Things to know before asking Professor Bekafigo for a letter of recommendation:

First, make sure I know you.  These letters are often the most important part of any application—you want them to count.  An anonymous letter from a professor in whose class you might have earned an A but who couldn’t spot you in a lineup will be less valuable than one from a professor who really knew you and watched you improve to earn a B+ by semester’s end.

With that being said, I will generally only write letters for students who I have known for an entire semester.

Second, ask early.  In any given semester you will be one of many who ask for a letter of recommendation.  Contact me at least four weeks in advance of the deadline for submitting the letter.  Seriously; I make no promises of timeliness for anything that comes in later.

Third, students should submit a draft of a letter to me. Yes, I want you to write your own letter! No, I won't use your words verbatim, but this will help me write a better letter for you because you know yourself best. Most importantly, you know best what accomplishments you made in my class that I may have forgotten about. In other words, did I ever say to you "that is a brilliant way of thinking or looking at politics?" If so, please remind me of that moment in your letter. Did you improve your writing over the semester? Did you go to the writing center to make improvements? Were you shy at the beginning of class and then began coming out of your shell? Or were you always the most prepared student? These are things I need to be reminded of so that is why I would ask that you write a draft of your own letter for me to follow.