Scholarship Recommendation Request Form printable pdf download

WRITING A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION

As an employer, coworker or friend, you may at some point in your career be called upon to

write a letter of recommendation. If you are unsure about how to go about it or simply don’t

know what to say, here are some tips about what to include and how to structure a typical letter

of recommendation.

This information may also be useful if you request a letter of

recommendation from someone who is not familiar with how to write one.

First Paragraph – Start out by specifying in what capacity and for how long you have known

the person whom you are recommending. If the person is an employee/coworker/student,

indicate the term of employment/education, the responsibilities of the position, and any

significant projects undertaken by the individual. You may wish to include a sentence about the

nature of your company and its activities. If you are an instructor, indicate which classes the

individual has attended and how they have done academically. Here, you can also give a one-

sentence summary or overview of your opinion of the recommended individual.

Second Paragraph – In the next paragraph provide a more detailed evaluation of the person as

an employee/student/friend. Describe his/her performance on specific assignments and list any

important accomplishments. What are the individual’s strengths or weaknesses? What was it

like to interact with him/her?

Third Paragraph – To sum things up you can make a more broad characterization of the

individual and his/her demeanor.

Overall, was the person responsible, polite, warm,

disagreeable, lazy or spiteful?

Finally, indicate the degree to which you recommend the

individual for the scholarship he/she is seeking: without reservation; strongly; with some

reservation; or not at all.

Before writing the letter, you may want to ask the person for a list of his/her projects, since you

probably will not be aware of all the work they’ve done. Finally, if you have not had much

contact with the person, you may be better off declining to write the letter of recommendation,

rather

than

putting

together

something

vague

and

dispassionate.

Scholarship Recommendation Request Form