E-mail etiquette emerges

Think before you push that button.

Pitt anthropology professor Richard Scaglion thinks this… Think before you push that button.

Pitt anthropology professor Richard Scaglion thinks this simple advice will save a lot of unnecessary anguish between students and professors concerning e-mail etiquette.

According to a New York Times article in February, professors think e-mail makes them too accessible to students, and they often receive e-mails that are “too informal or downright inappropriate.”

Some Pitt professors disagree.

“I don’t usually get e-mails where students are demanding,” Scaglion said. “In fact, it is my preferred method of communication.”

Scaglion said that he likes e-mail because it can be handled at each person’s leisure. If students have something to say, they can send the professor an e-mail right then. It’s not as intrusive as the phone. If, say, the student sends the e-mail at 3 a.m., professors can respond whenever they have time.

He also added that he can see how it would be easy to fire off an angry e-mail.

His approach is simply to take it for what it is; he said he doesn’t get upset because he realizes an e-mail like that was written in the heat of the moment.

“I think the best thing to do is to think to yourself before you push that [send] button, ‘Do I really want to send this?'” he said.

Business professor Ray Jones also had some advice for students about e-mail.

“One thing you shouldn’t do is try and set up a professional e-mail account and make the username something like ‘babydoll13,'” he said. “It’s hard to take a name like that seriously.”

Jones said that he prefers e-mail over communication by phone or at office hours.

“I beg students to e-mail me,” he said. “It provides an opportunity for one-on-one time with students that can’t meet during office hours.”

However, he said he thinks neither e-mail nor phone is the best way to handle a dispute. Situations like that should be handled by setting up a meeting, according to Jones.

Junior Janelle Caponigro said she communicates with professors through e-mail all the time, but she also thinks it’s necessary to talk in person.

“E-mail is a great way to get an answer quickly or to give a professor heads up that you are stopping by with a particular question during their office hours,” she said.

Caponigro said she sends e-mail to professors much more now than she did as a freshman. She said she has learned over the years that getting to know her professors and having her questions answered has made all the difference in her academic career.

On the other hand, freshman Ryan Arnot is just getting used to the e-mail world in an academic setting, and it hasn’t been easy.

Arnot has had some difficulty with his Pitt e-mail account, which, in turn, caused problems for him with his professors.

“I would miss out on a lot of e-mails, some that contained recitation questions that I was required to have completed for class,” he said.

Arnot said he had trouble specifically receiving e-mail from other Pitt accounts. As a result, he provided his professors with an alternate e-mail address. All of his professors did not make the change, so Arnot still faces problems.

“You just don’t realize how much you rely on e-mail until it doesn’t work,” he said.