How to Ask for an Awesome Letter of Recommendation

How to Ask for an Awesome Letter of Recommendation How to Ask for an Awesome Letter of Recommendation A letter of recommendation is exactly what it sounds like: a letter from someone you know, vouching for your qualities as a student/employee. Most colleges require a letter (or letters) of recommendation as part of their admission process. Likewise, employers and scholarship boards value letters of recommendation highly. Even future presidents need a letter of recommendation when starting out. Many students assume that every letter of recommendation is the same, but the quality of your letter can make a big difference. As such, it’s worth putting thought into whom you ask and how you go about this. Whom to Ask? Someone Who Knows You While a recommendation from a famous name in academia might look good at first, it will seem hollow unless it comes from someone who actually knows you and your work. It’s therefore vital that the person you ask is someone with whom you have worked, like a teacher whose class you’ve taken or a research supervisor. Someone Who Likes You This might sound obvious, but it’s always better if you’re on good terms with the person you ask for a recommendation! Try to establish a good relationship with teachers/professors early on, especially if you know you’ll need a letter of recommendation from them in the future. Subject-Specific Teachers Many colleges ask for a recommendation from your subject teachers, as these will have the best idea of your capabilities in specific fields. How to Ask? Leave Plenty of Time If you want a good recommendation, make sure to ask well before your application deadline. This is important, since college professors are often asked to write letters of recommendation by dozens of students, so they won’t have as much time to give yours consideration if you leave it to the last minute. You should, therefore, always ask at least a month before the deadline (longer if possible) so your referee can compose a thoughtful letter of recommendation. Be Organized! As well as time, your referee will need certain information to write your letter of recommendation. This will typically include your resume, details about your application(s) and relevant contact information. Be Polite! We hope this goes without saying, but asking politely is a good idea if you’re hoping your referee will write a strong, supportive letter of recommendation in return. Likewise, once your referee has supplied a recommendation, a thank you note rarely goes  amiss. And remember, if you’re not polite to your referee, your recommendation letter might not turn out quite how you wanted.

Meaning of the suffix -ee

Meaning of the suffix -ee Meaning of the suffix -ee Meaning of the suffix -ee By Guest Author This is a guest post by Tony Hearn. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. Time was when the suffix -ee lived a quiet and well-ordered life in its own restricted little corner. Your bank slips would ask for the name of the payee, perhaps. Lawyers would talk about vendee and grantee. It was clear enough. The entity with the -ee was the recipient. All neat and tidy. But no more. I dont know what its been fed, but -ee is now mutant and rampaging. The suffix is derived through French -Ã ©(e) ultimately from the Latin suffix -a-tus. For those who care, its the past participle of -a- stem verbs, signifying something having been done. As such it is passive, not active. Hence the agent is the payer and the recipient the payee. In its passive sense its been around for a long while, especially in the Law. Vendee and grantee, for example, refer to the indirect object of an action (the person to whom something is done). Payee refers to a direct object (the recipient of an action). Interviewee as someone being interviewed dates from 1880-85. Trainee is unexceptionable enough. Taxee, a person who is taxed has made its ugly appearance in the Urban Dictionary, though it remains unknown to my published dictionaries. More such misfits exist. Somewhere along the line someone who should have known better morphed the suffix -ee into an all-purpose active termination. Absentee seems to be an early example (1537!), but here perhaps the idea is that a person has absented himself. No such excuse attaches to the modern plague. Now we have attendees who should surely be attenders. This gains 456,000 hits on a Google search! Apparently the rot set in early: the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives 1937 as the earliest citation. And what about standee: 147,000 hits? Have our readers got any more horrors to add to this rogues gallery? I am left wondering whether my bank clerk knows the difference any longer between payer and payee. It could make a lot of difference! Tony Hearn has had a lifetimes love affair with language and with English in particular. As a Primary School teacher in England he has promoted a love of language and the importance of a mastery of its use. He enjoys the byways of websites like The Phrase Finder. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Dialogue Dos and Don'ts15 Words for Household Rooms, and Their SynonymsCharles's Pen and Jesus' Name