General: Email works best when users follow good practices:

General tips on using Email

• Many people do not have terminals at their desks and therefore are not alerted when e-mail arrives, and don’t necessarily check it hourly, so don’t assume your message has been read until you get an answer.
• People who regularly use e-mail generally check their in-boxes several times per day, perhaps less during non-working hours, weekends, etc. Be aware that people who use e-mail extensively on the job may have a different e-mail address for home use. 
• Check your own outgoing e-mail some time after you have sent a message to be sure it arrived. If it could not be delivered for some reason, you will probably get an error message.
• E-mail addresses generally must be exact. Case may or may not matter—it’s best to get it right.
• Identify yourself by name, class and section number (or day and time of class) in e-mail and fax messages. E-mail addresses do not necessarily identify who the sender is.
• Be clear about time. “Tomorrow” isn’t very helpful in e-mail because you can’t always be sure when your message will be sent or received.
• Recipients of e-mail generally acknowledge messages back to the address from which they were sent. If you want a response elsewhere, tell your party in the message. If you don’t get an answer within a reasonable time, you may assume that your message was not received.

• Do not include papers or essays in the text of your e-mail message. Attach each as a separate file that can be downloaded by the instructor. If you don’t know how to do this, get someone to show you.
• Send all written files in a format which your instructor's computer can read. Word (.doc) and Word Perfect (.wpd) files are generally ok. Rich Text Format (rtf), which you can create using the “Save as” function on your computer, generally works everywhere.
• Do not encrypt or encode message or papers unless instructed to do so.  Some companies and government agencies automatically encrypt all outgoing e-mail.  Check that out before sending papers from your workplace.
• If you send from a MAC environment, check to see what you need to do when sending to a WINDOWS environment. (Or vice versa.) If you send it as a text (or rich text format) file it should be OK.
• After you have sent an essay by e-mail, make sure you save it in case or problems. If you are in a classroom course, print a hard copy and bring it to class in case for some reason it does not arrive or cannot be read.  Your instructor will generally be tolerant of e-mail problems.
• Use the first four or five letters of your last name in the file name of the papers you transmit by email. (Smith1.doc for example.) Do not use "Essay2" or "HistoryPaper" as your file name—such names are hard to keep track of because when files are downloaded they are separated from the message to which they were attached.
• Make sure your name is in the essay file, preferably as a header that appears on each page, and number pages.
• Transmit the file as you want it to look—double spaced, with the title, your name, the instructor’s name, date, and any other required information on the cover page.
• Make sure you are familiar with your instructor's policies for submitting written work.
• If you have the option of submitting your work as hard copy via U.S. mail or in person, it may be wise to do so unless you are comfortable with email attachments.
• I return all project essays by regular mail, usually Tuesdays and Fridays.

SUBMITTING PAPERS other than by Email

Mail written assignments for ELI distance learning courses to:

Instructors name and course number
ELI Distance Learning Center
8333 Little River Turnpike
Annandale VA 22003.

You can drop them off in-person at 8000 Forbes Place, Springfield VA 22151, behind the Ravensworth Shopping center off Braddock Road just outside the Beltway. An assignment drop off box is available outside the entrance for assignments dropped off after hours

History 121 | History 122 | Updated July 18, 2010