A memorandum (memo) is used to communicate something of immediate importance to people within a business or organization. A memo also can be sent to people or firms that have close or long-standing relationships, such as vendors or consultants. Like a business letter, a memo is a permanent record of your communication.

When writing a memo, you should always provide a specific, informative subject line. It is OK to use headings and bulleted lists in letters and memos. You just studied 10 terms!

The components of a memo are the heading and overview, context, tasks and resolutions, details, conclusion and attachments.

• Heading Components of a Memo.
• Context and Background Section.
• Tasks and Resolutions.
• Supporting Research and Ideas.
• Conclusion and Further Discussion.
• Documents and Other Attachments.

Memo Format Date and subject lines are also present, followed by a message that contains a declaration, a discussion, and a summary. In a standard writing format, we might expect to see an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. All these are present in a memo, and each part has a clear purpose.

You can write a meeting memo using the steps that are mentioned below:

1. Define the purpose of writing the memo.
2. Plan all the points to include in the meeting.
3. Consider the people attending the meeting.
4. Determine the format.
5. Make it professional and understandable.
6. Identify the main purpose or smart goals of the meeting.

Memos are generally written to solve problems by informing the reader about new information or by persuading the reader to take an action. The most important feature about a memo is that it be concise yet complete and informative. One format for presenting your lab results is to write a memo report.

Essentially, a report is a short, sharp, concise document which is written for a particular purpose and audience. It generally sets outs and analyses a situation or problem, often making recommendations for future action. It is a factual paper, and needs to be clear and well-structured.

Memos are used within a company or organization to report information, make a request, or recommend an action; although in some places, they have been replaced by emails.

Memos are used to keep employees informed on the latest happenings, either company-wide or in a specific department. For example, when management issues a change in corporate policy, a memo is used to explain the change. Memos might include an announcement to be posted in common areas of an office.

Memo writing is something of an art form. A memo is a short, to the point communication conveying your thoughts, reactions or opinion on something. A memo can call people to action or broadcast a bit of timely news. With memo writing, shorter is better. As with all writing, memo writing needs a structure.

A memo (also known as a memorandum, or “reminder”) is used for internal communications regarding procedures or official business within an organization.

Finally, there is a request for action.

• Type # 2. Confirmation Memo:
• Type # 3. Periodic Report Memo:
• Type # 4. Ideas and Suggestions Memo:
• Type # 5. Informal Study Results Memo:

A good business memo is brief and to the point. Clearly state your purpose without going into exhaustive detail and description. Let’s say you’re announcing that a product is being discontinued. State when production will cease and briefly cite any pertinent facts that back up the decision.

There are four types of memos you might have to write, each with its own organizational format: information, problem-solving, persuasion, and internal memo proposal.

Address one key topic or subject. Write short, simple, direct sentences. Use language that is clear and unambiguous. Write in point form – include bullets if you wish to make the points easily accessible.

Basic Principles and Characteristics:

• Necessary and Sufficient Information.
• Do not Assume that Everyone knows Everything related to the issue discussed in the Memo.
• Be Clear, Concrete and Specific.
• Easy-to-Understand.
• Explain with Ease and Co-operation.
• NO Emotional Appeal.

A business memo is a short document used to transmit information within an organization. Memos are characterized by being brief, direct, and easy to navigate. They are less formal than letters but should maintain a professional, succinct style.

The key features of a successful memo are as follows: A memo should always start by representing the reason for the communication. Focus one key topic or subject. Explain total subject in short, simple, direct sentences. Use language that is clear and unambiguous with a polite tone.

All memos begin with a standard header that consists of four double-spaced lines — usually flushed to the left of the page. Enter the full name of your company’s CEO after the “To:” line. Enter your own name after the “From:” line. The next line begins “Date:” and typically states your memo’s month, day and year.

How to Write a Memo – Outline & Structure

1. Introduction. In this article, we will discuss how to write a memo.
2. 1) Type “MEMORANDUM” This should be written at the beginning of the page.
3. 2) Address the recipient.
4. 3) Adding additional recipients within the CC line.
5. 4) Name in the “From” line.
6. 5) Add date.
7. 6) Subject line.
8. 7) Formatting of the heading.

In memos that make requests or announcements, keep the sentence lengths and paragraph lengths relatively short. Sentences should average fewer than twenty words, and paragraphs should average fewer than seven lines. Also, keep the total memo length to under one page, if possible.

• heading. The heading of memorandums is designed to allow a reader to understand what he or she is looking at, and decide quickly whether he or she should read it. The heading has four or five parts, appearing in this order.
• purpose.
• summary.
• background/discussion.
• conclusion/action.

The rule of thumb in memo writing is the shorter the memo the better. Memos are different than letters and do not have a closing other than a summary sentence. A signature is not put at the bottom. If necessary, the memo author initials or provides a signature along side his/her name in the header.

A memo has no indentations; it is single-spaced, with double spaces between heading and paragraph and among paragraphs.

End your memo with a brief closing statement. If applicable, this should include what you want the recipients to do in response to the memo (e.g., a course of action or submitting information). Alternatively, it can simply be a short summary of the key information from the memo.

If someone other than the writer of the memo keys the memo, typist initials should be included. Typist initials are keyed in lower case with no space and no punctuation.

Sign your initials by your name rather than including a signature at the end of the memo as you would in a letter. The subject line should be capitalized as if it where a title and should succinctly describe the topic of the message.

Placing CC in a Print Memo Place the letters “cc” and the person you are cc’ing in the header or at the bottom of the document. The header should follow the following format: to, from, date, subject and cc. Each item should be placed on its own line, and you should skip a line between each.

Hand-write your initials by your name. A memo does not include a signature line. But you should initial the memo with a pen in the header. Write your initials next to your name. This indicates that you have approved the memo.

Answer. Block format is typically used for business letters. In block format, the entire text is left aligned and single spaced. The exception to the single spacing is a double space between paragraphs (instead of indents for paragraphs).

The letters CC in emails, memos, and other documents stands for Carbon Copy. This was a convention used before computers came along, when letters were typed on a typewriter and to make an original copy of the letter, a person would put a sheet of carbon paper between two the sheets of paper and then type the document.

– cc: (meaning carbon copies) or c: (copies) followed by names identifies people whose names aren’t listed in the TO line who are also being sent copies of the memo.

The CC section of a written business letter is found at the bottom of the page. When you use email, the CC section is found in the address header. But even in emails, official business letters will often include the CC section at the bottom of the body of the letter.

A sheet of carbon paper is placed between two or more sheets of paper. It is still common for a business letter to include, at the end, a list of names preceded by the abbreviation “CC”, indicating that the named persons are to receive copies of the letter, even though carbon paper is no longer used to make the copies.

The CC field allows you to send a copy of the email with any recipient of your choice. In most cases, the CC field is used to keep someone in the loop, or to share the same email with them.

Because cc is an initialism (for “carbon copy”) this verb is sometimes written in uppercase, in which case the viable forms are CC’s, CC’ing, CC’d, and CC’ed with the apostrophe and CCs, CCing, and CCd without the apostrophe.