Email Template: Reaching Out to Your Professor for Extra Help on Essays

By Ezra Kohn

The first few times I reached out to my professors for extra essay help, I definitely felt a little anxious. I was worried that asking for this help would somehow make the professor think I was slacking off, disorganized, or simply uncreative in brainstorming. But the fact is, most professors are not only glad that you’re reaching out, but excited to help you brainstorm ideas, organize research, or determine essay layouts and style. Reaching out for extra essay help makes it clear that you’re trying to stay on top of your writing, and it gives your professor an opportunity to get academically creative, as well as to get to know you better.

Though there are a number of different ways to email your professor to ask for extra essay help, this is how I usually format it:

Hi Professor!

I’ve been trying to (brainstorm essay ideas/organize research/figure out essay layout, etc.), but I’ve been running into some difficulties. I think the main issue might be (my essay topic is too vague/I don’t know what kind of sources I should be using/I don’t know where to find sources/I don’t know exactly how I should set up my argument), but I was wondering if I could meet with you soon to figure it out a little more. Could I drop by your office hours, or are you available during (day+time)?

Thank you!

Best,

Name

Alternatively, sometimes the problem is that you don’t understand what the issue is you’re running into. In which case, after the first sentence you can just skip to “I was wondering if I could meet with you soon to discuss moving forwards with the essay.”