Tips for Talking with Your Professors

Are you wondering how to effectively communicate with your professors? Whether in person or over email, it’s common for students to be unsure how to approach this. We are here to help!

Titles (aka, how to address people)

This is not simple, because your professors each have individual preferences. A great place to start is the course syllabus – your professor may have information there on how they would like to be addressed.

If you don’t know what the person you are communicating with prefers, it’s usually a good idea to start with a formal approach and then follow the professor’s lead after that.

If you’ve received an email, Canvas announcement, or other communication from them, how did they refer to themselves when they signed off? If you have this info, use what they’ve used. Common examples include:
- Professor (Their Last Name)
- Dr. (Their Last Name)
- First name only
If you don’t have any info on what they prefer students to call them, start with “Professor (Their Last Name).”
- With email, the name and title they used to reply to you is what you should use moving forward.
- In person, start by saying “Hi Professor (Their Last Name).” If they say, “Please call me (fill in the blank),” refer to them as they prefer. Otherwise, keep calling them Professor (Their Last Name).

Salutations

It’s generally a good idea to start an email with “Hello,” “Good morning,” “Dear,” and so on. Some of us bristle when we are addressed with what sounds like very informal young-people-language, such as “Hey.” Some of us don’t mind or even think it’s groovy. We recommend starting with a formal greeting and backing off if your professor responds less formally.

TIP: It is MUCH easier to go from more formal to less formal, compared to the other way around!

Response Times

Some professors respond to emails at all times of the day and night, others do not. Some professors will have expectations around communication, including the best methods (email, Canvas, Discord, etc) for specific types of questions in the course syllabus, others do not.

It’s reasonable to expect a 24-hour turn-around for people to respond to each other, but this can also vary.

Expectations

You may find that expectations are not always clear. We want to acknowledge that this might be frustrating. And: as a student, it is your responsibility to find out what the expectations are when you don’t know. “When you don’t know, you need to find out,” is a good general habit for adulting – and it’s a skill many students need to practice before they feel confident using. It’s also good practice to look for answers to course-related questions in the syllabus or on the Canvas page.

The LSC has useful resources that can help develop the agency and responsibility that successful students access: