Important Distinctions

Being a first year university student, I do no profess to know everything about the social games that go on. However, I've been manipulating interacting with teachers/profs/employers long enough to know that if you want to get on someone's good side, ask about their progeny.

People love to talk about their kids. They will tell you that little Susie made a macaroni picture of a elephant and it belongs in the Louvre. They will tell you about the time when Johnny fought a bear and got rabies, and how now he has to live in the attic. Basically, tell anyone that their kids are collectively the greatest thing to burst forth from a vagina and they'll like you.

Many profs do not have children, they have Doctoral Theses.

Do not tell them that their paper is the greatest thing to burst forth from a vagina.