Would it be weird to send a thank-you email to a professor for a really good paper they wrote?
Hi all. A few days ago I was looking into a personal question regarding literature critique that had caused me headache for some time now, and stumbled on a (relatively) short paper written by a literature professor around 10 years ago which is remarkably thoughtful, well-cited, and well-organized. It answered my original question alongside several far more interesting questions I hadn’t even considered, and overall I feel the paper has thoroughly improved my ability to meaningfully engage with and critique literature.
This professor hasn’t published any new papers in the last 8 years or so, and seems to have moved away from research and towards teaching undergraduate courses. Would it be awkward for me, an undergrad in a different country, to email him with a brief “thank you” note for his work? I imagine he’s got plenty of emails from his students and colleagues already, and I’m not too sure how much he’d enjoy receiving random fanmail from someone he doesn’t know.
Would you find it weird to receive a note like that?