教师资源

写一封推荐信

What follows are responses to an informal survey of Truman Scholarship selection panel members asking: What do you like to see in a letter of recommendation, 是什么让你感到冷?*

这些评论与大多数申请主要奖学金的信件有关. Letters of recommendation are a key component in an applicant’s likelihood for success.

Of course, not every strong letter may be able to support the applicant in each of these ways. But all strong letters provide a vivid sense of what distinguishes the applicant and suggest a number of questions that could be the basis of a productive interview.

什么帮助

  • Provide specific information about the applicant – information that committee members can use to determine the applicant’s strengths and that will help shape an interview.
  • 提供一些作者如何了解申请人类别的背景, 研究, 工作, 公民, or other context—and for what period of time the writer has known the applicant.
  • 表明写信人与申请人有私交. 例如, incidents or actions that are unique to this relationship are more credible than information that could be gathered from the resume.
  • 举出申请人所做过的具体例子. (If the student wrote a brilliant paper, mention its topic and why it stood out. 如果学生在其他方面表现突出, 解释这项工作的性质和它的特殊优势, 特别是当它们与团契的目标有关时.)
  • Discuss why the applicant would be a strong candidate for the specific fellowship. How does this candidate exemplify the personal qualities or selection criteria specified by the fellowship? 具体的例子很重要.
  • Indicate what particularly qualifies the student for the 学习课程 or project that the applicant is proposing. 这些信件提供了过去的表现和提议之间的联系.
  • 将学生置于更大的背景中. 例如, a letter could compare the present applicant to others who have applied for similar honors in the past or who have succeeded in such competitions. 如果可能的话，可以将学生与研究生或专业人员进行比较. Quantitative remarks and percentages may be useful: “among the three best students I have taught,"在我20年的教学生涯中名列前5%的学生。.” The strongest comparisons have the widest reach: “among the best in my x years of teaching” is stronger than “the best in his/her section.”
  • Draw on the remarks of colleagues for supporting evidence or the acknowledgement of specific strengths. Letters from professors may also draw on the comments from teaching assistants who may have 工作ed more closely with the applicants.

什么伤害了

  • Letters that are too short, that fail to provide specific examples or instances of points mentioned.
  • Generic letters or letters for another purpose sent without regard to the specific fellowship, 学习课程, 或提出的项目.
  • Letters that merely summarize information available elsewhere in the application or that only present the student’s grade or rank in a class.
  • Letters that focus too much on the context of how the writer knows the applicant (descriptions of the course or its approaches) and not sufficiently on the student and his or her accomplishments.
  • 主要由毫无根据的赞扬组成的信件. Kind words that do not give committees a strong sense of how applicants have distinguished themselves are not helpful.
  • 带着微弱赞美的信件. It is not helpful to say that a student did what might be expected (completed all the reading assignments) or that point to qualities (punctuality, 热情, 外表)与友谊无关.
  • 这些信的重点是几年前发生的事情. Even letters from writers with long standing relationships with the applicant need to be as current and forward-looking as possible.
  • Letters that may be read as implying criticism (beware of left-handed compliments) or whose criticisms might be taken to indicate stronger reservations than stated. 信件应该是诚实的——诚实的批评, 如果慷慨赠予, can enhance the force of a letter—but committees take critical comments very seriously. It is best to be cautious when making critical remarks and to avoid any sense of indirection.

* With thanks to Mary Tolar, Deputy Secretary of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.

写推荐信的技巧

  • 寄信给担任奖学金委员会主委的个人, 如果提供了该信息, 或整个委员会(“亲爱的马歇尔奖学金委员会”).
  • Make sure the letter is dated and printed on department or other appropriate letterhead.
  • 许多信件现在被上传到申请网站.  你是唯一一个可以上传信件的人.  如果你丢失了指令和密码, please contact the 最高奖学金 office or the contact on the application website.
  • 主要奖学金的信件通常是1到2页，单行距.
  • 以你的签名和你的全部头衔结束.g., “Assistant Professor of Anthropology” rather than just “Assistant Professor”).
  • Some recommenders ask me to comment on drafts of their fellowship letters; I am happy to do so via email: viles@doorbaby.com or 303-735-6801.

什么时候说“不”

  • 如果你觉得你不能非常积极地支持一个学生
  • 如果你只记得一个学生的成绩
  • 如果你认为你不是写信的最佳人选
  • 如果一个学生以非常不专业的方式接近你
  • if you simply do not have the time or material to write a good letter for a student
  • 你可以帮助学生考虑其他可能的推荐人, but agreeing to write for a student whom you cannot strongly support is good for no one

其他技巧

  • You may want to ask your students who else is writing for them and what the other writers are likely to say. You can then provide information in your letters that will complement what is being written by others, so that together the letters will provide a more comprehensive picture of each applicant.
  • If you are asked to write letters for two or more applicants for the same fellowship, 注意不要在每一篇文章中使用太多相同的语言, 特别是如果它们将由同一个委员会宣读. 这样的重复削弱了你信的力度.
  • Although we encourage students to provide their recommenders with detailed information about themselves, 的奖学金, 以及他们提出的项目或学习课程, 要求学生提供他们自己的信件草稿是不道德的.
  • Faculty should also be aware of leaning too heavily on material provided by students for their letters, since students give much the same information to each recommender and following this material too closely can lead to letters that sound too much the same.