Many students need letters of recommendations for various academic and business reasons. Whoever the student is requesting the letter of recommendation from — an educational administrator, teacher, job supervisor or religious leader — they must allow the recommendation writer sufficient time to comply with the request. Students often procrastinate when requesting letters of recommendation and many do not articulate the request well.
Instructions
1. Create an outline for your students on how to request a letter of recommendation. Cover etiquette and the written formats for requesting a letter of recommendation in person, by email or via request letter. Set aside class time to practice the ways to request recommendations and how and when to request a letter.
2. Teach a lesson on how to write a reference request letter. Use sample letters and assign lesson-related homework. Cover basic information such as when the letter is due, who the letter should be addressed to and for what purpose, some of the highlights the requestor would like the requested to mention in the letter, and all of the requester’s contact information.
3. Give a class lecture on how students can request a letter of reference via email. Include an email template and ways to phrase the email. Review examples of concise, polished email recommendation requests and the acceptable situations to ask for a recommendation letter by email. Also, discuss the appropriate amount of time to wait before calling the recommendation requested on the phone or sending another email inquiring about the recommendation request.
4. Set aside class time to help students write actual reference request letters and email recommendation requests. Some students may want to begin requesting letters of recommendation for real job interviews, college applications, internships, academic programs and scholarships.