« "Zaccheus Wanted To See Jesus" - December 2, 2006 | Main | "...together with glad and sincere hearts" - December 9, 2006 »
December 04, 2006
Essential tips for better communication
Even I got some very useful insight from this primer for electronic communication with faculty, especially faculty you don't know, posted on Inside Higher Ed (and you really should be reading Inside Higher Ed if you have any interest in the academic stuff I post 'round here). Here's what you get out of that piece, for minimal investment of reading time:
Given people’s limited amount of time, how can we ensure that our inquiring e-mail is not simply relegated to the recipient’s trash folder? It is important to recognize that those possessing information of interest to us will be the types of people who are valuable sources of knowledge for others as well...Regardless of the status difference (prospective student contacting a faculty member or a senior researcher contacting a junior professional), it is important to be polite, direct, clear and succinct.
Perhaps because of the ease with which contact can be made these days, correspondence often lacks professionalism. I am not advocating absurd formalities, rather, some minimum standards for cold-contacting someone.
Posted by Chuck at December 4, 2006 11:47 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.chuck-pearson.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/205