What Recommendation Letters should Cover

Recommendation letters should cover the following points (also see the links to great sample recos at the end of this post):

• How long the recommender has known you and in what capacity (teacher, seminar or project guide, practical supervisor, project leader etc.)
• His or her assessment of your academic performance (relative rank etc.), intellectual abilities, work habits and character
• Your special achievements – especially in projects or in papers presented
• Your communication skills – how well you were able to present your seminars
• Your social skills – ability to work well with others, leadership qualities
• Some background about the recommender – this is useful in the case of professors whose work in a field might be good but little known outside India; things to highlight include area of work, achievements in that area (papers published, awards etc.), prominent places worked in, length of experience and so on