
Writing/Consulting: Theory and Practice (Class E-mail)
Dr. Beth Rapp Young

Protocols
E-Mail Protocols
- Check your e-mail at least once per week (more often is better).
- Before emailing Dr. Young with general questions about the UWC, post your questions to WTalk and wait at least 24 hours for a response.
- When sending e-mail to Dr. Young, always put "UWC" (without the quotes) in the "Subject" line.
- Every e-mail message you send during this course should:
- Contain your email address
- Contain your full name
- Use standard capitalization (otherwise the message is very hard to read. All caps are considered "shouting.")
- Contain small paragraphs with spaces between them.
- Use abbreviations when possible: Examples:
- IMHO = in my humble/honest opinion
- F2f = face-to-face
- FYI = for your information
- BTW = by the way
- Flame = antagonistic criticism
- :) = happy face for humor
- Be courteous and clear. (Online communication lacks the nonverbal cues that fill in much of the meaning in face-to-face communication.)
- Consider composing your message in a word processor, then copying and pasting your message into email.
- Understand that email is not private. Never send or keep anything that you would not mind seeing on the evening news.
WTalk Protocols
- Be courteous. Honesty and free expression are valued, but just as in the UWC, it's important to be considerate online.
- Be clear. Online communication lacks the nonverbal cues that add meaning to f2f communication.
- Send messages intended for just one or two readers by email instead of posting them to the forum.
- Use the appropriate Forum--don't post everything on the "Main" Forum.
- Use the following conventions when composing a forum post:
- Descriptive subject headings (NOT "Question" or "WTalk Post")
- Use the "reply" button rather than the "compose" button if you are replying to someone else's post.
- Avoid posts which only say "I agree"; they will not be counted for credit.
- Use standard capitalization. (All caps is considered "shouting.")
- Avoid posting large amounts of text.
- Break posts into paragraphs with a space between paragraphs
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