Linguistics grad school recommendations

[PAUL B GARRETT]

Adding to Judy's good suggestions:

Once a professor has agreed to write a letter for you, you should provide
him/her with a single clear, comprehensive set of practical information: a
complete list of the programs to which you're applying; the due dates for
each; whether the letter is to be submitted online or sent by email or
regular mail (and the address to which it is to be sent, if the latter); a
link to the main website of each program; and anything else that you can
think of that might be useful.  Basically, you should put yourself in the
professor's place and anticipate every little thing that s/he is going to
need in order to write a good letter for you, in ample time, and get it
sent off to wherever it needs to go.

If you haven't seen the professor in a while, it may be a good idea to
update him/her by providing your résumé/CV, maybe a copy of your
transcript, and anything else that might help.  (But don't send too much
stuff--only what's most relevant to your application.)

And it is definitely a good idea to send him/her your application
essay/personal statement as soon as you have it ready (or nearly ready), so
that s/he can write the recommendation letter in a way that supports and
reinforces your statement in the best ways possible.  (A really dedicated
professor might even offer you some advice about ways that you can make
your statement stronger.)

 -- Paul


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Paul B. Garrett
  Associate Professor
    & Director of Graduate Studies
  Department of Anthropology
  Temple University
  Philadelphia, PA  19122
  USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 5:41 PM, Judy Pine <Judy.Pine at wwu.edu> wrote:

Dear Paul, and other undergraduates with this question,
>
> In order to have a strong letter, you really need it to come from someone
> with a basis for judging your potential. That means someone for whom you
> have done substantial work.  It is far more important that they know your
> capabilities than that they be in a specific field of study.
>
> Of course, you need someone who can speak to your ability to complete the
> work you are proposing to do in your application.  And you need to think
> about the rank of the referees - a full professor outranks an associate,
> and associate outranks an assistant.  If you have a full professor for whom
> you have done a research project, and especially if that project involved
> skills you will also be using in the graduate work you are proposing, then
> they are the absolute best reference.
>
> Be sure to treat the request for a letter as formally as you would a job
> application.  It is entirely inappropriate to write a "Hey, prof, can you
> do me a solid?" sort of email.  You are asking your referee to spend some
> significant time and thought on a carefully crafted letter on your behalf.
>  Be sure you remind them of the work you did with them, connect that work
> to the project you are proposing for graduate work, and explain why the
> particular graduate program(s) to which you are applying are such a great
> fit for you and your project.
>
> That is also information that should be in your application letter,
> frankly.  That is, you should explain, in a fairly formal register with the
> most excellent writing of which you are capable, why you are a great fit
> for grad program X and why grad program X is a great fit for you.
>
> - Judy Pine
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Linguistic Anthropology Discussion Group [mailto:
> LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org] On Behalf Of Paul Otto
> Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 11:48 AM
> To: LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: Linguistics grad school recommendations
>
> Hello all,
>
> I am a prospective graduate student in linguistics, and I have a question
> that so far has gone unanswered: as an anthropology major at a university
> without a linguistics department, how can/should I go about getting the
> recommendations from linguistics scholars that I need for applying to
> graduate programs?
>
> Am I mistaken in understanding that my recommendations need to be from
> people with specifically linguistic backgrounds? There are some professors
> in related fields (including one "linguistically-informed anthropologist")
> at my university, and I've contemplated asking them for recommendations.
>
> What should I do?
>
> Gratefully and respectfully yours,
>
> Paul Otto
> Undergraduate - DePaul University
> Anthropology Department
>