Advice from Ken Hiltner about Recommendation Letters

From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base

The following is a copy of an email sent to Englgrad by Ken Hiltner on August 25, 2008.

HI Everyone,

What follows is the next installment of my practical advice for grad students. Again, this will be most useful for folks on the job market (it is getting near that time of year!), as it deals with recommendation letters.

At first glance it may seem as if that you have little or no role in the writing of your recommendation letters. After all, once you identify three writers, presumably the members of your dissertation committee, what more needs to be done, other than asking them to write for you? Nonetheless, the fact is that you can and should play a major and active role in coordinating your recommendation letters and what they contain. This will not only very likely result in superior letters, but also ensure that a broad range of material is referenced.

To understand how, it is helpful to put yourself in the mindset of your letter writers. Since you have no doubt already written recommendation letters on behalf of undergrads, this should be easy enough. As you know, what often makes a letter particularly effective is not just lavish encomium (which is, after all, a fixture of the genre of the recommendation letter), but specifics relating to the student. This is why we often wisely ask undergrads to supply a copy of a course paper that they have written for us, so that we can reference it in some detail. For a one-page letter suitable for undergrads, this often provides all the specifics necessary for an effective recommendation. Now imagine that you are putting together a multi-page letter, such as you are asking members of your committee to write. In this case, it would be helpful to have a range of material to reference, not just one short essay. Consequently, if you supply your writers with an array of resources from which to draw, it will not only make for a more effective letter, but also make the writer's job all that much easier.

In short, you should consider putting together a package of materials tailored to each of your letter writers-- assuming, of course, that they are open to the idea. This last point is worth pausing on, as you obviously do not want to give the impression that you are in any way attempting to script your letters. Perhaps the best approach is to explain to your letter writers what sort of package you could prepare for them (more on this below), and see if they are receptive to the offer. Feel free to tell them that it was my idea. While some folks may find it unnecessary, I suspect most will be grateful, as it really should help with the process.

As to what to include in each packet, at the top of the list should, of course, be a photocopy of one of your chapters, perhaps a version already marked up by your writer. Yes, she will have already have read all of your production to date, but having something specific in hand will make her life easier. If you have a particularly strong chapter (for example, one on Faulkner), there may be a temptation to supply it to all three letter writers. Since it is strong, you might also be tempted to use it for your writing sample. The obvious problem here is that, even though your dissertation may be a sweeping treatment of 20th-century fiction, the hiring committee may see and hear about little more than Faulkner. Thus, even though the chapter and the letters in praise of it may suitably impress them, they may nonetheless be left with the impression that you are a bit of a "one-hit wonder," who indeed has one strong chapter, but apparently no others worth mentioning in detail. Even worse, as no one is referencing them, the hiring committee may suspect that the other chapters may not yet be finished, or even started. Consequently, you would ideally want to supply each of your writers with a separate chapter to reference in detail, as well as use an altogether different chapter for the writing sample. Now, in practice, this may not be possible--for no other reason that you may not yet have four chapters written! Still, the idea here is that, as the hiring committee will be reading four separate letters (including your cover letter), it is an excellent opportunity to have a broad range of your materials referenced and praised, rather than the same thing said four times. In general, this is an important point to remember when putting together your packets. Finally, in order to help your writers quickly recall the chapter that they are referencing, you may want to include an abstract of it, especially if you are already preparing chapter-by-chapter abstracts of the dissertation for your job materials.

Other than a sample chapter, you should, of course, supply your writers with copies of any published essays that you may have. If you received an especially favorable report from a reader when the essay was sent out for review, definitely include a copy of it for one of your writers, perhaps with a particularly positive phrase or two highlighted. It both makes the letter writer's job easier, and the letter itself far more effective, if they can reference that a reader for the journal Representation noted "this important essay causes us to usefully rethink_____." Of course, you could quote the line yourself in your cover letter, but you will come across as far more humble if you let others do the praising for you (more on this below). If you have additional samples of your written material, perhaps something like poems that you have published, these should perhaps (based on the advice of members of your committee) be included in some of your packets. Keep in mind that your letter writers have different interests and specialties. Consequently, if one of your writers is a nationally recognized poet, and another equally well known for her work on Faulkner, it is obvious what each of their packets should include.

