With being responsible for well over a thousand current undergraduate students, as well as students who have left, it is impossible for me to have an open policy of writing personal references for everyone who asks. This page sets out the general policy I follow in writing academic references. The chances are that you are on this page because you emailed me asking for me to write a reference: because of the number of such emails I get this page sets out my policy rather than having to reply individually. Please read the categories outlined below very carefully and note that if I get a reference request from a potential employer or University for a non-tutee who has not agreed with me in advance BY EMAIL to write a reference for them I will either ignore it, or if they keep pestering me reply informing them that I have not agreed to write a reference.

Unless you are someone I know personally I will not be able to write a non-academic reference of any description (job applications/internships) because these references often ask questions I am unable to respond to (characteristics I simply don't know about you).

If you keep getting sent a link to this page in reply to emails then you have not read it carefully enough.

References will only be sent direct to institutions/companies requesting them.

Personal Tutees and students who have done a 3rd Year Essay/4th Year Project/MSc. Dissertation/PhD with me

Anyone who is, or has been, one of my Personal Tutees, or I have (or am doing) a substantial piece of research with I will always agree to write references for (both academic and/or character). Please still ask me however, and give me some information about what you are applying for, why, and preferably send/give a copy of a recent CV to me. I will still attempt to do this whilst I'm on Study Leave (see top of page) but there may be a delay in getting one sent.

Students I have had significant involvement with through being DUGS

Students who I have become involved with due to significant extenuating circumstances affecting studies I will often be happy to write references for but please do ask beforehand: even if there have been extenuating circumstances, if I don't feel I can write a positive reference I may still decline (not withstanding the "everyone else" section below). In these cases can you also be explicit in your request to me about how much information about your circumstances you would be happy for me to include in the reference. This does not include students who have only been interviewed or seen by me for underperformance in exams or assignments (and especially not for plagiarism).

High flyers

I occasionally write references for students applying for further study at prestigious overseas institutions where they only accept the highest calibre students and competition is fierce (e.g. Ivy League universities in the US). These often require formal references from people such as Head of Department or Director of Studies. Please only request a reference from me in such an instance if you scored an overall in excess of 90% in your last completed year. You should also consider asking for a reference from someone in the department who is particularly eminent in the field you wish to pursue.

Finally

Even with the above restrictions I still end up writing a lot of references. I try to get them done in a timely fashion, but at busy times of the year I cannot guarantee this, and if given very short notice it is also unlikely I will meet deadlines so please give me plenty of warning. If you ask for a reference with an impending deadline I will not drop everything to do it for you, and the chances are it will not be done in time.