JA02, ACADEMIC EMAIL WRITING Writing academic/ scientific e-mails - TN I. Discussion: o Do you write emails in English? o On what occasions? o How often? o Who's the recipient? o What kind of language/ register do you usually use in your English emails? II. Look at the two 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: offthewail(g>,email.com Subject: Steven Bold, 3rd 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 (gimail.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 Agnieszka Suchomelova-Polomska JA02, ACADEMIC EMAIL WRITING HI. 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/MXv2iJS 1 bBtQCR/html • Title of the email • Salutation • The beginning • The main body • The ending • Closing the email and signing Agnieszka Suchomelovä-Polomska JA02, ACADEMIC EMAIL WRITING 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 the right adjective VII. 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... VIII. Put the strips of paper given to you by your teacher in two emails: a formal and a semi-formal one 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.rLCSu.edu/~nmswishe/academic email.pdf https://www.softchalkcloud.com/ http://www.teachingenglish,org.uk/article/email-writing elt.oup.com Agnieszka Suchomelovä-Polomska