Helping students (and ultimately faculty) write an effective recommendation letter

Both undergraduate and graduate students need recommendation letters to help them reach various educational and career objectives. Professors sometimes have difficulty getting sufficient information from students to make each letter unique and persuasive. Students often have trouble writing specific details to substantiate their claims. Without this information, writing a recommendation letter can place unnecessary time demands on the professor. This pilot project is designed to help students provide sufficient specifics for an excellent letter of recommendation and to improve writing skills. The authors have devised a checklist to help students write a recommendation letter. The checklist can also serve as a useful career planning tool, establishing a framework on which to build and a guideline for analyzing the gap between school and work. The authors also suggest a handout to generate the first draft. Using the checklist can empower any student to develop an effective letter of recommendation.