If you wish me to write reference letters for you, please follow these
instructions:

1. Send me a text (or .tex) file of addresses.   Please do NOT give me
   preaddressed envelopes.

2. If you wish me to send some letters via email and others by post,
   group the addresses by those two categories and clearly indicate
   which group is which.

3. Minimally, format each address using distinct lines as would go
   on the front of an envelope, with one or more blank lines separating
   each address.  If there is an email address, it should follow the postal
   address.

   For faster turn around (because I will not need to spend as much time
   editing), send me a .tex file formatted as in the following examples,
   according to the general format (note \beginletter has 3 arguments):

\beginletter{recipient
  and postal 
  address}{salutation [with punctuation]}{unit or indication of position}
\EMAIL{ ... }    %% if relevant

\beginletter{Faculty Search Committee
Department of Computer and Information Science
Texas A \& M University -- Commerce                   %%% note "\&"
P.O. Box 3011
Commerce TX 75429-3011}{Colleagues,}{in Computer and Information Science}

\beginletter{Prof. Gail Lange
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
University of Maine, Farmington
111 South Street
Farmington ME 04938}{Prof. Lange,}{in computer science}
%%% note "in computer science" indicates a sub-area of the M & CS Dept.

\beginletter{Dr. Ed Harcourt, Chair
Computer Science Search Committee
Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics
St. Lawrence University
Canton NY 13617}{Dr. Harcourt,}{at St. Lawrence}
\EMAILTO{edharcourt@stlawu.edu}                  %%% required for letters sent via email 

4. Watch matters of form, which should also apply to the application letters
   that you write.  If you do not pay attention to details of institutional
   and personal identity, they are unlikely to pay attention to you.

     Be careful about the department name - some are "Dept. of X"
     and others are "X Dept.".  Don't abbreviate - I will expand
     and fortunately caught one occurrence "CS" that was "Computing Science"

     For faculty members, "Prof." is usually preferred over "Dr." except
     in certain teaching institutions where few faculty have Ph D's.

     The Post Office convention omits the comma between city and state.

     Go on-line to get a complete address if need be.  For example, do
     not begin an address "CS Chair"; find out the chair's name and put
     it there.   Also, the correct form is
         Prof. Jane Doe, Chair
         Department of ...
     not having "Chair" on the line with "Department".