Assignment 1

You write two cold emails to two real people, for two clearly different reasons. One email involves an ask, such as a job or an introduction. The other does not need to ask for anything.

Due: 29 March 2027

What the assignment is#

Pick two real people you would genuinely want to email. Write a cold email to each one.

The two emails must be for two clearly different reasons. One of the two reasons must involve a real ask. For example, asking for a job, an introduction or a favour. The other reason does not need an ask at all. For example, genuinely appreciating someone whose work you admire, with nothing you want from them.

Write both emails as if you would actually send them. You do not actually send them.

What this tests#

Whether you can adapt what the course teaches to two very different situations, rather than applying one formula to everything. A job request and a message with no ask are close to opposite emails. They need different structure, different length and a different sense of what the reader owes you, if anything. Writing both well, for two real people, is the point of the assignment.

What you submit#

For each of your two people, submit all of the following.

1. Who they are and why you are writing to them. A few sentences on who this person is and why you picked them.
2. What you actually want from them, if anything. State the ask plainly, or state that there is no ask.
3. One line on why your two reasons are genuinely different. Say what makes this pair a real contrast, not two versions of the same email.
4. The email you would send, written in full. Use the email-block format below, not a description of what the email would say.
5. A short justification of your main choices. Explain what you were doing in the email, how it fits how this specific person would read it, and which course ideas you were drawing on.

Submitted through Canvas under the Assignments page.

What a good submission looks like#

Here is one entry, for the ask-based email.

Who and why: a former lecturer of mine now works at a company I want to join. I am writing to ask if she can refer me for an open role there.

What you want: a referral for a specific open role.

Why this reason is different from the other email: this email asks for something concrete and time-bound. The other email asks for nothing and has no deadline attached to it.

Email:

Justification: I named the exact role and attached the CV so she has everything she needs to act in one email, rather than a back and forth. I gave her an easy way to say no, since a referral puts her name on the line and she should not feel cornered into it. This follows the course’s point that a specific, bounded ask is easier to say yes to than an open one.