来自密歇根大学： Effective letters of recommendation: 1. Provide context, establishing the writer's relationship to the student, giving insight on course expectations, and the student's level of success; 申请人与推荐人的关系，申请人在所读课程所取得的成绩；
2. Provide specificity, which could include, but not be limited to, the candidate's ability to work in abstract and conceptual thought, express him/herself orally, write effectively, read discerningly, and work independently; 讲述申请人的学习情况；
3. Describe personal qualities of the candidate, which could include, but not be limited to, motivation, integrity, maturity, leadership, capacity for growth, and ability to profit from critical comment; 讲述申请人的个性品质，潜能；
4. Give anecdotal support to what would otherwise be generic support (i.e., proven integrity via an incident in your classroom, capacity to wrestle with abstract ideas as shown in a specific oral presentation before the class, a growing maturity as viewed by a candidate's reaction to constructive criticism; 给出实例；
5. Can often "tell a story" which paints a very amiable, human picture of a candidate, one the reader might identify with more easily than if general, unspecified words of praise (platitudes were listed; 能让读者清楚了解到申请人；
6. Can bring to light the memorable aspects of a candidate for an admission committee's deliberations; 能让录取委员会对申请人留下深刻印象；
