<p>So I am a freshman and I needed to contact a professor of mine about course registration. I sent an e-mail to her, she replied, and then I replied again, and this back-and-forth e-mailing continued for a while.</p>
<p>In each e-mail, I used the standard convention like starting with "Dear Prof. X" and ending with things like "sincerely, kind regards"</p>
<p>Is this something necessary? Can I just omit those things because after her first reply, she just wrote the main part of her e-mail and didn't write any starting and ending words.</p>
<p>Typically, I’ll cap the first email with a greeting and a thank you, but in the messages that follow, I’ll omit them if they do. Once the situation has been resolved though, I’ll end the last email with a “thanks” followed by my name.</p>
<p>For an email chain that goes back and forth all within one day, I will probably use only one formal salutation of “Dear X”. If the chain spans multiple days, I sometimes start the first email of the day with a “Hello,” or another more casual salutation. For my closing, I will generally only use a formal one like “Sincerely” once, but I sometimes continue to use “Best” throughout the chain. It depends on the relationship, but especially with someone who you are yet to meet in person and who will be your professor, take all cues from her style.</p>
<p>The professor can skip the greetings and “Thank you. Sincerely, …”, <em>you</em> can’t.
S/he may think it’s overkill but more likely will think “FINALLY a polite student who knows how to write emails.”
I do agree that if you know the professor well (after a few office hours) AND it is a back-and-forth discussion over one single day, the greetings aren’t necessary, but as a freshman-to-be you can’t afford to skimp on politeness with your future professors and adviser.</p>
<p>I always err on the side of overly polite and use some kind of salutation and closing. The exception to that is if I’ve gone to the professor’s office hours a few times and if it’s an email chain all in the same day, as others have said.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me of my calculus professor spring quarter. The second day of class, I checked my email to find that he sent an email out to the class telling us about email etiquette, then said that from the time of the email on he would only respond to emails that followed the style he described. He’s the first professor that I’ve seen being that picky, but it’s still good to follow those guidelines while emailing a professor regardless.</p>
<p>It’s never wrong to err on the side of caution and be formal, professional, and polite, especially online when it is difficult to judge tone. If you’re ever unsure, be polite and professional, and I doubt any professor would think any less of you for it.</p>
<p>It’s also generally okay to take cues from the professor’s style, within reason. In an email chain that is happening quickly, I usually drop the salutation, but end with a thanks or best or something similar and my name, unless I’m speaking with someone I don’t feel comfortable being casual with or if they aren’t adopting a similar tone. It all depends on the conversation and who you’re having it with, but if you don’t know, just be polite and respectful. It’s hard to go wrong with that.</p>
<p>My first e-mail will usually be: Dear Dr. X, … Sincerely, Y. And then after that it’ll be like: Dr. X, … Thanks, Y. Unless the professor replies with the salutation and closing style, then I’ll stick to the high formality.</p>
<p>As they’ve pointed out, using a greeting and a thanks at the beginning and end of each email certainly isn’t going to be a bad thing in any case.</p>
<p>Personally, I think more than one Dear blah blah blah is overkill. I send a greeting with only the first one in the chain and then always end with a “thank you” of some sort.</p>
<p>I HATE salutations in emails. Obviously it’s supposed to go to the person whose inbox it was sent to. That said, I still do it. At least for the initial contact. I put them in because I know most other people do, and I don’t want to look rude by comparison. Although mine are still probably less formal than others, since “Hi, [Name],” is about as good as I get for most situations. Although I have used “Dear, [Name]” on more serious occasions.</p>
<p>I do sign my name on everything (either just my name or “Thank, [Name]” depending on the situation). Again, I think it’s a little silly because our school email addresses clearly show who we are, but it’s a custom that I feel I have to follow.</p>
<p>You are following good convention, both with your salutation and your ending. I typically will carry this throughout an email chain even if the professor does not. However, I think it is perfectly acceptable to start to omit the salutation if the professor starts to. The one thing I never omit is ‘thank you’.</p>