Abstract
This study examines e-mail excuses sent by undergraduate university students to professors. First an initial corpus of 200 messages is analyzed according to the type of infraction, the nature of the excuse and the different strategies used. Secondly, a small group of ten professors was asked to evaluate a random sample of 50 messages on an effectiveness scale of 1–5 and explain their ratings. The metadiscursive comments (n=500) were coded and quantified in order to determine a ranking of the factors influencing the professors’ reactions. Overall, the body of messages received an average numerical rating of 2.7, between “ineffective” and “neutral”. While aspects related to the legitimacy of the excuse motive and an informal writing style were shown to impact faculty perceptions, the findings in this study reveal another area of primary concern for professors, the expectation for students to be responsible, proactive and self-directed individuals when dealing with the consequences of their transgression. This Responsibility category was found to be the most influential factor affecting both positive and negative evaluations of the excuses, followed by issues concerning Motive, and to a much lesser extent, Style and Timing. One broader implication is that the deficiencies identified in students’ e-mail excuses imply areas for improvement in their soft skills development overall.