{"id":4789,"date":"2009-09-14T22:12:09","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T22:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=4789"},"modified":"2026-03-05T21:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:06:20","slug":"reference-letters","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/career-services\/people-we-serve\/faculty-and-staff\/reference-letters","title":{"rendered":"Recommendation letters for students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Writing recommendation letters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost everyone is asked to write a <a href=\"\/career-services\/faculty-and-staff\/referenceletters\/reference-letter-template\">recommendation letter<\/a> at some time during their career. Whether it&#8217;s for a student, colleague, or someone you&#8217;ve worked with, it is important to be prepared to write an effective letter of recommendation. It&#8217;s equally important to be ready to say &#8220;no&#8221; if you&#8217;re not comfortable making a recommendation on someone&#8217;s behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When you have nothing positive to say<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s actually in the person&#8217;s best interest for you to politely decline writing a recommendation letter if you don&#8217;t know them well enough professionally and\/or can&#8217;t provide a strong endorsement. A less-than positive reference can cause as much harm as a negative reference. Employers and graduate schools are usually good at reading between the lines and will pick up on what you&#8217;re not saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you decline, the person can move on to another reference who may be able to provide a glowing recommendation. A simple way out is to say that you are not familiar enough with their work or background to provide a reference. That way you can minimize any potential hurt feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Request information<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re thrilled to be asked, but not sure what to say, ask the person for a copy of their resume, CV, personal statement or a list of accomplishments. This will give you guidelines to use when composing a letter. Start by describing how long you&#8217;ve known the person and in what capacity. Include dates and details on how you&#8217;ve worked with (or known) the person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can refer students to the <a href=\"\/career-services\/job-search-tools\/recommendation\">References and Letters of Recommendation<\/a> resources which include the materials they should provide for you and proper etiquette on how to ask for a recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Include details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue by describing the person&#8217;s skills and performance as they apply to the position and what makes them an ideal candidate for a potential new employer or graduate program. Also include two or three outstanding attributes. End by summarizing why you are recommending this person. You may also want to provide a phone number or email address so can follow up if they have questions or want more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to write reference letters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>足彩app哪个是正规的 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) provides information on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naceweb.org\/career-development\/organizational-structure\/a-faculty-guide-to-ethical-and-legal-standards-in-student-hiring\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legal issues regarding references<\/a> and an<a href=\"https:\/\/www.naceweb.org\/public-policy-and-legal\/legal-issues\/how-to-write-a-reference-letter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">introduction to writing reference letters<\/a> including suggested guidelines for written and verbal references, legal principles and sample forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some additional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/advice\/2016\/12\/02\/how-write-stronger-letters-recommendation-students-essay?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&amp;utm_campaign=af31fc1fbc-DNU20161202&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-af31fc1fbc-198465321&amp;mc_cid=af31fc1fbc&amp;mc_eid=b31d9bc458\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tips for writing effective recommendation letters<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writing recommendation letters Almost everyone is asked to write a recommendation letter at some time during their career. Whether it&#8217;s for a student, colleague, or someone you&#8217;ve worked with, it is important to be prepared to write an effective letter of recommendation. It&#8217;s equally important to be ready to say &#8220;no&#8221; if you&#8217;re not comfortable&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"parent":625,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4789","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"Career Services","email":"career@uw.edu","phone":"425.352.3706","box":"Career Services Box 358555","address_line_1":"17927 113th Ave NE","address_line_2":"Bothell, WA 98011-8246","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":true,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uwb_career\/","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Recommendation letters for students - Career Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/career-services\/people-we-serve\/faculty-and-staff\/reference-letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Recommendation letters for students - Career Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Writing recommendation letters Almost everyone is asked to write a recommendation letter at some time during their career. 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