Springe direkt zu Inhalt

Sending emails

Sending a proper email, shouldn't be difficult. However, we regularly receive emails like this:

What should you pay attention to?

1) For communication with university institutions (e.g. Office of Academic Affairs, administration, professors), ALWAYS use your ZEDAT email address. Junk email filters might otherwise automatically filter out different email addresses (e.g. gmail.com, gmx.com, t-online.de), which could lead to your request not being dealt with.

2) If possible, set you email up so that your first name and last name appear in the sender. You can find tips on that here.

3) Try to find the best contact person. Generally, the Student Counselling can help you with all problems, regarding your studies. But if you try find the best suited contact person in the first place, then you can save yourself some time. You can find a list of contact points here.

4) Give a clear subject, for example:

      • title of the course
      • course number (you can find that in the course catalog)
      • precise keyword describing your problem

5) Choose a proper form of address

      • Professors should be addressed as "Dear Professor XYZ" / "Sehr geehrte/r Professor/in XYZ"
      • proper forms of address for the Office of Academic Affairs or the Examination Office include "Dear Ms Koppe / Mr Kleier" or "Dear team of the Examination Office / Office of Academic Affairs"
      • the Student Counselling can of course be addressed less formal, for example "Dear Marius / Christoph", "Dear team of the Student Counselling", or similar

6) The example given refers to an enrollment in Campus Management. The registration period ended on May 1, the email was sent on May 1 at 11.59 p.m. (on a Friday). So, the sender should not assume that the email is dealt with before Monday – which is too late and the sender's own fault.

7) For all issues personally affecting you, definitely reference your student number. This number is unique – your name might not be.

8) In case you're contacting the student counselling, it is helpful to mention your study program. That way, we know who can deal with your request.

9) Be clear and precise. What is your exact issue? What course is your problem connected to? For courses, always give the course number.

10) Be polite! Usually, you want something from the person you're contacting.

How could this email have been phrased better?

Here is an example of how that email could have been phrased better:

Note: Sometimes you will receive emails, that are sent to a big list of students. You should not reply to this typ of email by hitting "Reply", except you want reach EVERYONE that the initial email was sent to. In turn, carefully read through the email and figure out the right contact person, in case you have a question or response.