Project 1: Writing the Memo Report Engl313

Deliverable 1:

Writing the Memo Report

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©KarenThompson● DepartmentofEnglish● UniversityofIdaho

English 313: Business Writing

• Memos and Memo Reports: are internal documents, shared between co-workers. The top of the document contains a main heading.

This heading evolved over time into a standard set ofconventions. So, Memos and Memo Reports look like this with some variation.

Thetitle“memo”ormemorandumsignalswhattypeofdocumentthereaderisgetting.

Thenextsection,documentswhoreceivedthedocument,whowroteit,when,andwhyisconveyedbythesubjectline.

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

Writing the Introduction• When someone requests information from you, a standard

rhetorical move is to remind the reader of the request and add a forecasting statement let the reader know how you have organized the information.

• Example: • Here is the information you requested about X. Included

in this memo are A, B, and C.

• To see variations of this rhetorical move, see the lecture on formatting, document design, and readability as well as the example memo reports.

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In the examples, the writers used standard conventions to format the memo report and applied document design principles to enhance readability.

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Notice how format and document design in these examples are similar but also a bit different.

The same is true for how the writers’ applied a rhetorical move from the document design lecture to write their introductions.

Prose Style Concepts vs. Causes

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In the table of contents for lecture 1, the prose style concepts are bolded, and below each concept in this table of contents are the reasons or causes for weaknesses in this concept.

Your memo will need to show me how you applied all concepts and causes when analyzing your prior writing.

Table&of&Contents&

!Prose!Style!Concepts!are!Bolded!&1.! Cut!Lard& 3.10&& Why&you&may&have&developed&the&habit&of&writing&lard&.................................................................&4.5&

& Cut&redundant&words&......................................................................................................................&6&

& Cut&dead&phrases&............................................................................................................................&7&

& Reanimate&near.death&phrases&.......................................................................................................&8&

& Cut&unnecessary&modifieers&............................................................................................................&9&

& Eliminate&“there”&with&all&forms&of&“to&be”&verbs&...........................................................................&10&

!2.! Use!Strong!Verbs&...........................................................................................................................................&11&& Using&“to&be&verbs”&–&when&it&works&and&when&it&doesn’t&..............................................................&12&

& Tighten&the&verb&form&.....................................................................................................................&13&

& &

3.! Use&Mostly!Active!Voice&................................................................................................................................&14.21&& Passive&Voice:&what&it&is&and&why&it’s&confusing&.............................................................................&15.20&

& Avoid&needlessly&passive&voice,&but&know&when&it’s&&good&choice&..................................................&19.21&

& &

4.! Use!Stress!Emphasis&......................................................................................................................................&22.32&& How&readers&look&for&meaning&.......................................................................................................&23.24&

& Strategies&to&improve&stress&emphasis&...........................................................................................&25&

& Watch&sentence&length&...................................................................................................................&26&

& Keep&paragraphs&short&and&focused&...............................................................................................&27.28&

& Use&summative&modifiers&...............................................................................................................&29&

& Avoid&strings&of&prepositions&..........................................................................................................&30&

& Avoid&needless&business&jargon&......................................................................................................&31.32&

&Business!Presentation!Speaking!Style&................................................................................................................&33.36&&

Composing Headings

• It’s a good choice to use a level 2 heading for the names of the concepts.

• It’s also a good choice to use level 3 headings for causes you found.

• The body of your document will need an entry for each concept.

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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

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Example of a prose style entry:

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What to do if you do not find weaknesses.

• Most students find weaknesses in their prose style by doing this project, but if your prose style is not weak in any of the causal areas, then do the reverse when writing the entries for your analysis.

• For example, if your writing is concise, make that claim, and the support it with a brief excerpt from your writing such as a short paragraph and point out how you do not repeat words, write dead phrases. etc.

• NOTE: do not rely on the examples for how to work with concepts and causes because these may not reflect the latest updates to course curriculum. Use them only as an idea of how your report should look.

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Style Vs. Grammar

• In addition to analyzing your prose style, you will need to identify any noticeable error.

• If you do not find any noticeable error, then you may simply state that as a claim, and you will not need to provide supporting evidence.

• NOTE: noticeable error is a grammar and not style issue, but if you have noticeable error, follow the example in the next slide for how to write it up.

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Example of an entry about noticeable error:

Define the error, provide the sentence where you made it, using device emphasis such as highlighting. Next, explain what you would need to do to fix the error.

Here is an example of what an error entry should look like:

Noticeable Error: Comma Splice

If you did not find noticeable error when analyzing your prior writing, then just state that your writing was error free for noticeable error.

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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.

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