Writing academic/ scientific e-mails


I.                   Discussion:

  * Do you write emails in English?
  * On what occasions?
  * How often?
  * Who’s the recipient?
  * What kind of language/ register do you usually use in your English emails?


II.                Look at the three emails. How are they different? What are the reasons why they
were written?


From: 234567@mail.muni.cz

Subject: tomorrow


Hi teacher!

I cannot come to school tomorrow, ‘cause I’m real sick. I’ll do my presentation on Mammals next
week.

See ya,

Tom Smiley




From: offthewall@email.com

Subject: Steven Bold, 3^rd year student of Media and Communication, Monday seminar group, 9 a.m.


Good afternoon Mrs Crow,

I am very unhappy about the fact that I received F for my English exam. As a matter of fact, you
are the only one who gave me such a bad mark, and now my distinction is in danger. When can I write
the re-take? There are no more terms available, but I have to have it this semester, as I am very
busy in summer.

Best regards,


Steven


Steven Bold

PR Assistant

Offthewall International




From: 54321@mail.muni.cz

Subject: Hello


Dear Mrs teacher,


I was not at school last Wednesday. Can you tell me what you did? And do I have to do any homework?

Robert Dark

III.             Are those emails appropriate? Give arguments for/against


IV.              Dos and Don’ts of academic/scientific email writing

Look at the phrases and categorize them into the things you should remember about and those you’d
rather avoid doing


·        Use a title which is not an academic one

·        Have no reference to the attachment ( the recipient will see it anyway)

·        Use your university email account for academic and professional correspondence

·        Leave out personal details

·        Start emails with “I want…” or “I need…”

·        Write a clear subject line

·        Write a greeting appropriate to the addressee

·        Omit greeting (the recipient knows that it’s him/her that the message is being addressed
to)

·        Have exclamation marks for something that is considered very important

·        Include your full name and contact information (if there is a need)

·        Write a detailed description of events preceding the situation discussed

·        Emphasize the conversational aspect

·        Keep messages as concise as possible


DOs

                                                 DON’Ts
















V.                 Discuss what features those email parts should contain:

https://www.softchalkcloud.com/lesson/serve/MXv2iJS1bBtQCR/html


·        Title of the email

·        Salutation

·        The beginning

·        The main body

·        The ending

·        Closing the email and signing



VI.              Read the text giving tips on how to write an effective email (you will be given a
copy in the lesson), and complete the text with right adjectives



VII.           Put the strips of paper given to you by your teacher in two emails: a formal and a
semi-formal one




VIII.        Formal vs informal vocabulary:

How would you change these words/expressions into more formal ones?


INFORMAL

                                                              FORMAL

Thanks




Sorry for…




Can you…




Do you know…




I can’t…




I don’t want to…







IX.              Choose one of the following email messages sent from students to Prof. Janet
Maceda; think about the ways to convey the same information in a more appropriate way







Sources: ( visited on February 10th, 2015)


http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nmswishe/academic_email.pdf

https://www.softchalkcloud.com/

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/email-writing

elt.oup.com