Along with your request, please send me one email with the following as separate (nonzipped) attachments in PDF (not Word) format (or if necessary give me one folder with printed materials): copies of whatever documents you plan to submit to the organization to which you are applying. (I'll send all letters directly to the organization to which you're applying if you send me an editable list of names and addresses, or to the Harvard dossier service, which sends them out.) Please also include a curriculum vitae and a confidential "sliced bread" memo (i.e., why I am better than...) addressed to me. This memo should not be a draft letter of recommendation, but instead should include a list of bulleted items you want to make sure I remember whenever I sit down to start writing. These items can include how I got to know you and standard cv items (prizes won, etc.), but should also include relevant anecdotes that might make useful stories to illustrate characteristics of you or your work (e.g., solved a problem in five minutes that King had been working on full time for six weeks). This is not the time for modesty. In addition, if there is something negative on your record (such as if you were in graduate school for too long), include your plausible explanation for what happened, if there is one. I will treat this memo in confidence and will destroy it after I draft my letter.
Please use king-assist@latte.harvard.edu instead of my email address if the organization to which you are applying uses a web interface that will send me emails.
As much lead time as you can provide would be appreciated.