Memo Exercise

User Generated

nmkkm7

Writing

Communication for Engineers

University of South Florida

Description

Format Resources:

Be sure to review these resources before completing the Memo Assignment, below

KCI_Memos.pdf

Purdue Owl: Memo Writing Parts I, II, and III (YouTube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmblkD_PaYU (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jflXIR2CbjY (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehIHi8ja3g8 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Matthew W. Ford (Northern Kentucky University)

http://nku.edu/~fordmw/memo.htm (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Attached PDF “KCI Memos”

Assignment

Memos are an important part of our professional communications toolbox. This exercise will demonstrate your ability to compose an effective, short memo using the proper conventions and format of the standard business memo.

Audience

When writing to professional peers who are unknown to you personally, you must minimize the use of acronyms, jargon, or inside references that your readers may not understand. One approach is to imagine an individual reader as you draft your document. You should base your message upon either knowledge or intelligent speculation about answers to these questions:

• What can you reasonably assume this reader knows and does not know?

• What are the reader’s “hot buttons” (that is, key issues and phrases that stimulate the reader’s interest)?

• What information, questions, solutions, or action steps does the reader expect from your message?

• What is the urgency of your communication with the reader? Does your message require minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months for a response? Is it a “policy statement” that will endure for a long time?

• What is the main purpose of your communication with the reader -- response to reader’s previous message? call to action? information? heads-up (warning)? suggestion? recommendation?

Answers to these questions will have a major impact on the length and style of your message.

Subject

Read the article on Engineering Scholarships at:

https://tinyurl.com/yaknazoe (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Then, write a brief and properly-formatted memo to one of the Deans of the College of Engineering about this scholarship program. You should inform the Dean about the scholarship and encourage the Dean to work with companies in the Tampa Bay area to institute a similar scholarship on our campus. You should cite the benefits of this scholarship and perhaps mention some local companies that may be potential scholarship sponsors. You must also address a specific Dean who may be receptive to your memo. You do not need to actually present this memo to the Dean; this is an in-class memo intended to acquaint you with the conventions and format of memos in the business world.

FORMAT

Use MS Word or a similar word processor to create a single-spaced memo of around 350 words. Use 12-point type, 8-1/2” x 11” document size, with default margins (1.25” right and left, and 1” top and bottom) Use 12-point boldface, upper case for section headings within the body of your memo.

Follow formatting directions in this assignment, the Web links, and the sample memos in our text.

Post your completed memo to this Assignment area no later than the due date for this week’s assignments.

Unformatted Attachment Preview

KCI Reader-BasedWritingStyleGuide MEMOS Interoffice Correspondence Memos (or memorandums) are documents written to people within the writer's organization and are sometimes called "interoffice correspondence." They are generally less formal than letters and reports. Good memos begin with the most important ideas and are clearly and logically organized. 1 ACORN WHOLESALE FOODS, INC. 1 INTEROFFICE CORRESPONDENCE 2 3 4 5 6 7 To: SUBJECT: Current plans for the Spring 1995 Fleur-de-lis Charcoal Selling Program and request for comments RE: Last Week's 1995 Sales Planning Meeting Based on input obtained during the sales planning meeting that was held last week, we have finished an outline for the Spring 1995 Fleur-de-lis Charcoal Selling Program and would like to get your comments on it. We are very excited about this program and feel it will provide many growth opportunities for sales reps throughout the country. The details of the program are outlined below. SPRING FLEUR-DE-LIS CHARCOAL PROGRAM 8 • EARLY SEASON INVENTORY LEVELS—Based on last year's experience, we have determined that adequate early season inventories (e.g., late February, early March) are critical to a successful year. Therefore we are offering our customers a 5% discount on all orders shipped before March 1, 1995. We are also offering all you sales reps an additional 1% commission on all sales made prior to March 1. • EXTENSION OF THE SEASON—Most retailers stop advertising and stocking charcoal by late July, ignoring a growing market of consumers who barbecue late into the fall and at Thanksgiving. An increase in August through October sales features will provide increased sales and profits for our customers. We are in the process of designing an ad campaign focusing on Barbecued Thanksgiving Turkey, including recipes and coupons. We are offering an additional 0.5% commission on all sales made after September 15. • SELLING THE FLEUR-DE-LIS 15# BAGS—The Fleur-de-lis 15# bags have been very successful for our warehouse grocery store customers. However, we would like all our customers to try this Date: Subject: The arrangement of these elements and their placement on the page vary considerably. Some memos insert the Subject immediately after the To; others place the date in that location. 2 3 4 Receiver line—This line lists the people the memo is to be sent to. If the list is long, it can be included at the end of the memo under a Courtesy Copy line or a Distribution line. Courtesy titles are generally not necessary on a memo. Sender line—Some memos omit the From line and have a typed name and signature at the bottom instead. Date Line—Usually, the date order is month, date, year: July 10, 1995. However, the U.S. Government and many foreign countries place the day before the month: 10 July 1995. Abbreviations are not used. All Sales Representatives Kelly Flower and Kent Russell, Regional Sales Managers October 30, 1995 As most of you know our charcoal sales for 1994 were outstanding, and Fleur-de-lis outperformed all other charcoal brands in both units and dollars and attained a 64% market share. These results are a direct reflection of your efforts, yet there are still opportunities to further develop our business and your individual successes. We feel that our 1995 program will allow this to happen. Heading—A typical memo contains the following information in the heading: From: TO: FROM: DATE: 5 Subject line—The Subject line should be as specific as possible so the reader or readers are clear about the purpose of the memo. Long subject lines are single-spaced and centered. 6 Reference Line or Block—The heading may also contain a Reference line or block. If the reference is short, it can be placed two lines below the date if the Date line is right of center. If the reference is extensive (several lines), it can be placed before or after the Subject line. 24 7 Body—The body of the memo is usually single-spaced with a double-space between paragraphs. Paragraphs may be indented or not indented, depending on the preference of the writer or the style preferred by the writer's organization. Headings, lists, and emphasis techniques are useful for organizing the information presented in a memo that is longer than a single page. They also help the reader(s) to quickly find information. Reader-BasedWritingStyleGuide KCI MEMOS All Sales Representatives Page 2 October 30, 1995 9 size, so we are offering an early season discount on this product until June 1. All sales reps should encourage your customers to test this size in a few of their "high-traffic" stores early in the season to get a feel for its viability as a successful everyday item. • SHIPMENT OF FLEUR-DE-LIS START-LITE—The shipping department has developed a 30-case pallet that will allow us to ship large quantities of Fleur-de-lis Start-Lite charcoal starter. We want all sales reps to send a sample of this starter to all your customers within the next few weeks. Call Karen in the warehouse for your samples. She has them prepackaged for each of you according to how many she thinks each of you will need. You can obtain more from her if you run out. Be sure to send the new promotional material for this product along with the sample. Ed Sano in advertising has these materials. A copy is also attached to this memo. Fleur-de-lis has been a very successful product for Acorn Wholesale Foods, and we look forward to another successful year and an opportunity to grow our business even further. Your input on our plans for 1995 is very valuable, and we would like your comments by next Friday, November 3. K.M.F. K.V.R 10 12 Attachment Notation— Attachment notations are not common but can be used to remind readers that one or more items are included. These notations appear directly under the reference initials. In some memos with a number of attachments, the names of the attachments may be listed after the attachment notation. crt Attachment 11 12 Distribution: Southern Region Dan Jorgensen Paul Olpin Sally George Ginny Howell Northern Region Mike Kirkwood Linda Lotion Candy Reno Eastern Region Kelly Nordgren Jane Turpin Larry Larente Joel Goldberg Western Region David Reader Nancy Tallman 13 8 Displayed Lists—Displayed lists are indented to give more visual emphasis to the listed items. 9 Headings for Continuation Pages—Continuation pages begin with a heading that contains the name of the addressee, the page number, and the date. This information can be typed flush left in a block or it can be typed on a single line with spaces between the elements. below the last line of text or below the signature line. They are flush with the left margin. However, if the writer's initials are included, they are in all capitals, followed by a slash or colon, and then followed by the secretary's/typist's initials in lowercase letters. If the writer is different from the person sending the memo, the sender's initials come first, the writer's initials come next, and the typist's initials come last. Colons or slashes can be used to separate the initials. 10 Signature Line––Traditional memos do not have a signature line–the writer's name is given in the heading after From. However, some writers prefer to validate their memos with their initials or their whole names. This signature line, with handwritten or typed name/initials, appears two lines below the last line of text. 11 Reference Initials—Reference initials in a memo usually are the typist's initials typed in lowercase letters two lines 25 13 Courtesy Copy or Distribution Notation—Courtesy copy notations, which show the distribution of the memo, appear two lines below the attachment or reference notations and are flush left. Memos that are to be sent to a large number of readers may have a distribution list instead of a courtesy copy list. If a distribution list is used, it generally appears in the heading following To. If the distribution list is used in place of the courtesy copy list at the bottom of the memo, the cc is replaced by Distribution and following Distribution is a list of the names and departments (if appropriate) of the individuals who are to receive the memo.
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Explanation & Answer

Here is the professional memo you requested, properly formatted and completely original. Please ask if there are questions. If there are no questions, please close the question and have a good night. Send a message if you need help in the future. Thanks!
Oh you got the file, good. Yes you can add your name after "Respectfully" at the conclusion of the memo.

MEMO: September 10, 2018
TO: Dean -- College of Engineering
SUBJECT: Future Engineers Scholarship Program
Good Morning,
I sincerely appreciated your call yesterday to discuss the possibilities of a Fut...


Anonymous
Great study resource, helped me a lot.

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