Memorandum

Memorandum (also more commonly memo) is a brief written record of communication, used in office, whether business, government, education institution or legal office (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorandum). The usual structure for a memo includes some or all of the following:

MEMORANDUM

TO : the person or group receiving the memo (recipient).

FROM : the person writing the memo (sender).

C.C. : (Carbon Copy) the person or group who

should be informed about the memo

DATE : usually a formal manner of writing the date (month/day/year).

For example: February 22nd, 2009

SUBJECT : a short specific topic discussed in the memo. This should be in bold.

(instead of SUBJECT:, it’s also acceptable to use RE: which means regarding or reference)

introduction: explains why the memo has been written and what topic will discuss. You can start your idea of this introduction by responding this sentence,” I’m writing because..”. When the memo is long, the introduction is in a single paragraph as an executive summary of the memo itself.

body: discusses the topic in detail. It explains a thing exactly and list items when possible. In a long memo, the body contains discussion of background information. You can use this phrase “the facts are…” to develop the body part of a memo.

conclusion: explains what will or should happen next, when the follow up will occur and why the date is important. In most memos, the conclusion is in form of actions. The main idea of this part is that “I will” or “I propose that you …”

taken from : English for SMK Maria Regina