How to email a potential supervisor?

How should you email a potential professor/supervisor for your Master's or Ph.D. subject?

If you want to do a research-based graduate program or your doctorate abroad, universities will ask you to get the approval of a supervisor or professor when applying. You may not have the chance to visit the university for your study abroad or meet one-on-one with the Professors there, or you may be already studying there and need the approval of your potential advisor for the subject you want to research. For this, you may need to send an e-mail to potential Professor / Professors who can help you with the subject.

Universities often publish their academic staff and their contact information on their websites so that international students and potential researchers can see them. It is seen that professors also share their contact information in their published articles. For this, while you are doing preliminary investigation for the areas you are interested in, you can contact Professors whose publications you have followed before or who can support you in your research.

Before applying to a professor's expertise, you need to determine the subject you want to research well. 

What kind of structure should the e-mail be sent to the professor?

The language of the e-mail you will write must be formal. Give an informative title to the "Subject" part of your e-mail. When writing in a formal language, your address should be a form of address according to the professionalism of the person (s) you are writing as "Dear Professor ______," or "Dear Dr. Like "______", not their gender. Try not to use any emoji and keep the email short and to the point. Pay attention to the spelling rules and make sure you use the right words in the right place.

One of the great things about e-mail is that you can send the details you think are necessary as attachments. While you are briefly introducing yourself in the e-mail, you can add your CV to the e-mail to give them the chance get to know you better.

If you have a link to help the person you want to be a consultant remember you, don't forget to mention it in the email. If you do not have such a connection, you may have listened to the person you want to be your consultant at the seminar, read her/his article and was impressed, or examined her research with the suggestion of an academic whom you previously taught. You can also briefly mention these if they are relevant to your writing purpose or topic.

Remember! Your purpose of writing the e-mail is your research proposal and trying to get the approval of an expert you want to be a consultant for your research by introducing yourself. Therefore, it will be very important to be clear, direct and precise. Let us know about the achievements you can gain from your research, the goal you want to achieve, and how your professor, whom you want to become a Supervisor,  will help you in this regard.

Use your real information, name and don't forget to include your research / thesis proposal in the e-mail. If you are requesting a private interview, ask your potential consultant for an alternative date and time for your request, in addition to informing the date and time you wish to meet, and if your consultant is not available.