This page provides some information for people (interested in) requesting a letter of recommendation or reference from me. In general, I get a bunch of these requests every year and they tend to cluster from October-January (due to application deadlines for graduate schools, faculty hiring committees, fellowships, and the like). I do my very best to say yes to letter requests whenever I can. Anything you can do to help me manage these commitments and incorporate them into my other work obligations will be greatly appreciated (at minimum, by me, but also by anyone else I happen to be working with!).
Listing me as a reference (without a letter)[edit]
- If you would like to list me as a reference in an application for...anything, please get my consent before doing so.
Letters of recommendation[edit]
How I write letters[edit]
I try to write letters of recommendation that do three things:
- summarize my relationship to and knowledge of the person I'm recommending,
- characterize and illustrate that person's strengths/accomplishments (with specific examples whenever possible), and
- make a compelling case for why the person should be selected for the job/fellowship/program/whatever.
I encourage you to consider this when asking me (and others) for letters of recommendation. Doing so might help you decide whether or not I'm in a good position to provide the kinds of information about you that you want to be sent to the people considering your application.
Requests & timing[edit]
tl;dr: 3 weeks notice, please!
- I strongly prefer to receive requests for letters and draft materials at least three weeks before they are due (more advance notice is always better).
- If I agree to submit a letter on your behalf, please provide (drafts of) all the materials I request from you (see below) no less than two weeks before they are due (more advance notice is always better).
- If you cannot make your request or provide your materials on the timeline described here, do not panic. Please ask anyway. Just know that I might not be able to make the deadline and/or might ask you for extra help to do so.
Resources I need from you[edit]
tl;dr: send me (draft) application materials, calendar invitations for deadlines, and any other info ASAP
In order to write a compelling letter of recommendation, the following materials are crucial:
- A current CV or resume.
- Your (draft) application materials. If these are in-progress, consider sharing a link to a git repository or google doc or similar where I can find the most up-to-date version.
- A list of, with link(s) to salient information about, the position(s), fellowship(s), and/or program(s) for which I am recommending you. Salient information should include submission deadlines as well as relevant details about how I am to submit my letter (do I send it to a specific email address? Look for a submission invitation email? Upload to interfolio or some other site?).
- Calendar events (.ics-compatible) for all letter submission deadlines.
- Any specific guidance you'd like to provide me about the contents of the letter. This might include specific topics/aspects of your application and work that you feel I am uniquely/best positioned to talk about. You might also share any special insights you have into the selection process or criteria for the position(s), fellowship(s), and/or program(s) for which I am recommending you.
Tips and pointers[edit]
- Whenever possible, I like working with PDFs, raw-text formats, or documents formatted using open standards (i.e., your carefully formatted MS word files probably render incorrectly on my machine).
- If you're still working on any of the resources listed above, please provide a link to a place where I can find the most up-to-date version (a git repository? a google doc? whatever works).
- If you make changes to the lists or deadlines of applications, please confirm these changes with me as I probably won't notice otherwise.
- It never hurts to send me a reminder (email is fine) a few days ahead of a deadline.
- The first letter takes me the most work and is where the timing/deadline stuff really matters most.
