Linguistics grad school recommendations

[Buckner, Margaret L]

Here are the guidelines I give my students about letters of reference:
Request for a letter of reference
First, stop by, call, or email to ask if the faculty member is willing to write the letter, as far ahead as possible (several weeks is best).
After you get a positive response, stop by with, or email, the following information:
1.  Exactly what you're applying for (degree and program, job title, etc.).  Give the full name and address of the program or job and describe it briefly.
2.  What specific points or qualities you want emphasized, why you're applying for that particular program or job.
3.  List of the courses and/or activities you’ve done with the faculty member—especially the semester and year.  Include special events, such as conference presentations.
4.  If it’s an online application, the web address or name of  the institution sending the link.
5.  If it’s a letter, whom to address the letter to, and what to do with it.  If it's to be mailed, give the full address.  If it's to be picked up, should it be sealed and signed?
6.  When the letter is due.
7.  A promise to remind the faculty member a few days before it's due.   If you don't send a reminder, it's your fault if it doesn't get sent.
8.  A promise to keep in touch with the faculty member.  Let him or her know whether you got the job, position, or acceptance.  And let him or her know how you're doing from time to time.
On May 13, 2013, at 5:12 PM, PAUL B GARRETT wrote:

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<mailto: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<mailto: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