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Type of service:
Writing from scratch
Work type:
Memorandum Essay (policy brief)
Deadline:
2 Oct, 04:00 PM (1d 3h) Extend deadline
Academic level:
College (3-4 years: Junior, Senior)
Subject or Discipline:
Public Administration
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Information on how to draft a policy brief memo is attached.
The memo should be adress to the mayor Rawson. Please find
all the instructions attached. Use as many as sources needed.
Please note that this is not a tipical essay. It's a memo. Also
make sure that you read the guideline for writing a memo.
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T e a c h i n g C a s e R e s o u r c e s f r o m t h e E v a n s
S c h o o l o f P u b l i c A f f a i r s
T h e
E l e c t r o n i c H a l l w a y ®
Box 353060 · University of Washington · S e a t t l e W A 9
8 195-3060 www.hallway.org

4. This teaching resource was written by J. Patrick Dobel, Daniel
J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington;
Richard Elmore, Harvard University Graduate School of
Education; and Laurie Werner, Daniel J. Evans School of Public
Affairs, University of Washington.
The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of
Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This
material may not be altered or copied without written
permission from The Electronic Hallway. For permission, email
[email protected], or phone (206) 616-8777. Electronic Hallway
members are granted copy permission for
educational purposes per the Member’s Agreement
(www.hallway.org).
Copyright 2003 The Electronic Hallway
MEMO WRITING
This note introduces memo writing to students training for
careers in public service.
It focuses on memos rather than research papers or essays,
because memos pervade the
daily life of any public servant.
A memo is a relatively short, written document. Memos address
specific people or
groups for the purpose of recording an agreement, transmitting
information, making a
case, or enabling action. Brevity is essential; most decision
makers have little time and
must assimilate memo contents quickly. Long memos don’t get

5. read.
Think of a memo as a precision tool. Tools may be beautiful
things in themselves, but we
measure their value by how well they perform a task. In
practical terms, every aspect of a
memo – its prose style, organization, appearance on the page
and content – should have a
direct relationship to its purpose. Long flowery introductions,
technical jargon, casual
chit-chat, and showy vocabulary all distract from a memo's
essential purpose: to inform
or to enable action.
This note deals with four topics: identifying your audience or
principal; getting yourself
engaged in writing; using language; and organizing the final
product. Added to these are
notes on e-mail communications.
Know Your Audience or Principal
Specific people read memos. The more vaguely defined the
target audience, the more
difficult for the writer to decide what to say. Knowing your
audience is of primary
importance in memo writing. Ask yourself three questions
about your audience: who are
they, what do they need to know, and how should you present it
to them?
• Who is the audience of your memo? Memos are directed at
decision makers.
Usually you write a memo for an individual or group to help

6. them make a
decision. To influence decision makers, you must give
considerable thought to
who they are. You have a duty to provide them with timely,
accurate, and
comprehensive analysis.
2
• What do they need to know? To meet the obligations of memo
writing, you
should ask: what type of information do they need to make a
good decision?
§ Start writing your memo by considering the position of your
readers and
their responsibilities, constraints, and pressures. You should
keep in mind
how much knowledge they already have and tailor your
information to their
level of expertise.
§ Decide how much and what type of information they need to
make a good
decision. Keep four things in mind when considering this:
1. Your audience relies on you for accurate and relevant

7. information. This
reliance places strong obligations upon you to choose
information well
and present decision makers with all sides of the issues. Unless
you are
designated as an advocate or identify yourself as such, you must
strive for
an unbiased presentation of the information. Individuals are
often tempted
to push their own agendas without regard to the requirements of
a good
decision by the principal. This is legitimate when so
acknowledged in the
memo. All memos however, should do justice to complex issues
and to
your principals. They are making the decision, not you.
2. Provide the bad news as well as the good. You should alert
your
principals to the dangers, problems, and implications of
decisions, as well
as to the advantages. Although memos drive people toward
decisions,
you may have the unhappy but vital duty of telling readers they
need more
information to make a good decision. Often memos can only be
summaries of arguments and reports, like the tip of an iceberg.
The author
should have supporting arguments and information to provide to
the
principals when needed or requested.

8. 3. Before making a recommendation, make sure you have laid
out honest
and realistic alternatives. Don't fall into what Henry Kissinger
called the
"war, surrender, my way" memo. It violates your responsibility
to your
principal, and a thoughtful reader will dismiss your analysis.
4. In recommending a course of action, clearly lay out the
reasons.
Anticipate questions, address them honestly, and compare your
recommendation to other options. It is your job to anticipate
needs and
support the decision maker.
• How should you present the information to them? Present all
information with
economy and clarity. Effectively writing a memo is a task that
requires a special
emphasis on clear formatting and accessible writing. Serve the
reader’s need to
access information quickly with judicious use of headings and
bullets.
3
How to Get Engaged in Serious Writing

9. Writing is difficult, frustrating work. As a craft, it entails a set
of specific, learnable skills,
and results in a tangible product. The harder you work, and the
more determined you are
to master the skills, the better you will become. Like any craft,
writing requires practice.
When you sit down to write your memo, two steps will help
engage you in writing:
developing a system for writing, and getting help when
necessary.
• Because writing is difficult, you need an explicit system for
getting started and
finished. Most memo writing is done under pressure. Under
these conditions
people can get stalled, confused, and side-tracked by
psychological stress. Having
a deliberate system gives you the self-discipline to plunge ahead
in the face of this
stress. In the absence of a system, you will find that you spend
large amounts of
time trying to figure out what you're doing. It doesn't matter
particularly what
system you use, so long as you have one and use it. Some
people start with an
outline and produce progressively finer drafts until they have a
finished product.
Some people “dump” everything they know about a given
subject and then start
culling and sorting, until they produce a coherent piece. Others
begin with a few
simple statements or assertions and then frame an argument
around them.
Experiment with a variety of methods, until you find one that
suits your

10. temperament.
• If you are having genuine difficulty and find that you don't
know what to do, get
help. Writing workshops are plentiful. Get together with a
group of students for
the express purpose of talking about writing problems. Get
suggestions from your
professors. Don't retreat from the problem. You will need to
write well in every
job you have.
Using the Language
Remember that your written work presents you to others. Your
use of language will
shape their assessment of you. Sloppy phrasing, bad grammar,
and incorrect spelling, for
example, demonstrate unreflective thought. Respecting
yourself, your ideas, and your
principal should motivate you to master this essential means of
communication. Your
writing should strive for five important qualities: simplicity,
straightforward sentence
structure, clarity, clear action and responsibility, and
correctness.
Simplicity is the mark of good writing. Complex sentence
structure and organization is a
sure sign of confusion or hidden agendas. A well-written memo
will be so simple and
straightforward in language and structure that it will leap off
the page. Don’t, however,

11. make the mistake of equating simplicity with ease of
production. The harder you work,
the simpler the prose gets: the more you shirk, the muddier it
will be. Consider the
following example:
4
Whether it is true or not, and there are strong indications that it
is not, the
allegation by the County of substandard performance against the
contractor is premature and certainly serves no useful purpose.
This author tried to write in a “conversational” tone.
Conversational language tends to be
more complicated, elliptical, and indeterminate than good
written prose. Written prose
has to be edited to be good. Novice writers often respond to
tough editing by
complaining, “You've taken all the creative words out of my
writing. Now it looks like
something anybody could have written.” In fact, tough editing
does exactly the opposite.
It makes your writing very distinctive. Remember, the message
carries the mark of your
individual creativity.
Straightforward sentence structure is essential to clear
communication. First, get the
basic elements of the sentence straight: subject, verb, and
object. Who is the actor?

12. What action is the actor performing? On what or whom is the
actor acting? What is the
writer's purpose in describing the relationship between actor
and action?
The county has accused the contractor of poor performance.
This
accusation is premature and possibly untrue.
County, accuse, contractor – these are the elements. By
stressing them, we cut the
number of words roughly in half, from 37 to 16. We specified
the nature of the action
(accuse); we exchanged bureaucratic fuzz-words (allegation,
substandard) for simple
ones (accuse, poor); and we allowed the writer to express some
uncertainty about the
conclusions (possibly). The reader now captures the spirit of
the writer’s message much
more readily. These are the simplest writing techniques. Strip
sentences to their
elements, and make those elements drive your sentences.
Subject first, then verb, then
object. Apply the techniques to this example:
With respect to problems of interim financing, and in
consideration of the
fact that short-term interest rates are prohibitive, the decision
was made by
the Finance Committee that the project should not be pursued
beyond
stage three of the design process until appropriate long-term
financing can

13. be secured through established capital market sources.1
Clarity in word choice marks good writing. Clarity means three
things: (a) choosing the
right word; (b) preferring simple words or combinations over
complex ones; and (c)
avoiding unnecessary technical jargon.
• Choosing the right word is more difficult than it appears.
When you begin
writing something, certain stock phrases and terms roll out of
your head onto the
paper. These phrases and terms are cues to what you want to
say, but often they
1 The Finance Committee considered interest rates for short-
term loans too high. It therefore decided not to
pursue the design process beyond stage three until lenders agree
to long-term financing. (31 words v. 55)
5
do not convey what you actually mean. To communicate
clearly, sort through
alternative ways of saying what you mean. Get something on
paper. Then, use
your vocabulary, the dictionary, or a thesaurus, and deliberately
substitute simpler
words for complicated and ambiguous ones. Give special
attention to verbs, and

14. use the active voice.
• Complex phrases that have mushy meanings often litter
memos, because writers
get caught in a cycle of “bureaucratese.” Take the following
example:
Current fiscal management techniques and control practices are
keyed to the fiscal-year budgeting processes of the government
cycle. They result in inefficient resource utilization because
administrators increase expenditures toward the end of annual
budget cycles in order to assure zero-balance results and
reporting,
rather than maximum efficiency in resource utilization.
This example features many quasi-technical terms: “fiscal
management
techniques,” “resource utilization,” and “budget cycles.” These
are common in
bureaucracy but don't communicate much. In a more active,
direct form the
example reads:
Administrators tend to spend more at the end of the fiscal year,
because they will lose the money they don’t spend. Typically,
they
are not allowed to carry money forward into the following year.
This results in expenditures that often are not the best use of
public
money.

15. We've left “fiscal year” in, because it is a technical term that
has important
meaning. Beyond that, we stripped out all the quasi-technical
terms and replaced
them with simpler words.
Certain complex and mushy words creep into the language of
public servants and
become standard usage. Because bureaucrats use these words
routinely, the
public begins to think that bureaucrats are evasive. They are
probably not – just
insufficiently critical of their own language. Here is a list of
some common
bureaucratic words and their standard English equivalents.
Bureaucratic English
facilitate help/assist
prioritize rank
indicate say/show
impact affect/effect
concept idea
6
Another recent trend has been turning nouns into verbs. The
trend started in
computer circles where people “interface” with each other and
“multiport” data.

16. Today public officials “outsource” functions and “task” people
to perform jobs.
Such jargon separates public officials from citizens and creates
a mystifying and
unnecessary code to hide bureaucrats from accountability.
A similar common practice is turning nouns and verbs into
adjectives and running
them together as strange compound words. These words often
sound very
important, but mean almost nothing. The following words come
directly from the
papers of students trying to sound like bureaucrats:
Nouns into Adjectives Verbs into Adjectives
program initiation diagnostic review
programmatic decision making circumvention practice
definitional terms allocation routine
problem areas elimination criteria
personnel involvement decisional alternative
For each of these compounds, someone took a noun (program,
definition,
problem, etc.) or a verb (diagnose, circumvent, decide) and
stuck it in front of a
noun, giving it the function of an adjective. You can make
adverbs the same way:
programmatically initiated, diagnostically reviewed, etc. This
clumping however,
creates unwieldy, often unintelligible, prose and leaves little
regard for a word’s
root meaning or function.

17. The skill required to avoid this kind of clumping is simple.
First, learn the
difference between nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Second, don't use
compounds when a simple construction will suffice. Look at a
number of
alternative ways of saying something, and choose the simplest
way, rather than
jamming words together because they sound authoritative and
bureaucratic.
Principals need lucidity, not jargon.
• Technical jargon becomes a barrier to clear communication.
When someone
writes, “The purpose of our new thrust is to facilitate a more
credible interface
between clients and service deliverers and to indicate to top
management how
they ought to prioritize agency functions according to standard
management
concepts,” you know he is not writing for real human beings.
Fellow citizens will
have a difficult time trying to decipher the jargon.
Automatically translate the
words into English. If it doesn't make sense in English, then
you have an
important piece of information – the person doesn't know what
he is saying. If it
does make sense, then there is a better way to say it.
As trustees of the common good, public officials have a special
obligation to write

18. in language that acknowledges and includes all members of the
community.
7
A civic language should include the entire population. This
requires that we avoid
language that limits the citizenry to certain groups and
implicitly excludes the rest
of the population. In a more positive way, it obligates us to
search for language
that respects and acknowledges all individuals.
Inclusive language, however, does not mean we must resort to
awful English.
Only muddled good intentions create these bureaucratic
monstrosities: s/he, or
his/her. In this case, inclusive language involves using plural
pronouns, using both
pronouns connected by "or" (he or she) or alternating the
pronouns by section or
example. The English language is evolving in the attempt to
develop a more
inclusive public vocabulary. Public officials should take the
lead in this effort
without reducing the language to trendy or bureaucratic
neologisms.
Clearly assigning action and responsibility will characterize
skilled writing. Bureaucrats
notoriously use language to obscure responsibility. They often
think they are being clever

19. by saying things in a way that hides who is supposed to be
doing what. The typical
means of obscuring responsibility are the passive voice and the
editorial “we.”
• The classic device to hide responsibility is the passive voice,
where the subject is
driven (by the agent). Passive construction diffuses your
analysis and backs into
major points. Remember that the strength of the English
language resides in verbs.
Use strong, active verbs. A good editor tries to eliminate as
many copulatives
(there... is, are, was, were) and weak verbs as possible. Verbs
carry action and
significance. Good verbs in the active voice eliminate the need
for mindless space
fillers such as “in order to,” “with respect to,” or “in
consideration of.”
The distinction between active and passive is something every
public servant
should understand. In active construction, the subject clearly
acts on a specific
person or thing. For example: boy takes apple. In passive
construction, action is
taken on the subject (by an agent who may be left unidentified)
– apple is taken
(by the boy).
Consider the following examples from student memos:

20. We recommend that specific operational details of the tools ad-
dressed in this report and any others to be used in
implementation
of amended policies be clearly stated. (Very cagey. The “we re-
commend” makes it sound quite active, but the construction ob-
scures the responsibility for specifying details. Who specifies?)
If it is decided that some therapeutic programs within existing
in-
stitutions are required, the personnel needed to run those
programs
must be fully informed as to the nature of the programs and
their
8
roles in them. (This is a triumph in passive construction. Not
only
does it fail to say who decides; it also fails to say who informs.)
Once you understand the difference between active and passive
voice, you
understand exactly what questions to ask about ambiguities in
responsibility and
action. Don't use passive construction to conceal action or
responsibility, even
when you suspect that other people don't understand the
difference. Someone
usually knows.

21. Another bureaucratic device for concealing responsibility is the
editorial “we”:
We have always argued that rapid transit is the best long-run
solution to urban transportation problems, given finite energy
resources. In the short run, though, we are faced with the
immediate problem of how to accommodate the city to the
automobile.
Notice how the writer uses the first (editorial) “we” to
communicate what she
thinks and then uses the second (generic, or perhaps civic) “we”
to implicate you
in a point of view. You are supposed to miss the distinction and
find yourself
seduced into agreement. If you understand the editorial “we,”
however, you'll ask
yourself immediately who “we” is. Once you ask that question,
the whole
charade collapses. The credibility of the memo and its author
collapses as well.
To clearly assign action and responsibility, specify who is
supposed to be doing
what; then structure the sentence to reflect that. Who or what
(subject) does what
(verb) to whom or what (object)?
Correctness in grammar, spelling, and punctuation requires that
you proofread your
work carefully. Remember not to rely solely on spell check,
either. Many words can be

22. spelled in more than one way, preventing the spellcheck
software from finding the error.
Examples are “principle” and “principal”, or “complement” and
“compliment.” Each of
these is spelled correctly, and therefore spell check will not
alert you if you have used the
incorrect one. For example, if you write the following sentence,
spell check would
consider it to be correct:
“The principle of the school gave Julie a complement about her
new dress.”
This sentence utilizes the incorrect form of the words, but spell
check did not alert us as
we wrote them. Therefore it is necessary to proof your work
thoroughly and not rely
solely on the spelling and grammar check of your software.
9
Organization and Argument
A good memo – indeed, any good piece of writing – has a clear
structure. It progresses as
a set of well-defined, logically connected statements that lead to
a clear conclusion. This is
the “argument.” If you don't have an argument, you don't have
a memo. In addition, a
good memo has a clear format that calls the reader's attention to

23. important steps in the
argument. After the first reading, the reader should be able to
return to key points without
re-reading the whole document. In other words:
Tell me what you're going to say (topic sentence or paragraph);
say it
(body of memo); then tell me what you said (conclusion).
The three principal skills of organization and argument are: (1)
putting the important
things up front, (2) making the transition from one step of the
argument to another
clearly, and (3) using a clear format in your presentation.
• Putting the important things up front is a common technique in
journalism. It's
called the “inverted pyramid” style of writing. Write the first
paragraph, or “lead,”
as though your story could be chopped off at any point after it.
This puts a
premium on specifying the problem, setting up the decision that
follows from it,
and presenting the important evidence quickly and succinctly.
It also means that a
reader can look at your memo and immediately know what
you're doing.
• Making the transition from one step of the argument to the
next clearly means

24. that you never pass from one subject to another without clearly
identifying the
new subject. “Blocking” is a term commonly applied to this
practice. Tightly
worded conclusions and clear headings alert the reader that you
are changing
subjects and moving to the next phase of your argument. Each
major subdivision
should have a new topic heading to help the principal know
where you are going
and find the points fast, if needed.
• Using a clear format is essential to writing a solid memo.
Again, this requires
skills in simplification. Your useful guides are: define, order,
connect, and
conclude.
§ Definition of your word choice needn't be cumbersome. If
there is any doubt
about the meaning of the words you are using, just say “x means
y.” This
practice will save you a lot of grief and misunders tanding.
Don't try to fuzz over
the weaknesses in your argument by using vague terms.
Someone will figure it
out.
§ Ordering is simply finding the logical relationship of the
topics you want to
discuss and devising a clear set of headings. The skill

25. resembles writing
headlines for the newspaper, only with fewer words.
10
§ Connecting and concluding give your reader clear messages
about what you've
said. The major message of this article, for example, is clarity
– about the
process of writing, the use of language, the assignment of
responsibility, and the
structure of the argument and format. How's that for a
summary?
Conclusion
Remember your obligations to yourself, your principal, and the
information you are
presenting. A memo communicates. Good communication
strives for accuracy, clarity,
and honesty. It means taking your audience seriously and
letting their needs discipline
your presentation. The quality of presentation reflects the
quality of your own mind and
preparation. Poorly conceived, badly written, imperfectly
edited, even misspelled memos
do an injustice to all concerned. They also destroy your
credibility as an advisor.
Good writing takes time and practice. No one gets it right in

26. the first draft. That’s why, in
this note, we have laid out some precise features to focus on in
writing your memos. You
must know your audience, what they need to know, and present
it to them in a clear
fashion. To do this you must develop a system of writing and
be willing to search for
help if necessary. In your writing, strive for five important
qualities: simplicity, straight-
forward sentence structure, clarity, clearly assigned action and
responsibility, and correct-
ness. Finally, organize your memo well, by putting the
important arguments up front,
using clear transitions, and allowing your format to help the
information flow smoothly.
By including these features, your memo will communicate what
you want it to.
Most decision makers have little time; they value clarity,
conciseness, and accuracy.
They appreciate clear formats that enable them to find
summaries and needed
information quickly during a discussion. Above all, they
respond to well-crafted memos
that account for their needs and help them make and defend a
good decision.
NOTES ON E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS
E-mail is no longer a form of communication limited to the
scientific and university
communities. Today, people use the internet widely for day-to-
day communication in
both the private and public sectors. While this note refers to

27. the need to write memos
clearly and succinctly, owing to the small amount of time your
principal has to read them,
e-mail correspondence is more rushed, necessitating even
greater brevity and clarity.
Many organizations now default to email communications in
lieu of traditional memos as
decision making tools.
11
Not only is e-mail communication often rushed, but its clarity is
also complicated by
variations in e-mail software and hardware platforms. When
composing memos for e-
mail, it is therefore important to remember and think about the
following:
E-mail is an “official” form of communication in a workplace.
“Official” means that
e-mail messages are legal business documents. Beware of
writing anything that you
would not write in a paper document for distribution. E-mail
messages are now regularly
subpoened in courts and most public organizations are subject
to the Freedom of
Information Act. Many public figures like Oliver North and
Bill Gates find themselves
trapped by public revelations of inappropriate e-mail.

28. Think before you type! Many argue that e-mail should be a
spontaneous, free flowing
form of communication. Because of the potential legal
ramifications, however, do not get
pulled into E-mail Wars by responding immediately to negative
messages you receive. If
the message’s intent or meaning is unclear, wait before
responding. E-mail is faceless and
interpreting the intent and feelings of senders can be very
difficult. Think through your
concerns or anger, and compose your response in a professional
manner. Better yet,
consider talking to the sender in person to assure that neither
party further misinterprets
written words or intentions.
Be clear and concise, and use formatting tools and spacing to
increase legibility.
What you write in an e-mail should be just as clear and contain
the same level of
professionalism as any written document you produce. If your
inter-office e-mail
software allows it, use bullets, italics and bold text to help your
readers find what they
need quickly. Be aware, however, that when you send
messages to people outside your
workplace, many of your special formatting features may not
appear on their screens the
way you see them.
Using line breaks (space between paragraphs) instead of long,
continuous paragraphs
makes your messages easier to read on a computer screen. The
easier and more visually
accessible your message is, the more likely it is to get read i n

29. its entirety!
Beware!!! Most e-mail programs do not check spelling and
grammar! Always check
your spelling and sentence structure, and read carefully for
typographical errors before
hitting the “Send” button! …
C a s e T e a c h i n g R e s o u r c e s F R O M T H E E V A
N S S C H O O L O F P U B L I C A F F A I R S
T h e
E l e c t r o n i c
H a l l w a y ®
Box 353060 · U n i v e r s i t y o f W a s h i n g t o n · Seattle
WA 98195- 3060 www.hallway.org
_____________________________________________________
___________________________________________
This teaching resource has been provided for members of the
Electronic Hallway with the express permission of the
author, Talitha May, Writing Instructor at the Graduate Writing
Center, at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of
Texas, Austin.
The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of
Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This
material may not be altered or copied without written
permission from The Electronic Hallway. For permission, email
[email protected], or phone (206) 616-8777. Electronic Hallway

30. members are granted copy permission for
educational purposes per Member’s Agreement
(www.hallway.org).
Copyright 2004 The Electronic Hallway
WRITING EFFECTIVE MEMORANDA: PLANNING,
DRAFTING, & REVISING
Memoranda are a common form of correspondence sent within
an organization. Memos are
concise, focused examples of persuasive writing because they
typically require a particular
course of action, and are audience specific.
Prior to writing, it is necessary to take the time to plan your
memo. Planning your memo will
actually save you time rather than if you merely start composing
without a clear sense of
direction.
Planning: Purpose, Audience, and Organization
Purpose and context
Consider the following planning steps:
§ Determine your specific purpose for writing the memo
§ Determine some of the ideas you want to convey
§ Develop your purpose into a focused, and concise working

31. statement
Audience
Analyzing your audience will help you make effective writing
decisions. Consider the following
questions:
§ Journalistic “w” questions: who, what, when, where, why, and
how
§ Who is your audience?
o What characterizes your audience? Think in terms of age,
culture, education,
gender, geographical region, interests, language, marital status,
occupation,
politics, religion, etc.
Writing Effective Memoranda
2
§ What are your audience’s expectations?
§ How much does your audience know about the background of
what you are writing
about?
Develop an organizational pattern
You may organize your memo in various ways depending on the
context of your memo;
however, most memos are chronologically organized and answer

32. the following questions:
1. Current situation: What is the problem or the issue? Describe
the background of your
issue by means of a concise executive summary. If your memo
is one page or less,
provide a one to two sentence purpose statement.
2. Past situation: How have you addressed the issue in the past?
3. Future action: What should your organization do about the
issue in the future? Make a
feasible recommendation or ask for a particular course of
action.
Additional Organizational Strategies
For more organizational ideas, refer to “Tip 24" of Phillip E.
Bozek’s book, 50 One-Minute
Tips to Better Communication: A Wealth of Business
Communication Ideas.
Drafting
Clearly state your purpose
The first sentence of the body should explain the purpose of the
memo. Use verbs that
specifically and directly communicate what you want your
memo to accomplish, such as to
explain, to authorize, or to request:
§ I am requesting travel funding to Boulder, Colorado to meet
with the Governor.
§ This memo presents the results of the internal audit of the
executive branch.

33. § I want to congratulate you on your superior contributions to
the EPA.
Develop an executive summary for memos longer than one page
A summary has four main goals:
1. To help the writer stay focused
2. To give readers an overall sense of the memo
3. To remind readers of the main points
4. To enable readers to skip the body if necessary
The executive summary should reflect the tone, content, and
10% of the length of the
memo. For one-page memos, it may simply be a concise
statement of purpose:
Writing Effective Memoranda
3
§ In August, we completed the first draft of the policy research
project on
schedule. We presently do not anticipate any delays that would
jeopardize our
projected completion date.
§ This memo outlines a mediation and negotiation process
between the conflicting
groups.

34. Write an effective closing statement
Aim to avoid writing overly general closing statements, but end
with direct statements of
action.
If necessary, make sure your memo provides detailed
information by attaching tables, charts,
tables, or other detailed information as attachments. Be sure to
refer to your attachments in your
memo and add a notation about what is attached below your
closing statement.
§ Attached: Fiscal Reports, August–September 2000
§ Attached: Applicant’s résumé
Visual Organization
To aid readability, and organization, consider the following
document design techniques:
§ White space: use to organize information and emphasize
important information
§ Headings: use as navigational tools to assist readers scan for
main ideas, or quickly find
key information at a later time
§ Ordered and unordered lists (bullets): use to condense
information
§ Italics: use to emphasize key words

35. § Specific subject line in boldface type : use for emphasis and
quick reference
Revising Memoranda
Revising allows you to re-see your memo by examining global
issues such as audience, purpose
and focus, organization, and development. Review the following
checklist when revising and
your memoranda:
Writing Effective Memoranda
4
CONCERN
Revision Questions
Audience § Is your reader familiar with the memo’s topic, and
if
not, did you provide descriptive background
information?
§ Is the tone courteous? Would you feel comfortable
allowing anyone to read or quote your memo?

36. Purpose and Focus § Is the statement of purpose clear?
§ Could your reader tell what the intended purpose of
the memo is?
§ Could your reader immediately tell what prompted
the need for this memo?
§ Is the memo appropriate for your writing situation?
§ Does each paragraph have a central idea that
supports your statement of purpose?
§ Is the subject line specific? Does it provide your
topic and purpose?
§ Are your headings specific enough for your
readers?
Organization § Do the most important ideas come first?
§ Does your organization mirror the sequence of
ideas in your statement of purpose?
§ Will your readers understand the relationships
among your headings?
§ If your memo is one page, does it follow a
deductive organization?
§ Did you provide transitional devices to maintain
coherence?
Continued on next page.

37. Writing Effective Memoranda
5
Visual Organization
and Format
Continued from previous page.
§ Did you use a template or your organization’s
preferred form?
§ Did you use bulleted or ordered lists to discuss
step-by-step procedures?
§ Did you provide enough white space to aid the
memo’s readability?
§ Did you provide headings for major sections?
Development § Did you describe the current situation with
sufficient
details?
§ Did you provide relevant and credible examples to
support your recommendations?
§ Did you provide your reader(s) with all the
information they may need?
Editing Memoranda
In contrast to revising, editing focuses on the effectiveness of
your words and sentences

38. including topics such as “accuracy,” “economy,” and
“consistency” (Palmquist, Bedford 231).
Review the following checklist when editing your memoranda:
Correctness or
Accuracy
§ Are the names spelled correctly?
§ Are the job titles correct and up-to-date?
§ Did you write out the date rather than use the all-
numerical format?
§ Are the times and dates in your memo accurate?
§ Is your contact information current?
§ Is your memo free from clichés and does it use
precise words that accurately express your main
ideas?
§ Is each sentence complete?
§ Did you remember to include your attachments if
necessary?
Conciseness § Did you remove “unnecessary modifiers” (very,
really, somewhat, quite, sort of, etc.)? (Palmquist,
Bedford 241)
§ Did you remove unnecessary introductory phrases
(there are, it is, there is, these have, these are, here
are, here is)? (Palmquist, Bedford 241)
§ Did you remove or reduce the use of stock/wordy
phrases?
Continued on next page.

39. Writing Effective Memoranda
6
Consistency
Continued from previous page.
§ Did you use concepts consistently?
§ Did you use numbers consistently?
§ Did you format your memo consistently?
§ Are your headings consistent in form?
§ Did you maintain the same form of each name?
Lunsford states, "if you refer to someone as Susan
in one sentence, don't switch to Sue in
the next" (483).
Tone and Language § Is the language non-sexist?
§ Is your memo free from technical jargon?
§ Did you avoid using pompous diction?
§ Did you use action verbs rather than “to be” verbs?
§ Are your sentences varied in length and structure?
§ Are your sentences simple and not too complex?
Spelling, Grammar,
and Punctuation
§ Did you maintain parallelism in bulleted lists?
§ Rather than relying on your computer’s spelling,
and grammar tools, did you ask a colleague to

40. proofread your draft?
§ Did you consult a contemporary dictionary or
recently written handbook?
§ Is the language active, or did you suitably use the
passive voice?
§ Did you read your memo out loud to find any
omitted words?
References
Lunsford, Andrea A. The Everyday Writer. 2nd ed. Boston:
Bedford/St.Martin’s,
2001.
Bozek, Phillip E. 50 One-Minute Tips to Better Communication:
A Wealth of
Business Communication Ideas. Revised ed. Menlo Park: Crisp
Publications, 1998.
Markel, Mike. Technical Communication. 6th ed. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2001
Palmquist, Mike. The Bedford Researcher. Boston:
Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2003.
---. Overview: Writing Memos. Dec. 2002. Dept. of English and
Composition,
Colorado State University. 20 Dec. 2002
<http://writing.colostate.edu/
references/documents/memo/>.

41. Policy Brief Exercise
Instructions: Your response to the questions raised in
the Policy Brief Exercise should be written in an essay format.
The rules relating to plagiarism apply fully to this paper, as
they do to all other student work products. The papers will be
run through Turnitin. Please cite when relying on or
paraphrasing another person’s work. Use an appropriate
citation style (APA preferred). If needed, put the bibliography
at the back of the paper.
Papers are to be typed, double-spaced, and utilize an easy-to-
read font-size (Times Roman 12 point preferred). Papers should
be approximately 4-5 pages in length.
Policy Brief Exercise
The Pornography Ordinance: What’s a Mayor to Do?
Frustrated by an increasing number of adult entertainment
businesses and the rise of prostitution in lower-income sections
of a large mid-western city, religious leaders, business groups,
and community activists decided to fight back. These groups
maintained that the increased visibility of pornography in the
city was a threat to women and caused neighborhood
devaluation and decay. They decided to enlist the help of a
legal clinic at a local public university to help them address this
public policy problem. Two feminists’ lawyers working for the
clinic proposed a controversial piece of legislation that defined
pornography as sex discrimination and as such violation of a
woman's civil rights. More specifically, the ordinance defined
pornography as “a form of discrimination on the basis of sex.”
The ordinance went further by adding a controversial section
on trafficking. This provision of the ordinance stated that the
production, sale, or distribution of pornography is
discrimination against women by means of trafficking.
Essentially, this meant that any woman could file a complaint to
the City’s Civil Rights Commission against someone who

42. produced, sold, or distributed pornography. In effect, a woman
could sue a business owner who engaged in pornography for
monetary damages, or she could obtain an injunction to prevent
the pornographer from selling any more of the material.
This rather broad definition of pornography and the provision
stating the production, sale, distribution was a form of
trafficking led the American Civil Liberties Union to contend
the proposed ordinance impinged upon the constitutional right
of freedom of speech. Despite the concerns raised about the
constitutionality of the ordinance by the ACLU, business
associations, religious organizations, community activists
strongly supported the ordinance. It was passed unanimously by
the city council.
When the proposed legislation arrived at his desk, the mayor,
George Rawson, had three options he could take. He could veto
it, sign it, or ignore it and allow proposed ordinance to become
law without his signature. Rawson, a lawyer, was concerned
about the constitutionality of the proposed ordinance. In 1973,
the U.S. Supreme Court defined obscenity within the context of
pornography in the landmark case of Miller v. California, 413
U.S. 15 (1973). The Miller decision established three criteria
for considering pornographic material obscene and
unconstitutional. The material had to lack any serious artistic
or social value, it had to portray sexual conduct in a blatantly
offensive way, and it had to be considered obscene using
contemporary community standards. In effect, the Court’s
holding in Miller created burdensome procedures for taking
civil or criminal action against pornographers so as to avoid
excessive censorship. The implementation strategy that cities
commonly used to limit pornography sales was through zoning
laws. However, zoning regulations were often struck down by
the courts for being unconstitutional because they violated
freedom of expression. In addition, Mayor Rawson was
concerned about the likely administrative costs that would be
imposed on the city’s Civil Rights Commission by the proposed
ordinance. The city’s Civil Rights Commission was to be the

43. agency responsible under the proposed legislation for hearing
any complaint related to pornography.
Both proponents and opponents of the proposed pornography
ordinance tried to persuade the mayor to support their position.
However, the mayor has chosen to without any decision
regarding the recommendations by both the proponents and the
opponents of the proposed legislation. Instead, he turns to a
member of his staff and asks you to frame the problem and
provide him the information and advice he needs to make a
decision.
The mayor wants this information in a short policy brief. This
brief should provide him with key information (findings,
analysis, and/or recommendations) regarding this complex
public policy issue. The policy brief will also serve as the basis
for any public statements that Mayor Rawson may make about
the proposed ordinance. The policy brief must convey
information succinctly and cogently. See the section below
detailing the steps involved in drafting a policy brief. Put the
policy brief in the form of a memorandum and direct it toward
Mayor Rawson. The policy brief should be between 4-5 pages.