⚡Essential Question

How can I write a purposeful and professional recommendation letter so the person I am recommending and I both sound creditable?

✅ Learning Outcomes

A professional recommendation letter that is brief (one page) yet specific, formal, and purposeful.

🗺️ Context

You have been asked to provide a recommendation letter of someone you know well. The purpose of the recommendation letter will depend in large part on the person you have chosen to recommend, but likely will include either a professional (i.e., getting a job, etc.) or academic context (e.g., a student exchange program, etc.). Considering the person you have chosen (i.e., family, friend, colleague, etc.), the letter of recommendation you draft this week should be one that likely would benefit the person in the not too distant future.

❓Formality (structure)

Write a recommendation letter using a block style format, aligning the text to the left, and using one of the Acceptable fonts (APA, 7th edition). Adhere to the following structure, paying close attention to spacing, punctuation, and capitalization:

Date
Address block
Recipient (greeting)
Introduction (1st paragraph): Introduce yourself and your relationship with the recipient.
Body (2nd and 3rd paragraphs): Evaluate the individual; describe attributes of the person that would benefit the company. Separate the two distinct ideas into two paragraphs. Three or four sentences in each paragraph will probably suffice.
Closing paragraph (4th paragraph): Restate the person's strengths and how the person will be a good fit for the company. Conclude by offering your willingness to be contacted if necessary.
Closure: include your signature as well as your contact information.
Proper formatting for writing a block letter: spacing, etc.
Proper writing mechanics: grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc.
Proper tone Field-Tenor-Mode.

💯 Assignment

To complete this assignment, do the following:

Review the video and recognize letter formality.
Choose a person to recommend based on a professional or academic context or purpose.
Draft your letter in the shared Word document and have a writing partner review your it.
Mention me (”@BENJAMIN LEE STEWART”) as a comment with instructions regarding the kind of feedback that you would like to receive: general overview, questions about coherence, grammar, punctuation, etc.)
Make final revisions and edits to your recommendation letter to your shared Word document and submit the final draft to the VC assignment.