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[holyhush]

A remarkably inane question for a nice, chilly night.  I have reading to do, of course, but I'd so much rather ponder email etiquette with the lot of you:

I'm a first-year student in a humanities PhD program.  Came in with a BA, will get an MA along the way in a year or so.  I'm not a PhD candidate yet, clearly.  So, then, what should my automatic email signature look like?

Wallace Stevens
Ph.D. Student
Department of Sunday Morning Studies
University of the Green Cockatoo
Address Here

--OR--

Wallace Stevens
M.A. Student
Department of Sunday Morning Studies
University of the Green Cockatoo
Address Here

--OR--

Wallace Stevens
Graduate Student
Department of Sunday Morning Studies
University of the Green Cockatoo
Address Here

--OR--

Wallace Stevens
Department of Sunday Morning Studies
University of the Green Cockatoo
Address Here

--OR--

Something else?

[katherineparr]

Wallace Stevens
Department of Sunday Morning Studies
University of the Green Cockatoo
Address Here

I'd use this, and be careful to specify in your emails that you're a grad student (when necessary). Another option would be to insert a job title, if you have one: Wallace Stevens, Teaching Fellow, etc.

However, this is my opinion, and backed only by my comfort level. If you get wildly different advice, I guess this is one of those cases where you should take the most extreme advice in order to avoid offense.

[gayle]

I would tend to lean towards 'grad student'.  It identifies your role without getting into the details of exactly what your degree status is.

[dr_prephd]

Sign it name and contact info. only, unless you're writing in some professional capacity, in which case you can add your title:

a)

Wallace Stevens
stevensw@ugc.edu
(222) 555-9090
789 Supreme Fiction Lane
Hartford, CT 12356

or

b)
Wallace Stevens
Teaching Assistant
Department of Sunday Morning Studies
University of the Green Cockatoo

stevensw@ugc.edu
(222) 555-9090
789 Supreme Fiction Lane
Hartford, CT 12356

[helpful]

Wallace Stevens

[miss_m]

I tend to agree with katherine parr, though that is about my comfort level, too.  I have to say that--especially dealing with undergrads in a supervisory position--that labeling thing can be tricky.  If you don't have to do that and you are comfortable in your grad student roll in all aspects of your official university life, than go with the generic "grad student" rather than putting a time-table and category to yourself.  

Maybe I just don't like fitting in someone's narrow definition of category--or that of everyone I send an email to from my university email account.  That said, Prephd was typing while I was typing, and I like his idea, but it doesn't make affliation clear when you need it to be--and makes the purpose and function of a built-in signature useless.  Not a bad "anti-box" practice, though.

MM

[locutus]

Ha. I just updated my email signature. Right now it's basicly this:

Jean-Luc Picard
Starfleet Academy
webpage address

I would put graduate student instead of MA or PhD.

[katherineparr]

Oh, and get this: I once had a conversation with a man who had an MA in English and was preparing to begin a PhD program (somewhere else).

He insisted that MA students were "grad students" but PhD students were not. Insisted!

So I realize that perhaps I shy away from adding Graduate Student because there are apparently people who don't understand what that can mean.

[august_leo]

Pre-comps I used:

August Leo
augustleo@school.edu
Dept of X
Y University
address, ya da ya da
tel: (lab phone)

Post-comps I used:
August Leo
Ph.D. Candidate
Dept of X
Y University
address, ya da ya da
tel: (lab phone)
email: ....
website: ....

I've seen "graduate student" and "teaching assistant" too. I wouldn't use "research assistant" because that can be a job without the grad school part.

Look through your email. What have advanced grad students in your program that you admire done?

[hypnotoad]

I use "Graduate Student" "Department of Toad Studies".  I'm now thinking about whether or not to list my website.