Why Go to Office Hours? 

Office hours give you time for personalized help on topics, a chance to make up missed quizzes or exams, and an opportunity to learn more about careers in your field. They’re also a great way to build connections with your instructors. 

Emailing Your Professors 

Sometimes you can’t make it to office hours—and that’s okay! Here’s how to email professors respectfully: 

• Use a clear subject line (e.g., “Class Name: Section Number - Question about Homework #2”) 
• Start with a greeting (“Hello Professor Smith,”) 
• Clearly state your question or issue politely and get to the point 
• Sign off with your full name, class, and section 

Example of an email 

More Resources 

Struggling with class content outside of office hours? 

• Schedule an appointment with a tutor 
• Use drop-in tutoring for quick help 

Organizing your email

In Gmail, use labels and filters to organize your email. You can also star, snooze, archive, and delete messages to keep your inbox clear.

Create a label

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. On the left, next to “Labels,” click Create new label .
3. Enter a label name.
4. Optional: To include your label in another label, check the box next to “Nest label under.”
5. Click Create.

Label messages in your inbox

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. Check the box next to the email you want to label.
3. At the top, click Labels .
4. Select the label you want to apply.

Create a filter

1. Open Gmail.
2. In the search box at the top, click Show search options  .
3. Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search.
4. At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
5. Choose what you’d like the filter to do.
6. Click Create filter.

Tip: To apply a label to multiple messages at the same time, check the boxes to the left of the messages, then choose a label above the inbox.