Business Communications Memorandums

Goals After completing this lesson, you will understand how to identify the customary style of a memorandum. You will  Create a new document in Microsoft Word  Enter and Edit Text  Use the Spelling a Grammar Feature. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.

“Copyright and Terms of Service Copyright © Texas Education Agency. The materials found on this website are copyrighted © and trademarked ™ as the property of the Texas Education Agency and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the Texas Education Agency, except under the following conditions: Texas public school districts, charter schools, and Education Service Centers may reproduce and use copies of the Materials and Related Materials for the districts’ and schools’ educational use without obtaining permission from the Texas Education Agency; 2) Residents of the state of Texas may reproduce and use copies of the Materials and Related Materials for individual personal use only without obtaining written permission of the Texas Education Agency; 3) Any portion reproduced must be reproduced in its entirety and remain unedited, unaltered and unchanged in any way; 4) No monetary charge can be made for the reproduced materials or any document containing them; however, a reasonable charge to cover only the cost of reproduction and distribution may be charged. Private entities or persons located in Texas that are not Texas public school districts or Texas charter schools or any entity, whether public or private, educational or non-educational, located outside the state of Texas MUST obtain written approval from the Texas Education Agency and will be required to enter into a license agreement that may involve the payment of a licensing fee or a royalty fee. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.

Organize your thoughts and ideas before you start writing the memo. Memorandums Organize your thoughts and ideas before you start writing the memo. A business document The goal is to include specific details. Always accomplish your objective, and make sure you present your work in a professional format. A memorandum, also known as memo, is a document or a common form of communication that is used to convey certain information or ideas to the concerned persons. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 4

Internal Communication Internal communication is usually broken down into interoffice memorandums, reports and relating working correspondence, written procedures, and manuals. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 5

Responsibility of the Writer Four Categories Planning- Collect the data and select the time frame for delivery. Organization- State the purpose of the document including parts of a body and closing. Composing- Use effective language develop a structure, a sound. Editing- Evaluate the quality of the message, make any necessary changes. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 6

Reason Memorandums bring attention to problems and they solve problems. The goal is informing the reader about new information Examples: Policy Changes, Price Increases, Change a current production procedure. Memorandums or memos are used among departments of an organization to correspond short professional messages to employees. Memos are usually informal, brief, and has not or little cost. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 7

Style Directly above the body of the memorandum, are the following sections flush left: “Date:” “To:” “From:” “Re:” or “Subject   Capitalize each section and bold them. Have students open Memorandum Templates in Microsoft Word. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 8

A Closer Look Inform Students: If copies are sent to more than 10 people, place the list of names at the end of the memo. *When a memo is addressed to a distribution list, name the list. http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/8thgrade/memo2.gif Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 9

Keep It Professional Write clearly; avoid wordiness Meet objectives Maintain grammar & spelling Keep this in mind Remember to spell check your memo prior to sending it and proofread, spell check cannot catch everything Misspellings can come across as unprofessional when addressing a group of your colleagues. Read your memo out loud Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 10

Company logo with address information (optional) Heading- lists the recipients, the sender, the date and the subject. Tip: Double Space easier on the eyes. Body Closing http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/8thgrade/memo2.gif Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 11

PROOFREAD & EDIT Read your document out loud to yourself Read your document out loud to a friend Turn on spell check and grammar check within Microsoft Word or whichever application software that is in use. After a written communication has been composed planning, organizing, composing, are not complete until the writer has edited the document. Writer is responsible for evaluating the quality of the message trying to get across. If necessary the writer must edit and strengthen its quality. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 12

Complete Proofreader’s Mark Worksheet Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.

Format a Memorandum Use handout to make 15 corrections using Proofreader’s Mark Recreate Memo with the appropriate format and corrected text, spacing and initials Print to 5110 (remember your initials) Copyright Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Web Sources Purdue Owl: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/590/1/ Technical Writing: http://people.umass.edu/pwtc/tw/memoformat.html Memorandum Format: http://www.cwoc.ufl.edu/bcn/Worksheets/MemoFormat.html Centre of Independent Language Learning: http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/eiw/memos.htm Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 15