If you are an aspiring student for Ph.D. or master’s or even for a summer research position during your undergraduate or after graduation, the most critical skill you should have is to write an effective email to a potential professor who you are interested to work with him in his research group. How to email professors for research involves effective communication and email writing skills are the first crucial step to leaving a good impression on the professor. So in this guide, I will explain a few actions that are most important for how to write an effective email to professors for supervision requests or open research positions.
Steps for an Effective Email to Professors for Research Supervision
1- Short Email Content
The content of emails should be strictly short because professors are the kind of humans who tend to delay checking their emails regularly due to two main reasons, one is working in academia they have much freedom and work independently where they don’t have peer pressure to get checked their inbox regularly. Another reason is that they are always super busy because they have to do the research, teaching workload, and as well as administrative duties.
2- Use Clear Email Subject Line
A clear email subject line always helps in effective communication because it delivers the right message at the right time.
3- Use the Real Name and Formal Salutation
Writing “Dear Professor” feels like a general and sending a single email to many people so using the professor’s real name helps them to understand that you did your due diligence and they feel their obligation to give a reply to you or at least keep reading the email. An also use formal salutations because getting a doctorate needs a lot of effort so acknowledging their status can make anyone happy. So writing Dr. Name or Professor Name always works.
4- Body of Effective Email to Professors
Introduce Yourself
In the first paragraph introduce yourself within one or two sentences and also tell about your university or GPA if it is good otherwise can skip it. In the next sentence tell him why you are contacting him like you can state that you want to do research in their group. This paragraph should not be more than 3-4 sentences.
State Interest in Research Topic
In this paragraph, state the research area you are interested to work with that professor. Here you can go into little detail and mention the research topic or paper you are most interested to work on. You can put your whole effort into the convenience that you will bring new ideas into that research topic and will bring value to their research group as well.
Conclude Email
This paragraph is for concluding your email, here you can state about any scholarship or research funding you want to apply for, and do not forget to thank them for their time.
Effective Email Sample
5- Few Extra Things for How to Email professors for Research
- Keeping the tone of the email formal is a must
- Use correct grammar ( Grammarly is the best tool for it)
- Write clearly and concisely
- Send a follow-up email after a week or so
