The phrase "a personal reference" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing a recommendation or mention of someone based on personal knowledge or experience, often in contexts like job applications or character assessments.
Example: "I would appreciate it if you could provide a personal reference for my application to the university."
Alternatives: "a personal recommendation" or "a character reference".
Gaining a personal reference of effectiveness is also recommended, even when referred to a certain area of treatment or study by your doctor.
Suffice to say, Westwood need not look far if he requires a personal reference on his next job application.
Mr. So and-So was leasing one of their apartments and had given his name as a personal reference.
When Mr. Loeser and his wife bought an apartment, the mayor submitted a personal reference to the co-op board.
I've consulted some people here, and they agree that, as a professional matter, a historic collegiate acquaintance is an inadequate basis for a personal reference.
The process is straightforward, involving an application, a bank reference, a personal reference, and a brief interview with the chief minister's office.
She treated Godard like a formalist master, like the son of Robert Bresson and the cousin of Michelangelo Antonioni and Alain Resnais, and criticized him for wedging into the film a conspicuously personal reference (a lengthy quotation from Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Oval Portrait," which links Nana's story to the real-life relationship of Godard and Karina).
This is a rare personal reference in an otherwise solidly researched book that finds its wide-ranging examples in the work of the Romantic poets, Trollope and Arthur Miller, as well as Bernice Neugarten, a pioneer in the study of adult development.
Reporters asked why a civil union would not be considered marriage, eliciting a rare personal reference.
Mr. Crouwel, 59, is just one of many Amsterdammers who regard the Stedelijk as a very personal reference point for contemporary aesthetics and culture.
The part where Connie asks for safe passage to New Zealand was a "sly personal reference" to Cross, as the writer himself resides in the country.
