大多数学校都要求申请人提供二至三封推荐信。有力的推荐是录取的重要条件之一。推荐信要客观、公正、切忌流于形式，内容空洞，要与申请人的其它材料（如成绩单）等相符。推荐信也应注意格式、文法等。因为向来有"名师出高徒"之说。推荐信的格式与一般书信基本相同。有信头，发信日期，收信人姓名，称呼，正文，信尾谦称，签名，推荐人姓名，职称及工作单位等部分。但推荐信还应着重以下方面：

1. 为了便于校方查阅，必须提到被推荐者的全名。

2. 必须交待与被推荐者的认识期间（何时开始认识或认识多久），认识程度（偶尔见面或密切接触）及关系（师生关系，上下级关系，同事等）。

3. 对被推荐者的优点介绍及评价，这是推荐信的核心。主要包括被推荐者的天赋，学习成绩，研究能力，工作经验，学习精神，组织能力，品行及个性方面。

4. 必须表明推荐人的态度，是极力推荐还是有保留地推荐。

最近一些学校出于各种原因，设计了推荐表格，由推荐人填写，但其主要内容也和推荐信涉及的相同。

范例1计算机教授推荐信

at the request of mr. xizhen chen, my former student in the department of computer science, beijing univ. of sciences, i am glad to write this letter furnishing my evaluation of his academic aptitude for your reference. mr. chen is interested in your graduate program in computer science.

i came to know him in september1987when mr. chen enrolled in my class on fortran iv programming, a three semesters the class he was one of the most outstanding students. at the semester final he earned a high grade of81, which should be "a" according to our grading system. i also found him good at other studies.

after the class, he had personal talks with me several times. he indicated a great interest in computer hardware, in my opinion, mr. chen has a potential in computer science, which can be further developed.

in view of his previous achievements in this college, i am firmly convinced that mr. chen will make a successful graduate favorable consideration of his admission will be highly
appreciated.