Letter of Recommendation Tips and Tricks

How important is a letter of recommendation?

Being asked to write a letter of recommendation is both an honor and a chore. An honor because someone feels that they can trust you to recommend them and a real chore because writing a letter of recommendation takes a lot of time and thought if you want to do it well. The writer will not want to go over the top and needs to be honest if they want the reader to get “the write idea” about the subject. Writing a letter of recommendation takes real skill if you want to help the subject to gain that position. Moreover, it’s worth visiting our site where you may get additional information about writing an effective personal statement or about how to improve personal statement.

Getting a letter written for you

Asking someone to write you a letter of recommendation can be worrying, especially if you are not too sure what they are going to say of if they will even write the letter for you. The important thing is to make their job as easy as possible and help yourself in the process. Firstly ensure that you are asking the right person, they need to be someone who is;

• Relevant to the post / class you wish to take – a recommendation from your gym teacher may not help when applying to study astrophysics
• Respected in their position – Which will be respected, a letter from your professor or the lab assistant?
• Someone who actually knows you and your abilities

Next ensure that you make writing a letter of recommendation easy by providing them with the information that they will need to write it quickly. Give them at least the following information to help them;

• Provide your personal details; Include where and when you studied or worked with them
• Give them some examples of what you achieved in that time
• Tell them what skills, traits etc that you want them to mention and provide examples
• Thank them!

How to go about writing a letter of recommendation

If you want to write a good letter of recommendation you just need a few simple facts about the person and to think honestly about them. A letter of recommendation is not a lengthy document, usually less than a page and just needs to be factual and concise rather than a lengthy wandering essay. You need to cover just the following areas;

• An initial paragraph explaining how you know the subject and what your relationship is to them.
• Honest evaluation of the persons skills and accomplishments, provide specific examples to illustrate them.
• A final statement telling the reader why you are recommending them

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