Letters of recommendation

What are the pitfalls to avoid when writing a letter of recommendation? What are the best practices in this area?

Did you know?

• People tend to write better recommendation letters to people who are similar to them in terms of gender and personality.
• Letters of recommendation written for women are briefer and more incomplete than those written for men, with fewer defining adjectives and more elements of doubt. They also place more emphasis on the person’s interpersonal qualities than on their research skills or achievements.
• People writing letters of recommendation for people with disabilities are sometimes awkward in approaching the subject, and this difference is highly likely to be perceived as incompetence or disability.

_{Read more in this document from Université de Sherbrooke}

To get started ….

• Writing Letters of Recommendation (Berkeley)
• Lignes directrices et pratiques exemplaires pour les rédacteurs de lettres de recommandation (Chaires de recherche du Canada) (fr or en)
• A Linguistic Comparison of Letters of Recommendation for Male and Female Chemistry and Biochemistry Job Applicants
• Gender bias calculator
• Writing Recommendation Letters and Avoiding Bias in Recommendation Letters (Georgetown University)

And also ….

• Letters of Recommendation : Best Practices
• Avoiding gender bias in reference writing