Academic Communication Skills

This week in {ruth} speaks college, I'll be sharing a bit about academic communication. First of all, proper academic communication is a skill that transcends your college career, and will be of great importance to you later in life as you are applying and interviewing for internships and jobs, and when you are employed and need to email or have a discussion with your boss or your coworkers.

As a brief introduction into academic communication, watch this video from the University of Victoria! It's as educational as it is hilarious!

If you'd rather skip the video or you just watched it, some of main points from this video are:

1. Know how to address your professor - some professors are cool with you calling them by their first name, others may wish to be called "Professor" or "Doctor ____". Your professor will typically tell you on the first day how they would like to be addressed.

2. If you have a quick question, it's best to just talk to your professors after class. If your question is longer, you can go to your professor's office hours or send them an email.

          -When emailing a professor, use appropriate language and formatting [no text talk or emoticons! :)] and make sure to include your name, course number, and section number, so that your professor knows exactly who is emailing them and what class you're in. You should also your course number and a description of your email in the subject bar. This is especially important since many professors teach more than one class, sometimes even different subjects, so this will help them be able to respond to you more efficiently.

3. When talking to your professor in person or emailing them, try to be direct and to the point. If you are meeting with them in person, maybe jot down a quick list of what all you want to discuss, so you don't forget about something that you wanted to talk with your professor about.

4. Be cautious and respectful when talking with a professor about grades. Try to ask for their reasoning behind your grade or advice on how to improve your grades in the future.

 An additional aspect of academic communication that is important to be aware of is Non-Verbal Communication. This includes facial expression, gestures, body language and posture, proximity, eye contact, and overall appearance. These are all things that will be of greater importance later on in life as you interview for internships and jobs, so it's a good idea to begin practicing these behaviors and skills now.