Letters of recommendation are routinely sought for employment and education situations. You may also find yourself asked to write a reference letter for someone seeking to adopt a child, get into college or be released on parole. Honestly, a person's first internal response, no matter how highly they think of the person and want to help him or her out, is often, "What a hassle."

But if you know a few of the "rules" of recommendation and reference letter writing, and have access to free recommendation letter templates, your task should go smoothly.

Whether you're writing a job-related recommendation letter or acting as a character reference, the approach is pretty much the same. These letters actually follow a fairly predictable format, which means that if you start with a basic template, you can be sure to hit all the key points, resulting in a well-crafted letter that's certain to be of use to the recipient as well as the person being vouched for.

Just because you're starting with a template doesn't mean your letter will be insincere or look like every other letter out there. You still have some work to do!

To write an effective, meaningful recommendation letter, first be sure you are the right person for the job. If you haven't directly interacted with the person in a meaningful way, you're really in no position to refer him or her. Managers and other supervisors carry more weight than a coworker, and professors and counselors are usually the best choices for academic reference letters. Similarly, don't agree to act as a character reference for someone you don't feel you know well. It will likely show in your letter and defeat the purpose altogether. If you don't feel you can write an honest, helpful letter, it's probably better to politely decline the request. (Although not all recommendation letters have to be full of glowing praise.) Also, if the time frame is too tight, be up front about that as well.

Start off by formatting the letter on a computer as a classic business letter, with the paragraphs in blocks and the full return address and recipient information included. The exception might be a more conversational personal reference letter such as a character reference for prospective adoptive parents.

Open the letter by making it clear why you're writing the letter and why you're in a good position to do so. (Establish your relationship with the person you're recommending.) The body of the letter should be at least a couple of paragraphs, but probably no more than five. Describe the person and his or her traits and skills, using descriptive adjectives and concrete examples or anecdotes illustrating character and/or performance. Close by restating your opinion of the person and offering to provide further information if needed. Include a phone number and/or email and sign the letter.

A more recent request from job-seekers is for references on Linked In and social networking sites. These recommendations are much shorter than a formal letter (usually just one paragraph), but they should still have a professional tone and address specific traits and skills of the person.

After you complete the letter, be sure to proofread it for typographical and other errors. Get the letter back to the person by the agreed-upon time, or, if you're submitting it directly to a college, court or potential employer, be sure to send it off promptly.

If you download a recommendation letter template and alter it to your specific needs, save it on your computer so you can access it again and again. Some people, such as supervisors or educators, write many letters of recommendation and simply "tweak" their own boilerplate form to reflect the candidate at hand.

Copyright 2009 by Kevin Savetz

Kevin Savetz is the creator of www.LettersOfRecommendation.net, a site offering more than 100 free recommendation letter templates as well as advice on writing reference letters.The site is part of the www.FreePrintable.net family of sites.