Academic
A memorandum (usually referred to as a memo) is one of the essential means in business communication that aims to forward an important message to an individual or a group of people. Memos can be sent either within one company or organization or between the employees of different companies. If you are willing to understand how to
write a memo essay, then our article is written just for you since it includes many helpful tips and suggestions that will allow you to boost your memo writing proficiency.
A memo is an efficient way to disseminate information to the target audience or make an announcement. Nowadays, memos are widely substituted by e-mails, though they are still often used in business communication. In comparison with an e-mail, a memo is more formal. Also, it does not necessarily require a response, even if it includes a call to action. If you want to understand the essential difference between an e-mail and a memo, you may try thinking about an e-mail as a conversation tool (you send a message and expect to receive a reply) whereas a memo is just an announcement. A memo is usually written because of different reasons. Most probably, you will need to send this document:
- As a reminder of something;
- To keep an official record of something;
- To highlight an important event;
- To pass information to your employees.
No matter why you are sending a memo, it should be written professionally in accordance with the high standards of business communication.
Writing a Professional Memo: A Step-by-Step Guide
Having no sufficient writing experience, you will find it pretty challenging to write a good memo. However, by following the steps suggested below, you will be able to organize your writing process properly and create a good-looking document. So, how to write a memo essay?
- Think about your audience. Since the primary goal of any memo is to influence the target audience, you should clearly understand who your recipient is. A memo sent to a colleague and a memo sent to an investor will have different tones and styles of writing;
- Understand your purpose. To figure out what you are going to write in your memo, you should understand why you are writing it. Pay attention that the objective of your memorandum should be an opening statement of your document;
- Write a rough draft. Once you know what to write in your memo and who is your target audience, you will need to write a rough draft of your document. Try to make it clear and concise listing only the most important things. As a means of business communication, your memo should not include any irrelevant information;
- Label your memo appropriately. The subject of your paper should clearly state why you are writing it. Most probably, your recipient will decide if your document is important after reading its subject;
- Pay attention to the right structure of your memo. Although a memo is not a piece of academic writing, it should include a common structure including an introduction, main body, and a conclusion. In the introductory part, you need to indicate the subject of your memo and provide some details on it. In the main body, you will need to provide more details about your subject helping your recipient understand it. Finally, in your conclusion, you need to include a call to action that would allow your recipient to understand what you expect from them;
- Proofread your memo. Finally, you need to double-check if your memorandum is free from grammatical, spelling, and punctuation flaws that may distract your reader from the overall message.
As you can see, writing a memorandum is not difficult if you know the main stages of the writing process.
Memo Essay Format
Although there are many different types of memo papers, their format remains the same. Following the classic format of memo writing, you will need to include the parts indicated below:
Heading: The heading of your memorandum should appear at the top of the page and should be bolded. The header is the main tool for informing your recipient of what is your memo about. Below the header, you need to provide the valid address of the recipient.
Body: The main body of your memorandum should be maximally short but detailed. When writing the main body, you should consider the following information:
- Think about your recipient. Once you know who is your target reader, make sure to use the language and tone that would be appropriate in your conversation with this person;
- Always try to go straight to the point. Do not forget that your recipient doesn’t have much time to read long and meaningless papers;
- Provide your recipient with sufficient background information. If there are some details that should be known by your recipient, you need to include them. Otherwise, you won`t be able to reach your goal.
Conclusion: In the final part of your memo, you don`t need to include any new details since its primary goal is to summarize the information that has been told previously. Do not forget that a conclusion is a place where you should clearly state what you expect from your recipient. Including a clear call to action is a particularly important point in professional memo writing.
Pay attention that a memo does not require writing a signature block. Nevertheless, you need to write your initials (handwritten) beside your name in the heading. Now, when you know how to write a memo essay, it`s time to practice!
All in all, it should be said that memos are particularly important tools for business communication within the company. Pay attention that if you want to succeed in memo writing, you should not only know a common memo definition but you should also study good examples in order to figure out how this document should be composed. Overall, we assure you that by following our handy memo writing tips, you will be able to write a great paper that will bring you the anticipated result.
