Entry 3: Emails, Emails, and more Emails

 

    Social media is really crucial in my daily life. The first thing I did in the morning was check my Instagram to see if any of my colleagues had texted me or if any of my favorite celebrities had posted anything new. Throughout the day, I checked my Line to communicate with my family and friends back home, and I even occasionally called them too. One of my favorite pastimes is reading online novels written by amateur authors. I see a lot of imaginative writing and creativity in both English and my native language. Social media is a part of my everyday life, and the majority of it involves informal writing; however, emails cannot be written in the same tone.

    

Email writing had some influence on my life in high school. I saw that I did write a lot of emails back then, but compared to now, I would say I have received and written over a hundred emails now I'm in college. To be completely honest, learning how to compose acceptable emails is essential for both your future career and student life. Unlike our Instagram captions, where we may say things like "summer check vibe bae," emails have a more professional approach.

Thankfully, email writing is not as difficult as I thought. All you need to do, despite the formality, is stick to the dos and don'ts. Here are my dos and don'ts.

Dos:

• Short appropriate title: Honestly, I never thought titles to be a problem. The title should, in my opinion, be brief and condensed; not a lengthy sentence or paragraph phrase.

• Address the name of the receiver well: If I'm writing an email to a professor, I'd start with 'Dear Professor XXX'. I also recently heard that most professors prefer to be addressed by their last name. In some cases, I believe opening with 'Hi' is also fine, although it really depends on the receiver.

• Ending conversation with respect: I use one of three phrases: 'Best Regards,' 'Best Wishes,' or 'Best'. Most of the time, I would end with my name as a signature and say 'Thank you' as a sign to show my respect and gratitude.

Don’ts:

• Including netspeak: When used in an email, words like 'Lol,' 'Lmao,' or 'Asap' are extremely unprofessional. While it is acceptable with friends at times, it should not be a habit, especially when writing an Email.

• Making the content too long :I used to believe that the more I write, the better it is; but this was not the case. I learnt to keep it short and to get right to the point of my email was the best.

    Writing emails shouldn't be intimidating; rather, it should be a regular activity. Nowadays, I check my emails on a daily basis to see if anything important has appeared. I felt that as long as the grammar isn't too awful that the receiver doesn't comprehend anything, email formally is easy and manageable. Whether I realize it or not, writing is a part of my daily life. Because of this, I now understand why it's critical for me to develop my writing abilities rather than relying on others to do so.