Memo
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to Students in 102i
from Kevin Eric De Pew, Instructor
date June 11, 2001
re Strategies for writing a memo
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Like an essay, you want to begin a memo with an introduction that explains 1) the purpose of the document, and 2) forecast what the reader will experience while reading the memo. Therefore, as you can see the purpose of this memo is to provide an example of a professional memo with strategies for drafting one. I will cover strategies for developing content and for designing the document. Finally, I will provide tips and warnings for developing memos in MS Word.

Drafting the content of a memo

Memos are interoffice or interdepartmental documents used several purposes, i.e., to send information, state a plan of action, make a request, record what has been done or needs to be done. A letter, unlike a memo, will be used to communicate with someone outside the office or department. Emails are beginning to be used to accomplish what memos have been used for. But why do you think that some people still prefer hard copies to electronic documents?

Before or while drafting the memo, think about what you want to say. Understand that most audiences——especially those that receive twenty or more documents a day——are not going to read the entire memo in detail. Therefore, you want to be brief, but detailed. In other word, include the best examples or evidence that fulfills your intend purpose. Sometimes you will have to staple attachments to a memo that details your plan of action (e.g., a schedule), or justifies your request (e.g., a budget).

Also note that a memo can be very similar to an email in terms of audience. Although you may send a personal email to one person, that person could potentially audiences that you did not anticipate or intend to read your email. Memos, can also be duplicated and sent to audience other than the person stated in the "to" line. As a result, you want to address the issue of the memo to the stated audience, but always consider how other audiences might read the memo.

Designing a memo

The header ("to," "from," etc.) at the top of the page is standard. The introduction does not have a heading (e.g., "drafting the content of a memo") but other sections should have one. This allows various audiences to skim to the information that s/he feels is most important. As a result, consider dividing your document into several relevant headings, and even consider subheadings.

You should also use the block paragraph format that you see illustrated in this memo. Notice that the lines are single-spaced, with a double space in between paragraphs. Also there is no indentation. Double-spacing allows your audience to comment on your paper; since this is not the purpose of a memo, single spacing is more appropriate. Also the double space in between paragraphs serves the same function as indentation, therefore to create block paragraphs with indentation is redundant and unnecessary.

Microsoft Word provides templates that predesign memos.

To access these template in Word 97 or 98 ...

To access these template in Word 2000 or 2001

Note that the earlier templates (Word 97 or 98), are more generic than the recent templates (Word 2000 or 2001). Although some of the more recent templates look "cool," you do not want to distract the reader from the purpose of the memo with many irrelevant images. You can also design your own memo——like this one——just make sure you have all of the necessary components.