Since, in addition to research and writing, our profession obviously involves teaching and administrative work, you will want your writers to reference each. As with your written materials, ideally you want each letter writer to reference a different aspect of your teaching, assuming that you have taught for them. This is often easy enough to engineer, as you will likely have taught for, or have had your teaching supervised by (such as for an Eng 10), one or more of your writers. In order to give them something in particular to talk about, it is often helpful to note specific techniques and ideas that you brought to the classroom, such as, for example, requiring students to make weekly online postings. If your student evaluations for the course were strong, you could include in your packet the cover sheet, which provides the numerical breakdowns of the scores, as well as a copy of a few specific evaluations, perhaps with a line or two of each highlighted. Not only will this again make your letter writers' jobs easier, it can make for an exceptionally impressive letter if a writer can quote a student effusively noting that "this was the most interesting section that I have ever had at UCSB."

Along with teaching and research, you will want your letter writers to reference your community service at UCSB, which, of course, speaks to how well, and enthusiastically, you share the administrative workload of a department. This should be easy enough, as you may have worked closely with one or more of your writers coordinating something like a conference or colloquium. Again, as with your research and writing, it would be ideal if each writer could reference separate service. It will make your writers' jobs easier, and the letters more effective, if you enumerate exactly what your service involved in a bullet list (more on this below), such as, for example, posting the CFP for the conference, coordinating speakers, etc. In general, providing careful descriptions of what sort of research, teaching, and administrative work that you did at UCSB obviously gives your writers more with which to work. Yes, your writers no doubt know what is involved in putting together an Eng 10, but providing them with a quick description of your particular class can refresh their memories on what is generally involved, as well as how you made the course your own. Your packets to your writers should obviously also include any other miscellaneous but important information, such reminding them that you worked for them as a research assistant, have certain useful computer skills, etc.

In addition to the above, your letter writers can perform two very important services far better than you can. First, if there is an awkward issue or circumstance that needs to be explained, such as why you may have needed to take a leave of absence, it is often far better if one or two of your writers sympathetically make your case, rather than you doing so for yourself--which might be perceived as excuse-making on your part. Conversely, if you have something that you would like to brag a little about, perhaps an award that you have won, it is generally better if you let others do it for you, lest you seem a little too full of yourself. Moreover, by offloading these tasks to your letter writers, you will have more room in your cover letter for other things. In general, it is worth repeating that, by distributing different material over your four letters (the three letters of recommendation and your cover letter), you will present members of the hiring committee with more, and more interesting, material.

As to the form that your packet to each letter writer should take, a bullet-point list, accompanied by the abovementioned supporting documents, is probably easiest. In this list you would want to concisely mention the sort of things covered above. For example, with teaching you could note the course(s) that you taught, the unique ideas that you brought to the classroom, your evaluation scores, and so forth. As to just how many different letters of recommendation you should request, opinion differs. Personally, I think three, or perhaps four, is ideal. Certainly, if an MLA job listing only asks for three, only send three. Remember, some members of hiring committees will be reading every application they receive. Since this could mean hundreds of applications, and perhaps more than 10,000 pages of material, you cannot expect them to read everything as thoroughly as you might like. Moreover, you may not be able to control in which order they read the letters. Hence, what you imagine to be a minor supporting letter may be read first, and the most important letter not until sixth or seventh (if you included that many), which might mean that it is rushed over.

Yes, what I am outlining here involves a great deal of work on your part. And no, it is not essential that you do it all. However, for all the reasons noted above, it is in your best interests to take an active role in coordinating your recommendation letters.

As always, if you have any questions, do send them my way!

Ken