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Audience, Purpose, & