Purpose: Like emails, memos are one of the most common types of professional communication. If it was a meal, a memo would be “meat and potatoes.” Whether you are working in the fields of law, business, engineering, health care, education or any other, a memo is considered more formal than an email, but less formal than a report. The recipient will likely file away a copy of your memo for future reference. Memos help readers to plan, make decisions, and delegate work. Professional memos are fact-based and serve the needs of the company or organization that you work for. When you draft your memo, follow this commonly accepted memo format.
This assignment will familiarize you with the correct organization and professional tone required for this most useful and ubiquitous form of technical writing. The purpose of this memo is to summarize the best ideas from ONE of the five sustainability-related articles (see the Week 1 Module) and briefly explain how these ideas could be applied at Portland Community College. You are still writing for the audience you wrote about during Week 1, President Mark Mitsui and other executives at PCC.
Steps:
1) SELECT just ONE sustainability article from the Week 1 Module.
2) READ the article using one or all of these strategies: Annotate the article. Highlight the best ideas. Ask questions in the margins. List the article’s main ideas. Really get to know the material.
3) REREAD your audience analysis from last week. Highlight the information that is most important to this particular audience. Use the appropriate level of technical language.
4) OPEN the memo with a specific subject line. For example: “Water Conservation” is too general. “Installing low-flow faucets in PCC’s restrooms” is better.
5) OFFER A CLEAR STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. In defining your purpose, ask yourself: what do I want this memo to accomplish? For example: The purpose of this memo is to explain how PCC could save money and conserve water by installing low flow faucets in PCC’s restrooms. Here are a few verbs to get you started: Authorize, Define, Describe, Explain, Illustrate, Inform, Outline, Present, Review, Summarize, Propose, Recommend, Request, Assess, Evaluate, Forecast.
6) SUMMARIZE the content of your memo in the first paragraph. For instance, if your article talks about three benefits of installing low flow faucets, name all three benefits right away in the first paragraph. Add details about each of the three in the paragraphs that follow. Some of your memo readers will ONLY read the first paragraph, so don’t leave out any of your major ideas (just leave out the details). The summary paragraph provides the reader with an outline for the rest of the memo.
7) INFORMATIVE HEADINGS. Use headings so that the reader can scan your memo. You can use subject headings like this example from OWL Purdue.
8) CONCLUDE WITH A CLEARLY STATED RECOMMENDATION. After you have conveyed your idea, what will happen next? Answer this question by making an overall recommendation and stating specific action steps.
Criteria for Success:
Criteria Points
The memo is written using the correct memo format including a subject line, statement of purpose, summary paragraph, and informative headings 5
The memo clearly conveys the main ideas from ONE of the Sustainability articles 5
The memo is written to appeal to the specific audience of PCC’s president and other executives 5
The memo concludes with a clearly stated recommendation 5
Last Completed Projects
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