Writing Effective Letters of Recommendation (or Writing Effective Cover Letters)

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education features advice for professors about how to write effective graduate school letters of recommendation.  Brian Croxall collected advice from a variety of academics and compiled their advice into the following five principles:

1. Be specific

2. Provide context

3. Ask the students for information and documents you'll need

4. Be sure you can recommend the student

5. Enthusiasm and foresight

All of the above advice can easily be applied to writing a cover letter and applying to a job or an internship. The first two are obvious. The third can easily be translated into do your homework; know the company and the position you are applying to.  Research the position that you're applying to and spend some time thinking about how you might fit in there. Number four can be reframed in terms of being aware of who you are asking for a reference and why you are asking them. Invest the time necessary to build good relationships with your professors and employers now so that you can feel confident that the people you are asking for recommendations will write you an enthusiastic letter.