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Academic References

Getting Academic References for Further Education

Graduate programs, law schools, teacher’s colleges, medical schools and other institutions of further education typically use a reference-based system as a part of their admissions processes. References from instructors or research supervisors help to assess the qualitative merits of applicants, which gives a more detailed and holistic understanding than simple quantitative measures like the course grades or grade point averages found on academic transcripts.

If you are seeking further education, you will not only want to develop relationships with your course instructors, but will also want to make the choices and adapt the habits that help you demonstrate your research and academic potential during your studies.

Planning Ahead

If you are considering Further Education as a possible option, you might want to make several long-term or medium-term strategic choices in advance of your application cycle. For example:

Choose 'Active' Courses

Instructors have the easiest time writing strong reference letters for students in their smaller-sized upper-level courses, especially participation-intensive focused on student discussion, student research, and student presentations. They find it more difficult to write strong letters for students in larger lecture-based courses.

When choosing courses, don’t just choose courses that put you in the audience. Make sure you add in smaller seminar courses, highly engaged courses, or even individually-supervised research project courses, where available.

Make Early Contact

If you are thinking about applying to graduate school, say so. Introduce yourself to your course instructor on the first class, even if you don’t mention grad school yet. Once the semester gets underway, consider mentioning your in an email or in a conversation during class, even if just to ask for general advice on how to approach the course. One strategy might be to mention that you’re considering grad school and would appreciate any feedback on assignments that might help refine your skills during the course.

This kind of signalling not only makes it easier for you to ask for a reference letter, if and when the time comes, but also helps your instructor to get to know you as a student.

Make Your Request Timely

When it does come time to put together your application, give your potential references plenty of advance notice in advance. Even if you ask for the reference during an in person meeting, send an email with information about your program choices and their respective due dates and timelines. Avoid procrastinating out of nervousness, as tight timelines and instructor workflows often make last-minute letters difficult or impossible to write.

Do give your potential reference as much information as you can when making your request. Include a draft of your application letter, and maybe your resume. Share which other instructors you have already asked, especially if you have already asked your potentially strongest reference first, since that lifts the pressure off of your secondary or tertiary reference and makes it easier for them to agree.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A: Ask somebody who has seen firsthand the strength of your research, writing, and speaking. The strongest academic references for further education will be from an instructor who has read your research writing, and/or who has facilitated participation-based discussion on academic readings (e.g. in a seminar). Instructors of upper-level courses with few students and lots of discussion of readings, research-based writing, and presentations should be your priority. Minimize your reliance on instructors from larger lecture-based courses wherever possible.

A: You’ll need to get to know them. If you would like to pursue further education that involves an academic reference requirement, building relationships is a must. If you’ve already been actively participating in your classes, your instructor likely already recognizes you. Chatting briefly one-on-one during arrivals, breaks, and departures is good. So is going to office hours or sending an email when you have a substantive question about the course to discuss. Overall, if your academic work is strong, your instructor will typically be willing to support you on that basis — but solid academic work only helps write a short letter. The more you ‘put yourself out there’ by engaging meaningfully the more positive and specific things your instructor will be able to say in praise of you to admissions committees.

A: No, typically not. While it all depends on the individual school, in most cases you will not have to get or upload the letter yourself. Most commonly, when you share the email and contact info of your references, an automated system will typically send them an email asking them to confidentially complete a reference process. This keeps the references confidential and reduces the risk of things getting lost in translation.

Advice from a Faculty Member, Anthropology

We asked a faculty member from the Department of Anthropology for some frank advice, and they offered the following:

  • “Avoid approaching Teaching Assistants (TAs) or Instructional Assistants and asking them for letters instead of your professors/course instructors; they really aren’t the right people to ask for grad/law/medical apps.”
  • “Stick with letters from 3rd/4th year course instructors and in a subject area related to the future degree, especially if it’s a thesis-based MA program you’re applying for (i.e., don’t ask the instructor of a 4th year Biology or INSPIRE elective when you are applying for an MA program in Religious Studies). As an extreme example, I often get requests from students who took a lecture-based course with me in L1 Anthropology (with 600 other students), then went on to major in something unrelated like Engineering. It’s not really a fit.”
  • “I might stress that application processes are often asking referees for explicit info on a student’s work habits (e.g. asking: do they routinely hand in work late or ask for extensions? Can they multitask?) Professors in smaller classes will be better equipped to comment on a student’s work habits and organizational skills.
  • “Consider proactively sending your referee a copy of your unofficial transcript with any request, in addition to a draft statement of interest (if applicable) and deadlines. This just minimizes lots of back-and-forth emails.”

 

Advice from a Faculty Member, Political Science

We asked a faculty member from the Department of Political Science for some frank advice, and they offered the following:

  • “Ask in person – while the potential for a negative response can be awkward, recognize that you are asking someone for a favour that is outside of their normal workload and as such, it is best to do it in person. There are some exceptions, such as when you live far out of town where a zoom meeting might be acceptable, but if you are within a reasonable distance to campus, ask in person.”
  • “Let the potential reference know in advance that you wish to speak to them about a reference letter and make the meeting specifically about that – try to avoid mixing class related discussions with a “surprise” reference request – let them know in advance and they can then prepare for your request by looking at your grades or work and be able to give you an honest assessment of what the letter would contain.”
  • “Be prepared to get a negative response. In most cases, it will be framed in a gentle decline, such as a “perhaps another instructor could speak better to your work” or “I can really only assess you on the basis of your grades alone” which are all indications that the instructor does not feel comfortable writing a strong reference.”
  • “A strong reference letter will not get you into a program, but a weak or middling one could do significant damage to your chances. If you have any doubt, ask the reference if they can write a strong letter.”
  • “If you must ask by email, do not use ChatGPT or other sources to write the request. They all sound the same and the reference will know that you did not put the care or thought into writing the request yourself. Better an awkwardly written email than a generic one from an AI source.”

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