1.   We will need a reference from your last employer before we can send you a contract.

2.   We will need references from your former employers.

3.   A job candidate is told that a reference is needed from his former employer.

4.   If Kersey needs any references, Harris will gladly comply.

5.   Tessa needs another reference, but it sounds as though Leticia has the job.

6.   They, too, needed unimpeachable references and had to submit to five job interviews, almost like being admitted to a private club or sorority.

7.   When he needed references, the judge wrote them.

8.   When Hemingway needed a sports reference, it was DiMaggio.

9.   When Paul Simon needed an American heroic reference, it was DiMaggio.