Memorandum
Synopsis: The memo is a diverse little form to communicate company policy and updates.
Traits
Short-range business document
1-2 pp.
Less formal than a business letter, report, or white paper.
Purpose
To announce an official change in the organization, business, department, program, or unit. The announcement often pertains to procedure or process, official policies, or need-to-know guidance concerning the stakeholders (see audience below). Markel (2001) specifies business writing like the memorandum helps the reader at an organization “carry out a task, understand a concept, or hold a particular belief” (p. 110).
Audience
Internal stakeholders of a business or organization
Guidelines to Keep in Mind
Subject
An email structures the memo for the writer, automatically including the name, date, and time. The writer provides the subject, and Markel (2001) advises taking special care with the subject, specifying what aspect of the project or concern a writer wants to engage with (p. 434). Confidential memos may be treated differently, so pay special attention to protocols from one’s organization.
Purpose
The first sentence of the memo/email should clearly specify the purpose of the writing, and it should strive for concision.
Markel (2001) includes a list of items to have in mind when writing a memo/email:
· Summarize the subject, if necessary, including necessary context (background) for the reader so that one may make an informed decision.
· Organize the discussion of the memo/email.
· Highlight any action items that team members need to take.
Examples
See The Bellevue University Writing Center Policy
Reference
Markel, M. (2001). Technical communication (6th ed.). Bedford/St. Martin’
Use caution when searching for templates in Microsoft 365.
Results may yield existing works written by authors who are unaware their work is being pulled by Microsoft. This could lead to plagiarism, or it may result in a bad query. Let’s say that a beginning writer finds a memo written by someone who is still a novice. That person’s work may be pulled up by Microsoft. If the writer follows the novice individual’s structure, the writer’s own work could suffer as a result. The best bet is to avoid searching for templates in Microsoft 365 unless one knows that it is their own template that has come up in the search.