College instructors: have you been asked to write a letter of reference for one of your college students? What's the most effective way to write a letter that will genuinely help your student get into graduate school, get a job, or achieve some other important goal? Here three basic but powerful tips for writing an effective letter of recommendation.
Be Sincere
The first rule of effective recommendation writing is this: you have to mean it. If your recommendation is full of sincere, honest praise for a student, that will come across to the reader. If your recommendation is full of exaggeration, or stuff you just plain don't mean, that will come across as well.
Something to keep in mind: you're not obligated to write a student of recommendation -- so if you don't have good things to say, don't write the letter. Tell the student that they would be better off asking someone else for a recommendation. You can be honest about why ("you got a C in my class and never participated") or dishonest ("I'm sorry, but I don't have time"). Either way, it's better to say no than to write a poor recommendation.
Avoid the Generic Letter of Reference
Another important rule for writing an effective letter of recommendation: address the specific criteria that you are asked to write about. Take the time to read over directions carefully. If you are asked to write a letter to help you student get into an international teaching program, and the instruction sheet asks you to address your student's work ethic and her potential for working with diverse students abroad, then this is what you should write about.
This is especially important to keep in mind if you are writing multiple letters for a student. If you are writing letters to three different graduate programs, don't just send the same letter to everyone. Take your basic letter and tailor it to fit whatever you know about the specific school. If specific instructions aren't provided, do some quick Internet research and find out a little about the program to which the student is applying. Yes, this takes a little more time, but if you really want to help a student, it's worth it.
Two important question to ask yourself : could this letter be written for any other student? And could this letter be written for any other purpose? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, it's possible that your letter is too generic.
Give Specific Examples
Another important rule: always give specific examples to back up your points about the student. It's one thing to state that Lauren demonstrated a strong work ethic in your class. But what does that mean? It's far more sincere to say, "Lauren's outstanding final project demonstrated to me that she has a strong work ethic. Although she was only required to conduct one interview for the project, she conducted four. Lauren also took the time to get my feedback throughout the project, and took the time to incorporate the feedback."
Letters of recommendation are crucial tools that can help your students move onto important "next steps" in their lives. Take the time to write sincere, specific letters that are not generic, and you'll help your students achieve their dreams.
Naomi Rockler-Gladen - Instructional designer and freelance writer, Naomi Rockler-Gladen writes some of Suite101's most read work.
