Staying connected and communicating effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, often via email, is a critical skill to build a successful career in academia and science. This is also true for PhD students who have to communicate regularly with a host of people, including their academic supervisors, peers, publication editors, grants-making organizations, and potential employers. Emails are one of the most efficient and convenient ways to communicate and share information, which makes it essential to know how to sign an email professionally with a strong student email signature.
Why do you need a PhD student email signature?
Despite the rising popularity of messaging applications and other popular communication platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal, email still plays a significant role in our everyday lives. While past predictions from experts suggested that email would be obsolete by 2020, this hasn’t quite happened. In fact, according to recent data, the number of emails sent and received globally per day in 2023 is 347.3 billion—a 4.3% increase from the previous year. This figure is set to increase further to 361.6 billion in 2024, indicating that emails will remain the most popular way to communicate online for some time.¹
However, to be effective, your official emails require a professional approach to convey credibility and professionalism. One critical aspect of email communication that is often overlooked is a proper email signature. An experienced student email signature serves as a kind of personal branding and is essential in academia, especially for PhD students embarking on their doctoral journey. An email with an appended PhD student email signature lends credibility and legitimacy to your message. In this article, we will list some tips on how to sign an email professionally by creating a proper email signature for your formal email communications.
9 steps to create your student email signature
While composing your professional student email signature, make sure that you include the following key components.
- Full name: Always mention your full official name. Be alert not to include any pet names that you may be known by, even if your colleagues address you by them.
- Present title/ position: You must specify your professional title. It would also be helpful to set your discipline or major.
- Additional positions: If you hold a different title or are working on a project that aligns with your academic or career aspirations, then include it in your email signature. For example, serving as a teaching assistant or a research assistant is an additional credential.
- Department/University: Remember to mention the department and university where you are enrolled.
- Email address (optional but recommended): While your email address already appears in your email communication, it is essential to add this to your email signature. Often, your email communication may be forwarded to the relevant person(s) in the field, and then it becomes essential for them to identify your email address easily.
- Links to your relevant online profiles (optional): Mentioning your professional online profiles such as LinkedIn page, Twitter, ORCID number, etc., if you are active on these pages, allows others to know you and your work better.
- Pronouns (optional): Some people may choose to include their preferred pronouns, such as he/ him, she/ her, etc.
- Cell number and city (optional): Providing your cell number and office contact details can help people reach you if required.
- Professional picture and logo (optional): It is famous for many students to include a professional image and also the university logo.
3 points to consider while creating a professional student email signature
While making your email signature, always keep in mind the following:
- Tailor your email signature: Your student email signature should align with the purpose for which you are creating it. For instance, is your purpose to build networks within academia or to expand your career possibilities? Such questions should direct your decision on what to include in your PhD student email signature.
- Keep it professional: While designing your formal email signature, make sure to stick to one font and avoid using multiple colors and sizes. The purpose is to enable readers to get an idea with just a glance at your signature. So keep it clean and simple.
- Make it visually interesting: Ensure that your formal email signature has a visual appeal. The information that you provide in your PhD student email signature should be separated with columns or bars. Make sure that it is attractive while viewing and accessing on all devices.
Finally, remember that after creating your PhD student email signature, you need to assess if it conveys clearly to a reader what you do and whether the reader has sufficient information about you to get in touch with you. To create a formal email signature, PhD students can make use of the signature function of your email host. Alternatively, there are a number of free signature templates that are available online. You can make use of them to design your own attractive professional student email signature.
References:
- How many emails are sent per day? (2023–2027), Oberlo website. Available online at https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/how-many-emails-are-sent-per-day
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