Timeline for Professors/Teachers only replying to part of my email
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
21 events
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| Jul 7, 2021 at 14:13 | history | edited | henning no longer feeds AI | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 23, 2018 at 9:44 | vote | accept | Diamundo | ||
| Jan 15, 2018 at 1:13 | comment | added | Andrea Lazzarotto | Short is important, granted, but that email example sounds pretty impolite (at least, it would in my country). No "please", no "thank you for your time", just a salutation and questions... It gives me the impression that your professor is your dog, or that he/she is there just to provide answers like an oracle. Obviously I don't think the sender would like to give that impression. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 14:21 | comment | added | henning no longer feeds AI | @chux true, but for me it sounds a bit to curt to be still polite. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 13:28 | comment | added | chux | "I was also wondering if you could recommend a textbook on BarBaz." is answerable with a Yes/No. "Please recommend a textbook on BarBaz." is more direct. "I was also wondering ..." adds little. | |
| Jan 12, 2018 at 22:12 | comment | added | David Richerby | @MikeA. phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1047 continues to be relevant. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 21:19 | comment | added | DonQuiKong | @1006a the only thing that has worked for me was nailing it down to the most important question and figuring out / guessing the rest. Oh. And calling. Calling people works. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 20:27 | comment | added | 1006a | I think the numbering is actually the most important part of this technique. Not only does it give the recipient a literal follow-the-numbers template for their reply, but it forces the sender to carefully parse their questions. It can also help to specifically call out the number of questions in your email, i.e. from an actual email I received: "I'm so sorry, but I forgot to ask three questions in my previous email." followed by an enumerated list. This technique works for other kinds of communication, too. But NB some folks will only ever answer 1 question at a time, no matter how you ask. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 20:19 | comment | added | user78960 | @DonQuiKong When I have that happen, I resend the EXACT same email, but with the unanswered questions bold and in Red. I've had to send the same email three times before, but I then don't have that problem with those people anymore. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 17:45 | comment | added | DonQuiKong | I've tried numbering points for people who notoriously respond to only 0 or 1 question. Didn't work. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 15:35 | comment | added | syntonicC | +1 for numbering questions directly. As a TA, I hated having to parse through paragraphs where the actual question was interspersed through the paragraph between filler sentences, apologies for stupidity, qualifications/justifications for the question etc. With a number system it automatically puts my brain in check list mode and I am cued into responding directly to each question in my reply email. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 15:21 | history | edited | henning no longer feeds AI | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 11, 2018 at 15:20 | comment | added | henning no longer feeds AI | @TRiG That's a good idea, and I actually meant to number them. (Edited now.) | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 15:17 | comment | added | TRiG | In my (non-academic) experience, it helps to use numbered questions. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 15:07 | comment | added | Mike A. | And when email particularly egregious non-answerers, keep it to a single question and potentially bold the important parts. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 15:06 | comment | added | Mike A. | Short is important. I've seen (and been guilty of in the past) emails that are full of polite, wordy fluff, which ends up just being tedious stuff to wade through to find the actual content. I've find you get much better responses with a format described in this answer. | |
| Jan 11, 2018 at 14:52 | history | edited | henning no longer feeds AI | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 11, 2018 at 14:38 | history | edited | henning no longer feeds AI | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 11, 2018 at 14:32 | history | edited | henning no longer feeds AI | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 11, 2018 at 13:56 | history | edited | henning no longer feeds AI | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 11, 2018 at 13:44 | history | answered | henning no longer feeds AI | CC BY-SA 3.0 |