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Although I have written a number of articles that deal with various aspects of writing letters of reference, I have never before itemized in one place the important steps you need to follow when writing a reference letter. Following is a list of those key points:

Make Sure It IS A Reference Letter
As I have detailed at length elsewhere, there is a lot of confusion between reference and recommendation letters letters. So make sure that the letter you are about to write is actually a letter of reference and not a letter of recommendation.

Determine Your Approach and Strategy
Depending on the specific situation you are dealing with, your approach and strategy to drafting the reference letter will vary. First and foremost, are you the best person to be writing this letter of reference? Then there will be questions as to how direct and forthcoming do you need to be? Also, is it appropriate to write something negative about the person being recommended?

Structure Your Letter Appropriately
Letters of reference will normally follow a three-part structure: 1.) opening statement, 2.) assessment statements, and 3.) closing statement.

Review Your Letter Carefully
Whether you are writing a reference for yourself or for someone else, it is likely to be among the most important letters you will ever write. Letters of reference have the power to change people’s lives. That’s why it is imperative that you carefully review the letter of reference that you have drafted and make sure it is phrased appropriately and is absolutely correct in terms of spelling and grammar. For obvious reasons, a reference letter is one that needs to be as close to perfect as possible.

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Although I have written a number of articles that deal with various aspects of writing letters of recommendation, I have never before itemized in one place the important steps you need to follow when writing a recommendation letter. Following is a list of those key points:

Make Sure It IS A Recommendation Letter
As I have detailed at length elsewhere, there is a lot of confusion between recommendation letters and reference letters. So make sure that the letter you are about to write is actually a letter of recommendation and not a letter of reference. For more on that, check out the following link:
http://writingprompts.com/recommendation-letter-definition.html

Determine Your Approach and Strategy
Depending on the specific situation you are dealing with, your approach and strategy to drafting the recommendation letter will vary. First and foremost, are you the best person to be writing this letter of recommendation? Then there will be questions as to how direct and forthcoming do you need to be? Also, is it appropriate to write something negative about the person being recommended? For more on recommendation letter writing strategies, check out the following link:
http://writingprompts.com/recommendation-strategies.html

Structure Your Letter Appropriately
Letters of recommendation will normally follow a three-part structure: 1.) opening statement, 2.) assessment statements, and 3.) closing statement. For more on what these “recommendation letter power statements” are all about, you can check out the following link:
http://writingprompts.com/recommendation-power-phrases.html

Review Your Letter Carefully
Whether you are writing a recommendation letter for yourself or for someone else, it is likely to be among the most important letters you will ever write. Letters of recommendation have the power to change people’s lives. That’s why it is imperative that you carefully review the letter of recommendation that you have drafted and make sure it is phrased appropriately and is absolutely correct in terms of spelling and grammar. For obvious reasons, a recommendation letter is one that needs to be as close to perfect as possible.

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The following article is an adaptation from a chapter in the Revised Edition of my best-selling book/ebook “Instant Recommendation Letter Kit – Revised Edition”.

The new version can be seen at the Web site:
http://InstantRecommendationLetterKit.com

Writing and editing literally hundreds of reference and recommendation letters over the years, I have noticed certain common elements and approaches that are applicable to almost all such letters. And, ever since I published my best-seller of a couple of years ago “Instant Recommendation Letter Kit”, I have been meaning to write down these common elements/approaches.

Finally, I did manage to jot it all down in a brand new chapter while I was drafting the Revised Edition of Instant Recommendation Letter Kit. That new chapter is simply titled, “Recommendation Power Phrases”.

If you look closely at many reference and recommendation letters you will notice that there are certain “types” of phrases that recur over and over again throughout the various letters. These statement types can be grouped into three major categories: opening statements, assessment statements, and closing statements. These statements are the three key components of any reference or recommendation letter. If you formulate these phrases well you are guaranteed to have an excellent letter.

1. OPENING STATEMENTS

The opening statement in a letter of reference should state the name of the person being recommended. It can also explain why you are the person writing the letter. The opening statement should normally be one short sentence and should never exceed two sentences.

Following are three (3) generic typical opening statements for inclusion in reference letters or letters of reference letters:

• I am writing this letter at the request of [name of requestor].
• This is in response to your recent request for a letter of reference for [name].
• I am pleased to be able to write this letter of reference for [name].

The Revised Edition of Instant Recommendation Letter Kit contains MORE THAN 50 opening statements for the various types of letter of reference.

2. ASSESSMENT STATEMENTS

Assessment statements in a letter of recommendation are those sentences and phrases that contain the recommender’s specific assessment of the performance, characteristics, and attributes of the person being recommended.

Normally an assessment statement will be followed up by one or two specific performance-related examples backing up the statement just made.

Following are three (3) generic typical assessment statements for inclusion in reference letters or recommendation letters:

• In my opinion, [name] is a hard-working self-starter who invariably understands exactly what a project is all about.
• [name] consistently produces high quality work in a timely fashion.
• The only area of weakness that I ever noted in [name]’s performance was…

The Revised Edition of Instant Recommendation Letter Kit contains MORE THAN 50 such assessment statements for the various types of reference letters.

3. CLOSING STATEMENTS

The closing statement in a letter of reference should be one or two sentences at most, and it should make a clear statement of recommendation that flows logically from the points made in the assessment part of the letter. They will often begin with transition phrases such as: “In summary…”, “In Closing,…”, “Based on the foregoing,…”, “Accordingly,…”, etc.

Closing statements in reference letters are generally positive, but in some circumstances they may be qualified, or even completely negative.

Following are three (3) generic typical closing statements for inclusion in reference and recommendation letters:

• I am therefore very pleased to be able to recommend [name] for…
• Based on my time working with [name], I recommend her very highly for…
• I respect [name] as a colleague, but I must say that in all honesty, I cannot recommend him for your committee.

The Revised Edition of Instant Recommendation Letter Kit contains MORE THAN 40 such closing statements for the various types of reference letters.

In summary, mastering these three types of “reference power phrases” is the key to writing all types of letters of reference. As such, knowledge of how to write typical opening, assessment, and closing statements used in reference and recommendation letters, as illustrated above, will make writing these letters a lot easier.

Accordingly, to help people quickly formulate their own reference letters, I have included more than 150 generic “Reference Letter Power Phrases” in the latest Revised Edition of Instant Recommendation Letter Kit:

Although, it’s unlikely that anyone who owns the Kit will ever have to actually write a reference letter from scratch. These reference power phrases are provided here simply for information purposes, since Instant Recommendation Letter Kit includes 89 fully-formatted real-life reference letter templates with the power phrases already built-in. These templates can can be downloaded into a word processor and quickly and easily adapted to fit just about any situation.