Memoranda are effective means of communicating in the business world. Memos are intended to be brief documents that summarize a situation, proposal or conclusion in one to two pages. Writing a good, clear and concise memo is an important skill because it will effectively convey your ideas without causing the reader to have to spend a significant amount of time reading. Follow these steps to create a memo.
Instructions
1. Create the header. The header of a memo should contain the following fields: "To:", "From:", "Date:", and "Subject:". Each field in the header should be double spaced, and must contain all relevant information. In the "To:" and "From:" fields, list your recipients and their positions, and your name and position. In the "Subject:" line, summarize the purpose of the memo, naming any specifically relevant names and numbers.
2. Draft an opening statement for the first portion of the body of the memo. Make the opening short and concise, and directly state the purpose or problem that the memo is addressing. Try not to exceed three sentences in your opening statement.
3. Draft the main body of the memo. The main body of the memo contains further background information regarding the problem or proposal. Since you have already concisely notified the reader of the problem or purpose of the memo, you can now flesh out the purpose and state whatever other information you may have and what else is being done in regard to the problem or situation. Many times the body of the memo should be broken down into separate paragraphs that correspond with the information that you are providing, and you can provide headers that summarize each paragraph for the reader. Generally these paragraphs can be called: "Background," "Discussion" and "Considerations."
4. Draft a closing section. The closing section should be short and mannerly and should direct the reader to the next step he should take. Do not seem overbearing and bossy because that may cause the reader to become hesitant in cooperating.
