Reading response week 2
I have one experience of making mistake in email. Taking one of my major classes, I had to attach my research report in the email which I was going to send to the professor. Since I didn't include an adeqate subject line, he regarded my email as a spam mail and discarded it. After a few weeks finding out I was the only one whose grade had not been posted yet, I had to send an email again to him to get mine graded. In this case, among the ten habits of successful emailers, including an informative subject line seemed to be missing. Since a professor probably received tens of emails everyweek, it was very important to include proper subject line to let him know that my email needed his prompt response. Other mistakes I make sometimes in emailing are misspelling and forgetting to attach a necessary file by hastening and sending an email again later with the attachment. In these cases, the procedure of taking some time to edit and revise the message before sending it seems to be missing.
Email is different from text messaging in that email should contain the clear reason and purpose for writing, function as an effective means of communicating information and solicit answers, and be formal in most cases. Text messaging can be used informally without having clear purpose and reason.
I think email has become the most common way of communication in business world due to the developement of technology and demands for more convinient and time-saving ways in communication just like the demands for fast food. Also, the diverse functions that electronic mails offer such as including multiple addressee help us to save much more time and involve group members in the communication more easily.
Reading the article about how HR personnel treat resumes, I was surprised that they are more strict in judging one's resume than I imagined. Despite the effort to make one's resume look great with abstract explanations, they only buy the points which are very concise and direct. Applicants have to keep in mind that we can't decieve an expert's insight who have been working in the field we are applying for and assessing piles of resumes for a long time. In my opinion being honest, concise, and direct is the most important part of resumes.
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I can relate with what you are saying. In high school I never used email to send teachers assignments but coming to Purdue changed all that. Some of my classes seemed like they were online courses just because I was sending most of my work by email. Since I was not used to it at first, I too would leave the subject box blank and ran into the same trouble as you did. A lot of the times the professors thought I was just turning it in late and gave me a bad grade.
Email has in fact become the most common way of communication and in some cases that is all what employers rely upon to get things done. I was reading an article yesterday and it was talking about online internships and how they are becoming more and more common. Because it saved the employers some money and space in their offices, they simply did everything online and conducted business via email or telephone. In this case email is playing a vital role in terms of business and it will be interesting to see just how common these online internships turn out to be because of it.
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You bring up a good point about making sure the subject line is properly filled out. The only time I think it is ok to not use one if you are emailing a friend and they will recognize your email address so they will hopefully open it. It is still a little risky though because I usually dont spend too much time looking at an email if there is no subject, I just assume it must be spam.
I also sometimes forget to attach the approriate file and I always forget to spell check my emails. This can be bad especially if you are emailing to your professor or a T.A. It's also bad if you forget to attach something becuase then you have to send another one and it just creates a hassle for the other person having to sift through emails from the same person. I agree with your point about why email is the most popular now a days. People don't have the time to sit down and call 5 people, they just send one email out addressed to all of them and they're all set.
Reading Response - 2
I am in agreement with one of the other comments about your post. A subject line is like a cover letter for a resume. Since all the professor or employer will see is the subject line, this line must sell the resume or assignment. When I write emails, I try to use the subject line as a preview for my email. Also, if I am writing to someone who does not know me, I like to make sure my name is in the subject line. I feel that this will allow the person to realize that my message is not spam and will open it.
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Before reading the TH, I was used to sending my emails without any subject line. In the TH it gave detailed examples of how to write subject lines, and after reading your story and the TH I have changed my old habit. I now place detailed subject lines that say exactly what the content of my email is. I really don't want something like your story happening to me, especially when in the real world since assignments and grades can be discussed with professors, but if you fail to meet deadlines or send documents at work it could mean losing your job, depending on the magnitude of the mistake. There are some cases in which you only have one strike, and it would suck to lose your job over a small simple thing to do such as sending an email. Sending the wrong email to the wrong people can have serious consequences, so in the future, I think that one should not overlook double checking that you are sending it to the right people, especially when at work. Since misplaced information (worse if confidential) could get to ruin a business which could get to ruin you in return.