'

Memor
andum’

Whati
s‘memor
andum’
?

Amemor andum, morecommonl yknownasa‘ memo’ ,i

sashor tmessage
orrecordusedf orint
ernalcommuni cat
ioni
nabusi ness.Earl
i
er
memor andum i sthepr i
mar yform ofint
ernalwrit
tencommuni cat
ionin
businesses, butwiththeintr
oduct i
onofemail andotherformsofelectr
onic
messagi ng,itstart
slosingitsplace.Butagoodandef f
ecti
vememoi ssti
l
l
prefer
redi nbusinesscommuni cations.

Amemor andum i
sawr i
tt
enreportthatispreparedforapersonor
committeeinordertopr
ovidethem withinf
ormat i
onaboutaparti
cul
ar
matter
.Amemor andum i
sashor toff
ici
alnotethatissentbyoneper
son
toanotherwithi
nthesamecompanyoror ganizati
on.

Pur
poseofMemos

Aper
sonwr
it
esamemowi
thsomepur
posesi
nmi
nd.I
tisused

1.
Toi
nfor
m.

2.
Toi
nqui
re.

3.I
tisusedt
orepor
t.

4.Togi
vesuggest
ions.

5.Tor
emi
nd.

6.Toi
nst
ruct
.
7.Onecanpr
omot
egoodwi
llusi
ngamemo.

8.Tocommuni
cat
ethei
deas.

Memoscanbeusedt oquickl
ycommuni catewit
hawi deaudience
somethi
ngbriefbutimpor
tant,suchasprocedur
alchanges,pri
ceincr
eases,
pol
icyaddi
ti
ons,meet i
ngschedules,
reminder
sforteams,orsummar i
esof
agr
eementterms, f
orexample.

Wr
it
ingEf
fect
iveMemos

Communi cat
ionsstr
at egi
stBarbar aDi
ggs-Br
ownsay sthataneff
ecti
ve
memoi s"short
,concise,highl
yor gani
zed,
andnev erl
ate.I
tshoul
d
anti
cipateandansweral l
questionsthatareadermighthave.I
tnever
provi
desunnecessar yorconf usinginf
ormati
on."

Becl ear,befocused, bebriefyetcompl ete.Iti

sbesttowr i
teinan
extremel ycri
sp, t
ot hepoint,businessli
ket one.Memosar eoftenusedfor
i
nter nalcompanycommuni cat
ions.Youdon’ twanttowast eyour
coll
eagues’ ti
mewi t
hniceti
esorbybei ngov er
lyconver
sati
onal.Avoi
d
usingemot i
onal language—suchas, “
Iwoul dbehappyi fever
yonetook
tur
nscl eaningt hemi crowav ei
nt hebreakr oom”—becausey oumightrub
peopl ethewr ongway .Thesamegoesf orwr i
ti
ngINALLCAPSorusi ng
exclamat ionpoint s,
especiall
yifthememor andum isconveyi
ngnewst hat
mayupsetpeopl e.

Iti
sal
waysbett
ert
obest
rai
ght
for
war
dandt
oshar
einf
ormat
ionasqui
ckl
y
aspossi
ble.

Thememor andum’smessageshoul dstar

twithadeclarat
ionofpurpose:
“I
am wr
it
ingtoinfor
my ou….”“Thepurposeofthismemoi sto….”Then
summarizetheinf
ormati
onr el
evanttothematterathand.Youcanclose
thememowi thacallt
oaction,r
epeatingther
equestyoumadeatt he
begi
nni
ngoft
hememo.

Makesur etogivet
hegrammarandspel li
ngi nthememoat horoughcheck.
Whilethefor
matofamemoshoul dgenerallystaythesame, thet
oneand
contentcanchangedependi
ngont heaudience.Forexampl e,amemo
aboutorgani
zingasummerpi cni
cforthestaffwillhav
eamuchmor e
cheerful
tonethanamemor andum inf
ormingev ery
onet hatthecompany
hastoskiprai
sesduetoadecr easeinbusiness.

Howl
ongamemoshoul
dbe?

Themosti mportantrul
ewhencomposi ngamemoi sthatl essi
smore.You
don’twanty ourempl oyeesorcoll
eaguesspendingalltheirti
mereadi
ng
yourlengthymemor andums( orevenworse,i
gnori
ngt hem) .Gettot
he
pointquickl
y,sot heycantaketheactionyouareaskingf or.

Adv
ant
agesofMemos

Usi
ngmemoshasanumberofadv
ant
ages.

1.Memor
andum i
squi
ck.

2.I
tisaconv
eni
entmeanofcommuni
cat
ion.

3.I
tisi
nexpensi
ve.Memosar
eusedwi
thi
nanor
gani
zat
ionsoonecanuse
l
ow-qualitypaper
.

