Recommendation Letter Template
Author
Joseph T Foley
Last Updated
4ヶ月前
License
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0
Abstract
Recommendation letter template intended for use by Reykjavik University students and staff.
%% LaTeX template for writing student recommendations by Joseph T. Foley <foley@ru.is>
%% This can easily be used for anything that needs a letterhead.
%% The template requires XeLaTeX!
%% To get a proper info-line at the bottom, you will need the official RU font
%% "HelveticaNeueLTStd" and put it in a fonts directory. Uncomment the lines in the
%% recommendation.sty file to enable the font.
\documentclass[11pt,draft]{letter}
\usepackage{recommendation}
\setlogo{ru-logo}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=numeric,natbib=true]{biblatex}
%% natbib allows \citet and \citep to exist
\addbibresource{references.bib}
\usepackage{course-components}
\usepackage{custom}
%% Put your information here
\newcommand{\myname}{John Hancock}
\newcommand{\email}{{\tt johnhc@ru.is}}
\newcommand{\position}{Professor}
\newcommand{\department}{Department of Stuff}
\newcommand{\university}{Reykjavík University}
\newcommand{\universityaddress}{Menntavegur 1\\
Reykjavík 101\\
Iceland}
\renewcommand{\universityinfoline}{\color{rugray}{\textbf{REYKJAVÍK UNIVERSITY}} | Menntavegur 1 | 102 Reykjavík | Ísland/Iceland | Sími/Tel +354-599-6200 | ru@ru.is | \textcolor{red}{www.ru.is}}
\address{\myname{}\\\position{}\\\department{}\\university{}\\\universityaddress{}}
\newcommand{\cred}{(BJU BS '99)}
\newcommand{\info}{I am an \position{} at \university{} in the \department{}}
\newcommand{\phone}{+354-555-5555}
\newcommand{\imaddr}{skype at {\tt foo} and MS Teams}
\newcommand{\disciplines}{Divine intervention}
\newcommand{\tenure}{12 years}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% SIGNATURES %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\newcommand{\myopening}{Dear admissions officer,}
%% Default opening for all the letters which assumes you will print and sign
\signature{\myname}
\newcommand{\myclosing}{Kind regards,}
%%% Comment the 3 lines below if you wish to skip the signature graphic
\signature{}
\renewcommand{\myclosing}{Kind regards, \\
\fromsig{\includegraphics[height=3\baselineskip]{signature}}\\\fromname{\myname{}}}
%% Information about the student
\newcommand{\studentfull}{Katrín Jakobsdóttir}
\newcommand{\student}{Katrín}
%% Prononuns for the boilerplate text
\newcommand{\He}{She}
\newcommand{\he}{she}
\newcommand{\His}{Her}
\newcommand{\his}{her}
\newcommand{\Him}{Her}
\newcommand{\him}{her}
%% Macros defined by the letter class
\address{\myname{}\\\position{}\\\department{}\\\university{}\\\universityaddress{}}
\newcommand{\recommendationbase}[1]{
\begin{refsection}
My name is Dr.\ \myname{} \cred{} and \info{}.
I have been teaching at this university for \tenure{} in the areas of \disciplines{}.
I have known \studentfull{} for 3 months.
\student{} has completed Mechatronics 1 in 2023 and excelled with a grade of $X \rightarrow Y$ \fxfatal{Fill in grade.} out of 10.
\He{} ranked Z out of ZZ in the class. \fxfatal{Fill in rank}.
% I need to know what year so I can check the grade and earning outcomes
\He{} had an excellent grasp of the very challenging and interdisciplinary material which draws from computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.
\mechonetwentytwoinfo{}% macro about mech 1 in course-components.sty
\fxfatal{Fill in a summary of the group project, at least a paragraph.}
\His{} team built {\em something\/} that {\em accomplishes this goal}.
This project required them to {\em solve these interesting problems and challenges}.
To solve it, they had to {\em do things that solved those problems and overcame those challenges.}
The final result was able to do {\em this capability}.
The project was well thought out, well implemented, and properly documented in a presentation.
\fxfatal{If you wish to talk about two courses, repeat the previous two paragraphs with the new information.}
\fxfatal{Fill out individual information, at least a paragraph}
\student{} has {\em characteristics}.
\He{} has shown {\em characteristic 1 by doing something}.
\fxfatal{Add the part makes the recommendation believable (and not generic).
Be as detailed as possible.}
\He{} has {\em area of improvement}.
\He{} is {\em improving them by doing \ldots\/}
%% Summary goes here. Put \skillsmastered{} in argument for default skills.
#1
If you have further questions, I can be contacted at \phone{},
\email{}, \imaddr{}.
\closing{\myclosing{}}
% make sure you have the bibmagic option for bibtex
% \bibliography{references} %bibtex
\printbibliography{} %biber/biblatex
\end{refsection}
}
\newcommand{\recommendation}[2]{\recommendationbase{To summarize, I would highly recommend \student{} for \his{} proposed graduate studies in #2.
\He{} has mastered the fundamentals necessary for research in this field including giving proper respect to the gods of the magic blue smoke which live in electronics.
}}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%DOCUMENT BEGINS %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\begin{document}
% Example of using letter macros (found in custom.sty)
% arg2: department applying to
% arg2: degree
\ethletter{Faculty of Electrical Engineering}{Robotics}
% %% Example of recommendation (not in custom.sty)
% \begin{letter}{Faculty Of Engineering And The Environment\\
% Building 177\\
% University Of Southampton\\
% Boldrewood Campus\\
% SOUTHAMPTON\\
% SO16 7QF\\
% United Kingdom}
% \opening{Dear Admissions Officer,
% \recommendation{Department of Engineering}{Unmanned Aircraft Systems Design}}
% \end{letter}
% %% Example of a letter for applying to a job
% \begin{letter}{Human Resources Department\\Marel ehf.\\Austurhraun 9\\210 Garðabær\\Iceland}
% {\opening{Dear Human Resources administrator,}
% \recommendationbase{To summarize, I would recommend \student{} for positions in mechanical design, especially research and development.
% \He{} has mastered the fundamentals necessary for effective work in this field, including: design methodologies, CAD tools, rapid prototyping, version control, and documentation in \LaTeX.}
% }
% \end{letter}
% %% Example of a grant or scholarship
% \newcommand{\scholname}{Google Europe Scholarship for 2016}
% \begin{letter}{\scholname{}}
% \opening{To whom it may concern,}
% \recommendationbase{To summarize, I would highly recommend \student{} for \his{} consideration for \scholname{}. \skillsmastered{}}
% \end{letter}
\end{document}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% TeXStudio Magic Comments %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% These comments that start with "!TeX" modify the way TeXStudio works
%% For details see http://texstudio.sourceforge.net/manual/current/usermanual_en.html Section 4.10
%%
%% What encoding is the file in?
% !TeX encoding = UTF-8
%% What language should it be spellchecked?
% !TeX spellcheck = en_US
%% What program should I compile this document with?
% !TeX program = pdflatex
%% Which program should be used for generating the bibliography?
% !TeX TXS-program:bibliography = txs:///biber
%% This also sets the bibliography program for TeXShop and TeXWorks
% !BIB program = biber
%%% Local Variables:
%%% mode: latex
%%% TeX-master: t
%%% TeX-engine: xetex
%%% End: