Writing the Memo Report

©KarenThompson●DepartmentofEnglish●UniversityofIdaho

Deliverable 1:How to Write the Memo Report

1

FORMAT & DOCUMENT DESIGN IN TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS

2

.

© Karen Thompson ● Department of English ● University of Idaho

WORKPLACEREADERS ARE BUSY

• They don’t want to read anything from you unless they need it.

• They don’t read linearly from start to finish like they would a novel.

• Instead, they will look for information they need.

• Often it is information, they will need to revisit.

3

SO, HELP THEM FIND ITUse headings and visual hierarchy.

4

HEADINGS HAVE LEVELS

5

• Standard conventions for how to write the heading levels evolved over time, but use them as guides not rigid rules.

• Headings help readers easily navigate through the content of a document to find and revisit information they need.

• You will need to practice writing headings and subheadings in all written deliverables in this course.

Example: when I wrote the project handouts, I was thinking about you, my audience. You need to be able to easily find the requirements, revisit these as needed, and communicate with me if you need clarification.

I used heading levels, white space, bullets, and numbering to help you easily find information and revisit it as needed.

6

Two Examples of headings with content underneath that is the same.One on the left uses numbers and the other doesn’t. Numbering can be useful for particularly long documents.

7

IT’S NOT HARD TO USE HEADINGS• But, if you aren’t used to writing them,

it will seem odd to do it at first.

• You may feel like your writing “doesn’t flow” as in an essay, but it shouldn’t.

• Remember the purpose of headings, and it will help you write them.

8

• Memos and Memo Reports: are internal documents, shared between co-workers.

• The top or main heading evolved over time into a standard set of conventions. So headings mostly look like this with some variation.

The title “memo” or memorandum signals what type of document the reader is getting.

The next section, documents who received the document, who wrote, when, and why.

9

10

Lining up text is known as the principle of alignment, and it makes text in the heading easier to read.

Rhetorical Moves for writing an introduction to a memo report.

When someone requests information from you, remind them they requested it, and add a forecasting statement about what is in the document. This move shows you responded to the request and gave readers what they asked for.

When readers didn’t request the information, make it clear why you are writing in the first sentence.

Another standard convention used in workplace documents is single-spacing text with a line of white space to separate paragraphs instead of indenting them.

Here are some other rhetorical moves for writing introductions for other workplace genres.

ARE THERE OTHERS WAYS TO WRITE INTRODUCTIONS?• Certainly, but just remember,

you are not writing a novel.

15

How to Write the Body of the Memo Report• Your findings are what you discovered when applying

the concepts.

• Report findings in the body of your report for all three concepts and include all causes for weaknesses:

1. Be Concise 2. Be Precise 3. Be Direct

• Also include findings from noticeable error. If you did not find any noticeable error, then just state that.

16

Composing Headings

• It’s a good choice to use the names of the concepts as the headings in the report body.

• It’s also a good choice to use subheadings for causes you applied.

17

For each entry, include the following:

• define the concept in a sentence or two. It’s okay to use my wording and no need to quote,

• make a claim about whether your writing is weak in this concept and identify one or more causes of this weakness,

• provide supporting evidence (sentences or very short excerpts from your writing) to support the claim you make,

• connect the claim to the evidence by using device emphasis (highlighting, crossing out, underlining, or use of color) to help you

18

19

Being Concise: To be concise means that every word in a sentence is needed and the level of detail and specifics are appropriate for the audience and writer’s purpose. {definition}.

Unnecessary Words. I noticed many unnecessary words in my sentences. {claim}. For example, I repeated the phrase “is meant to” ten times in sentences like this one where I was defining symbols in my calculations: {cause}

X1 is meant to represent the percentage of the population with access to an improved water source. {evidence}

I could easily eliminate this phrase in each of these sentences and just use the verb "represents." {connection}

Level of Detail and Specifics. The following excerpt was from a report written to professionals in my field of study, so the jargon was appropriate, Also, the audience needed to know specific methods we used to evaluate water quality: {claim and connection}

Water samples were taken from the existing systems, including the tanks and the sources, and the stream running through the community. 3M E.coli/ Coliform Petrifilms were used to identify potential bacteriological contamination. Samples were incubated in a portable electric incubator for 24 hours before colonies were counted. {evidence}

Example of a prose style entry. Notice headings and white space.

You don’t need to add definition, claim, cause, evidence, and connection, but if it helps, you, then fine.

If you don’t find a weakness in one ore more concepts, write the entries in the reverse.

• define the concept in a sentence or two. It’s okay to use my wording and no need to quote,

• make a claim that your writing is strong in this concept and identify one or more causes of this weakness,

• provide supporting evidence (sentences or very short excerpts from your writing) to support the claim you make,

• connect the claim to the evidence by using device emphasis (highlighting, crossing out, underlining, or use of color) to help you

20

Example of a noticeable error entry.

21

CommaSplices:Acommasplicejoinstwoormoresentenceswithcommas.Idon'tmakethiserroroften,butIdid;indoneexample.To;ixthiserror,Ineedtoreplacethecommawithaperiodandcapitalizethe"S"instudentstocreatetwosentences.

TheRavenisaclassicpoembyPoe,studentslovetoreaditoutloud.

If you don’t find any noticeable error, just state you didn’t find any noticeable error.

Writing the Conclusion

• Here are some possible choices for concluding the memo report:

• State a major weakness you identified, and set a goal for working on it.

• What surprised you the most about doing the analysis?

• These are just two possibilities, if you have another idea, do that.

22

HOW TO WRITE A CONCLUSION: TO A MEMO REPORT

23

WRAP IT UP

• Summarize one or more important points.

• End on a forward looking note.

• Suggest the action a reader should take.

24

Example: a few ways to end your memo report.

The major weakness I want to work on is improving X aspect(s) of my prose style.

This project helped me to understand how to improve my prose style. I look forward to working on the areas I found that were weak.

Although I found that my writing was strong in most prose style areas, I do have a problem with X.