Skip to main content

Writing Letters of Recommendation

OWL logo

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.



Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.


These OWL resources were designed for high school teachers and guidance counselors. They discuss how to write effective letters of recommendation for students who are applying to colleges and universities. They also discuss how to navigate the new Common Application, which is accepted at over 500 colleges and universities across the United States.

In this section