How you ask for a letter of recommendation is important because you need to ask in a way that maximizes your chances of getting the best possible reference for your job, internship, graduate school, or scholarship application.
Ask specifically for a strong recommendation—this helps to signal that the potential recommender should decline if they feel they’ll only be able to write you a generic or weak letter.
Provide helpful context such as details of the opportunity, submission deadline, and suggestions for what to include in the letter.
Ask in a way that’s respectful and convincing without being pushy.
If you’re requesting a letter of recommendation via email, QuillBot’s free Paraphraser can help you to strike the right tone.
A letter of recommendation is a written statement of support for someone who is making an application for an academic program, job, or other opportunity, presented in a business letter format.
To be able to write an effective letter of recommendation, you have to know the candidate well in a capacity relevant to the application and be able to offer genuine, firsthand insights into their achievements, qualities, skills, and knowledge.
The advice, examples, templates, and formatting tips below will help you to write a strong letter of recommendation in support of someone applying for:
A college program
A graduate program
A job
An internship
A scholarship
Alternative terms for “letter of recommendation” include letter of reference, reference letter, letter of referral, referral letter, and recommendation letter.
TipQuillBot’s free Paraphraser can help you craft compelling and enthusiastic descriptions for your letters of recommendation.
It’s especially useful for teachers or counselors who need to write multiple letters for students applying to the same schools—quickly providing suggestions to vary your language so you can produce unique letters.
