This is a Your Square One blog post geared towards college students.

Until college, I had no real use for email. So naturally, when I had to start sending emails to professors, I was completely unprepared. I remember getting my first reminder of exactly how unprepared I was when I had to email my Comparative Politics professor about an upcoming midterm.

A friend had told me that the midterm would count for fifty percent of our grade; this was news to me so I thought I would ask my professor just to make sure. When I wrote the email, I started it off with an appropriate "hey!" and proceeded to dive into my concerns. The next day, I received an email back from my professor that was a little less than friendly. He told me that, first off, I never once said who I was or what class and section I was in. Second, my grammar was horrible (I had capitalized absolutely nothing). And third, the answer was in my hands all along in my syllabus (never thought to refer to that!). My professor had no problem telling me how inappropriate and unprofessional my email was. I was so embarrassed. (Thankfully, the class was a 250-person lecture hall so I would never have to show him my face!)

Ever since my professor laid my lack of professionalism out on the table, I’ve been painfully aware of the way I write my emails. Of the things I have learned, using a simple “Hello Professor” or “Professor Smith” to start off an email is ALWAYS better than "hey!" or "’sup?" (And yes, I admit I sent an email saying, "’sup?" to a professor...). Even if you think you have a casual, friendly relationship with them, they are still your professor, not your buddy.

Another essential detail to include is who you are, and what class and section you are referring to. Most teachers, especially at large schools, teach more than one class and each class normally has more than one section. There is no way a teacher can answer a specific question without knowing which class you are talking about.

Third, before you send an email to a professor, check your syllabus. This was a hard concept for me to grasp…that this piece of paper handed out in the beginning of every class actually held all of the answers on how to succeed in a course. (One sneaky professor of mine even hid extra credit points in her syllabus to see who was reading it thoroughly!) In many cases, your questions will be answered by the syllabus.

And lastly, don’t forget to read through your email to make sure you’re using correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. Nothing screams "unprofessional" like a string of typos or an email in all caps. If I’m able to save one person from the embarrassment I felt, recounting my blunders is a worthwhile exercise.

I learned the hard way that you have to know your audience and structure your email accordingly. So if you’re sending an email to your professor, teaching assistant or boss, learn from my mistakes and use these four guidelines religiously:

1. Address them in a formal manner (even if they have a casual personality)

2. Identify yourself and the specific class your email is referring to

3. Check your syllabus to see if it addresses your concern

4. Check your spelling and grammar before you press send.

In minding these few short guidelines, there is no way anyone could mess up an email as much as I did my first semester in college.

Have some email blunders of your own? If you’re willing to put yourself out in the spotlight for the sake of saving someone else from embarrassment, add your two cents in the comments below…