给教师的建议

信格式

• Letters for major fellowships are usually 1 to 2 pages single-spaced, except for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, 哪个问题需要一个简短的回答表格.
•  Address letters to the individual who chairs the fellowship committee, 如果提供了该信息, or to the committee as a whole (“Dear Marshall Scholarship Committee”).
• Make sure the letter is dated and printed on university or other appropriate letterhead.
• Close with your signature and your full title or titles (e.g., “Assistant Professor of Anthropology” rather than just “Assistant Professor”).

其他的考虑

你可能想问问你的学生还有谁在推荐他们，其他人可能会说什么. 然后，你可以在你的信中提供信息，以补充别人写的内容, so that together the letters will provide a more comprehensive picture of each applicant.

虽然我们鼓励学生向推荐人提供自己的详细信息, 的奖学金, 以及他们提出的项目或学习课程, it is not ethical to request that students provide drafts of their own letters. 教师们也应该注意不要过于依赖学生们为他们的信提供的材料, since students give much the same information to each recommender, and following this material too closely can lead to letters that sound too much alike.

When to Say No

If you feel you cannot be emphatically positive in support of a student, if you recall little more about a student than the recorded grades, if a student approaches you in a highly unprofessional manner or if you simply do not have the time, you should say you cannot write a letter of recommendation.

What Helps

• 提供申请人的具体信息, 比如委员会成员可以用来确定申请人的优势的信息，这将有助于决定面试.
• Provide some context of how you know the applicant (class, research, work, civic, or other context) and for what period of time you have known the applicant.
• 表明你个人认识申请人. For example, 你们关系中独特的事件或行为比从简历中收集的信息更可信.
• Point to specific examples of what the applicant has done. (If the student wrote a brilliant paper, mention its topic and why it stood out. 如果学生在其他方面表现突出, explain the nature of this work and its particular strengths, especially as they relate to the goals of the fellowship.)
• Discuss why the applicant would be a strong candidate for the specific fellowship. 该候选人如何体现奖学金所指定的个人品质或选拔标准? 具体的例子很重要.
• 说明学生特别符合申请人所提议的课程或项目的资格. Such letters provide the links between past performance and what is proposed.

What Hurts

• Letters that are too short and fail to provide specific examples or instances of points mentioned.
• Generic letters or letters for another purpose sent without regard to the specific fellowship, 学习课程, 或提出的项目.
• 仅概述申请中其他地方可用信息的信件，或仅展示学生在班级中的成绩或排名的信件.
• 信函过于关注作者如何了解申请人的背景(课程或方法的描述)，而没有充分关注学生和他或她的成就.
• 主要由毫无根据的赞扬组成的信件. 那些不能让委员会强烈感受到申请人是如何脱颖而出的客套话是没有帮助的.
• 带着微弱赞美的信件. 说一个学生做了预期的事情(完成了所有的阅读作业)或指出他的品质(守时)是没有用的, enthusiasm, 外表)与友谊无关.
• Letters that focus on experiences that happened quite a few years ago. 即使是来自与申请人有长期关系的作者的信件也需要尽可能地保持最新和前瞻性.
• 可能被解读为暗示批评的信件(小心左手的赞美)，或者其批评可能被认为是比所陈述的更强烈的保留意见. 信件应该是诚实的——而且是诚实的批评, 如果慷慨赠予, can enhance the force of a letter — but committees take critical comments very seriously. It is best to be cautious when making critical remarks and to avoid any sense of indirection.

With thanks to Mary Tolar, Deputy Secretary of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.

对英国和爱尔兰奖学金的建议