4.I
thel
psi
nmai
ntai
ningwr
it
tenr
ecor
ds.

Par
tsofMemor
andum

Ther
ear
emai
nlyf
ivepar
tsofamemor
andum.Theyar
e
a)Headi
ngSegment

Theheadi
ngsegmentofamemohasf
ourbasi
csect
ions.

TO:
Reader
’snamesandj
obt
it
les

FROM:
sender
’snameandj
obt
it
le

DATE:
Compl
etedat
e

SUBJECT:
Reasonf
orwr
it
ingamemo

b)Openi
ngSegment

I
nt hi
ssegment,onecanfindthepur
poseoft
hememo.Theopening
paragr
aphincl
udesthereasonorthemoti
veofwr
it
ingamemo.Itgi
vesa
bri
efover
viewofthememo.

Cont
ext

Iti
stheeventorci
rcumst
anceoft
hepr
obl
em t
hewr
it
eri
ssol
vi
ng.One
shoul
dclearl
ymentiont
hecont
ext
.

c)TaskSegment

I
tisthesegmentonemusti
ncl
udetomentionthest
epsforsolv
ingthe
pr
oblem.Onemustonlyi
ncl
udetheneededinf
ormat
ion.Doproper
pl
anningbef
orewri
ti
ngamemo.
d)Summar
ySegment

Ifamemoi smorethanapage, onemusti

ncl
udeaseparatesummar y
segment.I
tisnotnecessar
yforashor
tmemo.Ithelpst
her eaderto
underst
andthemainideaofthememo.Also,
ithel
pstotakether equi
red
steps.

e)Di
scussi
onSegment

Iti
sthelongestpar
tofamemo.I tincludesallt
hedetail
ssuppor
ti
ngthe
i
deas.Remembert ostar
twithgeneral i
nformat
ionandthengoformore
speci
fi
cone.Itincl
udessuppor
ti
ngi deas, f
act
s,andresear
ch.

f
)Cl
osi
ngSegment

Alwaysendyourmemowi thcour
teouswords.Makesureyoumakethe
completi
onofthetaski
naneffi
cientandeasyway.Tr
ytoatt
ractt
he
readert
omaket heposi
ti
veacti
on.

g)Necessar
yAt
tachment
s

Onecanal
soatt
achli
sts,
graphs,t
abl
eset
c.attheendofamemo.Makea
r
efer
encef
oryourat
tachmentsandaddanotat
ionfort
hem.

I
mpor
tantpoi
ntst
orememberf
ormaki
ng‘
memor
andum’
.

1.Al
way
suseacl
earandspeci
fi
csubj
ectl
i
ne.

2.Donotwast
ether
eader
’st
imebyusi
ngl
engt
hymemos.Becl
earand
conci
se.

3.Uset
heact
ivev
oice.
4.Uset
hef
ir
stper
son.

5.Bef
ormal
.

6.Av
oidssl
angsandf
ri
endl
ywor
ds.

7.Oneshoul
duseacar
eful
andl
ogi
cal
arr
angementofi
nfor
mat
ion.

8.Keept
hepar
agr
aphsshor
t.

9.Onecanuseenumer
ati
onsf
ort
hepar
agr
aphs.

10.Onecanusesol
i
dcapi
tal
sandcent
eri
ndent
ati
onf
ori
mpor
tantdet
ail
s.

11.Useofbul
l
etst
omakepoi
nts.

12.Al
way
sendt
hememoi
ncour
teouswor
ds.

13.Uset
extf
ont
sandcol
ort
oat
tractat
tent
ion.

14.Av
oidr
udeandt
hought
lessmemos.

15.I
tdoesnotneedacompl
i
ment
arycl
oseorasi
gnat
ure.

16.Pr
oofr
eadt
hecont
entbef
oresendi
ng.

Exampl
eofmemor
andum

MEMORANDUM

To:
All
Staf
f

Fr
om:
Tany
aSmi
th,
CEO

Dat
e:Jul
y18,
2018

Subj
ect
:NewTechSof
twar
eIssues

I
thascomet omyattent
iont
hatmanyempl
oyeesarehavi
ngtr
oubleusi
ng
ourr
ecent
lyacqui
redNewTechsal
esmanagementsoft
warebecausei
t
curr
entlycr
eatesdupl
icat
ecli
ententr
ies.Someofy ouhav
est
oppedusing
thesystem al
toget
her.Wewantthissoft
waretohelpyoudoy
ourjobs
bett
er,nottotakeupmoretime.Theref
ore,i
tisf
inetohol
dof
fusi
ngitunti
l
weresolvethetechni
cali
ssueswit
hNewTechst aff.

Not
e:Al
way
sremembert
owr
it
ememoi
nabox.