Student Email and Office 365
Your university email account.
All students are given a student email account which is accessed through Outlook as part of Microsoft’s Office 365 suite.
It is very important that you check your University mail account regularly. All official communications will come to your University account, this may include meeting arrangements, course information and changes to timetable etc.
At the start of your studies please also check your spam/junk folder just in case any University emails are going in there instead of your inbox. If a legitimate email has ended up in the spam/junk folder please mark the message as ‘not spam or junk’. Once you have done this with one email, this filter should be applied to all future emails from that address.
Occasionally you may receive a fraudulent email, have a look at the Protect yourself against scams web page to familiarise yourself with common scams so you don't get caught out.
Protect yourself against scams
- Assume emails are not confidential. The University can access email records if necessary in regard to complaints or disputes.
- Do not send offensive, inflammatory, abusive or derogatory material in email.
- Always fill in the Subject line of an email, and try to make this as clear/informative as possible. For example, "Bio Pals meeting 15 October 2021 - Session Plan update" rather than "meeting" or "Bio Pals". An email without a Subject may cause frustration or could be mistaken for Spam.
- Keep txtspk or slang for messaging!
- Pausing before sending. One of email's great advantages is that it's virtually instantaneous: this can also be a major disadvantage. For example, if you are annoyed, or even angered, by an email you should think about how you want to reply rather than doing so immediately. And in general it's better to check all your emails before sending them to make sure they cover the points you want to cover, answer the questions you've been asked, and are appropriate in tone.
- Make a good impression. We now use email as a formal communication tool, so make sure your messages make a good impression: check the spelling, use normal capitalisation, use correct grammar (complete sentences are easier to read) and use plain text.
- Be professional. Write your emails like a letter or a realistic polite conversation that you might have with a Personal Tutor or a lecturer.
| Example good email | Example poor email |
|
Dear Dr Curtis (or Dear John) I would be grateful if you could forward me the times and dates for the welcome week computing help sessions. Thank you very much. Kind regards, John Smith |
Yo Doc, Send me the computer info stuff ASAP Ta Laters ‘The Smithster’
Or even Hi, I need the computer stuff sent. JS. |
Office 365
In addition to email, Office 365 provides;
- Calendar
- OneDrive file storage
- Office Online apps
- Skype for Business