Writing Memos

Memos are a widely-used staple of workplace communication with a specific purpose:  to document information. They create a record that can be shared with others for a variety of purposes (for example, providing project updates or outlining procedures).  As such, familiarity with this genre is helpful both in this course and in the future. Consider the following tips when writing memos.

Consider the below general information when preparing memos (See Also: Communication Resources on Carmen).

Audience and Rhetorical Situation
We begin every mode of communication by considering our audience and purpose. Know your audience—the person or group in the “To” line at the top of the memo. Focus on what the audience needs to know and on what the audience has asked you to supply, not on everything you have done or learned.

Organize the memo according to purpose and audience. Write so that your reader can quickly grasp the main points. Communicate “need to know” information and eliminate “nice to know” information. In professional writing and everyday business communication, the ease with which information can be consumed is favored over highly stylized (i.e. fancy) writing.

Form and Format
All memos have a general heading—the section at the top of the first page of the document that tells when the memo was written, who the memo is to and from, and the memo’s subject matter. The format is the same whether the memo is sent as an email or as a hard copy. Remember to strategically use the “Subject” line. This line tells the reader what the memo is about and provides the first glimpse of your content—make it count!

Use a standard, easy-to-read font and point size. Margins should be one-inch on all sides.

If you are covering a lot of information, use relevant headings to group and organize your content so your audience can skim the document quickly for an overview of your memo. Foreground your topic, findings, or conclusions in the first paragraph/sentence.

Though a formal introduction is not necessary, it is generally helpful to provide a 1-2 sentence “statement of purpose” that quickly denotes the memo’s content prior to the main body of the memo. This feature is even more important when the memo does not include a summary paragraph.

Memos longer than one page typically also include a summary section immediately following the statement of purpose. This summary provides a high-level summary of the entire memo with emphasis on the key takeaways/points of the memo. From the summary section, the audience should gain a basic understanding of the memo’s content, even without reading the rest of the  memo.

The body should be made up of short, focused paragraphs and should be single-spaced. Do not indent paragraphs; separate them with a blank line. Use bulleted lists where appropriate:

• To set off a group of related information.
• To make prose easier to read.
• To draw attention to particular points.

Document features like headings and lists help promote clarity and increase the memo’s readability.

Use consistent grammatical structure when writing bulleted lists. In the above list, for example, each point begins with a verb in the infinitive form (to set, to make, to draw).

Additional Pages
When memos are more than one page long, a page header is required. This header goes on every page after the first. It should include the recipient’s name, the date, and the page number. When there are too many recipients to list, substitute the subject line (abbreviated if necessary).

Be sure to use Word’s header/footer and page numbering features to create the page heading. The auto-pagination ensures that each page is numbered correctly; the header feature keeps the heading in the correct place. Be sure, too, to check the box for “different first page” to suppress this heading on the first page.

Tone & Style
Use professional prose: clear, straightforward, specific language that is easy to follow and understand. Take out throw-away words (this, that, very, just, the), and use strong verbs (eliminate be, am, is, are, was, were, been) whenever possible. Eliminate passive voice unless required by the audience/purpose/genre in which you are writing.

Of course, as with any writing, you should proofread carefully. Your ethos as the author is built by both content and design/adherence to genre conventions.