Letters of reference are commonly used in acquiring a job in education. Despite serious issues of validity and reliability in writing and evaluating letters, there is a dearth of research that systematically examines the evaluation process and defines the constructs that define high quality letters. The current study used NVivo to examine 160 letters of reference to determine component constructs and relate these components to overall letter quality. Results suggest that testimonials are most predictive of overall letter quality. Implications and limitations of this study are also discussed.