If you don't want help...

Here are my suggestions for asking a question ineffectively. These will most assuredly result in someone (me) not replying to your message for help.

  1. Skip the salutations and just dive right into your question. There's just something about being treated like a search engine that cries "I respect you!".
  2. Provide just enough information to make it appear that you didn't pocket email me, but nothing more. When I get a message like: "won't compile", I think, "Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about."
  3. Don't provide any context. Context would make it too easy! My job is to answer questions, right? Make me work for it.
  4. Don't tell me how you've tried to address the problem. Don't let on that you've done any work on your own. Also, I love lots and lots of emails, so let me give you suggestions through a series of email exchanges in which you tell me each time "I tried that".
  5. When you get stuck solving a problem, ask for an answer to the problem rather than hints on how to solve it on your own. I probably didn't want you to solve that problem I assigned, anyway...

If you DO want help...

Sarcasm aside, following these tips will most likely get you a helpful response (at least from me).

  1. Say "Hi Professor", or some other appropriate greeting. Don't just start off an email in medias res. It's informal and may very well put your audience in a bad mood—not good if you expect any help.
  2. Provide some context. I don't know what exactly you've been working on. Let me know what assignment you're working on and what you've done so far.
  3. Clearly state the problem. Are you confused about one of the assignment requirements? Are you getting a compiler error message? If so, what is the error message? Be specific. Include related information, like what operating system you are using and what part of your code the problem appears to be occurring in.
  4. Explain what you've tried to address the problem. Be specific here—saying that you've "tried everything" doesn't tell me anything. Did you do all the steps listed in the assignment? Did you try that trick I mentioned in class?
  5. Ask for help figuring out the answer, not the answer itself. Learning is about trying things. Just having an answer won't be much help when it comes to future assignments, exams, and in life.