Organizational Scouting Your midweek assignment in this course will be a continuous project. You will be assuming the role of a consultant. Each week, you will engage in a different aspect of an organ

T ips for Memo Writing Purpose: The word memo is short for the term “memorandum,” which means something that should be remembered. Memos are brief documents that summarize information. Often memos highlight key problems or key steps to solve a problem. Memo s might also report new information about a policy, change, or requirement. Accordingly, memos are targeted to a specific audience who need to know the summarized information. General Guidelines : Memos are usually no more than one or two pages long, and are often shorter. They should be single - spaced and left justified. New paragraphs are signaled by skipping a line between paragraph s rather than indenting the first line of the paragraph. Effective memos often use headings to clarify information. Although a memo can be divided into structural sections (e.g., summary, context, etc. as per the next portion of this guidelines sheet), it can be helpful to use a content heading to assist the reader. For example, rather than stating summary , you might use “ New G rading Deadline ” or another short term that describes the change or problem. Also, use of lists and bullet points rather than paragraphs can make memos clearer and simpler for readers. Sections: Memos are organized strategically, with each section fulfill ing an important role. To begin, memos have a header section . A header section usually looks like: To: From: Date: Subject: (sometimes abbreviated as Re: for regarding). The header section provides a “quick glimpse” of participants and purpose. Who is t he memo for? Who sent it? What it is about? The header should use exact date and exact name/title (rather than nick names). Next, a memo contains a summary segment . Some memos will only contain the summary segment. For longer memos, the summary segment pro vides the introduction. Regardless of whether the summary constitutes the entire memo or just the introduction, it will provide a brief statement of the purpose of the memo, the context, and any problem, solution, change, or action step. Provide just enou gh information to attract audience attention, answer their questions, and persuade them to take needed actions. For a longer memo, the summary or opening segment should be about ¼ of the memo. Longer memos build on the summary segment and can include spec ific sections addressing context, problem or change, action steps, and supporting evidence. In a longer memo, these section s generally constitute about ½ of memo —with header being 1/8, summary or opening being ¼, and closing section being 1/8. Longer mem os also include a closing section that reiterates needed action steps, clarifies benefits for completing action steps, and indicates how the author (or organization or other agent) will support those action steps. For a shorter memo that only has the summa ry section, the summary section will include some elements of the closing section too (e.g., benefits, support). Finally, a memo will include attachments as needed . Because a memo represents summarized information, extensive details are provided in the fo rm of other documents or sources when required. These might include graphs, tables, charts, lists, etc. If a memo includes attachments, there should be a line at the end of the memo that indicates attachments and the title of those attachments. For example , Attachments: Communication Survey Results, May 2015.