me know if there are any issues with the submission or if you require any additional information from me. I will be sending the {{Second/Last}} part of the assignment as soon as it’s ready.
Thank you for your time and support.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}