Email Etiquette

When emailing University staff (academic and administrative)

Opening salutation e.g. “Dear Professor Smith; Dear Dr; Dear Mr; Dear Mrs or Dear

Ms ”, as appropriate. Do not just launch in to your message, or start off with “yo!”; “Hi”; “Hey”; “Hello”

If you do not know the appropriate salutation for the relevant member of staff then see www.law.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofLaw/Staff

Introduction (if necessary) “I am a second year law student taking the law of torts module…”

Email Etiquette

Formality and courtesy: Use correct punctuation, grammar, etc. Use “please”, “thank you”, as appropriate.

Closing remark e.g. “Thank you”; Kind Regards”; “Best wishes”, or

“Yours sincerely”, etc.

Signature: give your full name and id number for verification

Email: the menace of immediacy

Before you click send, think “Do I need to email this person about this issue now?”

Would it not be better to seek to meet the appropriate lecturer during their office hours or to call into the law office and discuss with the relevant administrator?

Email: the menace of immediacy

Avoid the temptation always to reply immediately to an email, especially if it has annoyed you in any way.

After you click send, do not expect an immediate “24/7” response.

Mails not from QUB-address, likely to be filtered

Respect

Honest and constructive use of email to express your views on your educational and university experience is welcome; written or verbal abuse of staff is clearly not

Respect is mutual; you can expect in your correspondence with staff that you will be treated respectfully, equally and with due professionalism

Confidentiality

You can expect that the School of Law and the University will safeguard all personal information you provide in compliance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act

Email or other contact with third parties

Sometimes a parent, guardian or other family member will contact a member of staff, usually because they are either worried about a student or are after information on a student’s progress.

The policy at the School of Law is that staff will not deal with or share any information with a party other than the student unless the student’s express consent has been obtained.