Email is an important medium for communication, both among those on campus and with those off campus. Communicating via email gives you power to reach many people. To use your email as a productive tool in your personal and professional life and help you maintain positive relationships with friends and coworkers, follow these generally accepted guidelines.

Is Email right for everything?

• If you have information to disseminate use the appropriate tool. Do not waste resources or intrude on individuals that would not be interested in what you have to say.
• If you decide that you do not want to pay attention to email from a person or organization, use email filtering to move the message either directly to "Trash" or to a folder for later viewing.
  

How can I be sure that I am using email etiquette?

• Be brief. Use only one screen to convey your message.
• Use a blank line between paragraphs. Space makes reading text easier.
• Since email cannot carry your tone of voice, facial expression, or other cues that tell us when someone understands what we mean, use emoticons such as a smiley J or a ; -) to let someone know that you are joking. Stay away from sarcasm.
• Use both upper and lower case letters when writing email. USING ALL UPPER CASE LETTERS IS THE SAME AS YELLING.
• Some email programs do not display italicized or underlined words. If you want to emphasize something, you can use "asterisks."
• Be careful with spelling and grammar; people will form opinions about you by how you handle the language.
• Start your message with the name of the person you are addressing.
• If your message is lengthy or complex, use a word processor so that you can format the document. Then attach it to a brief email.
• If you are replying to a message someone else sends to you, it is often wise to include short, relevant parts of his or her original message in your reply. This helps everyone remember what he or she is talking about. A ">" sign means that you are repeating someone else's words.
• End your message with your name.
• Always use a short, informative subject line. It is considered rude to leave the subject line blank. A blank subject line has a greater chance of not being read.
• Don't broadcast email to people unlikely to be interested or involved in an issue.
• Avoid flame wars. If you find yourself disagreeing with someone, do not start a volley of back and forth emails, with copies distributed to everyone on the distribution list.

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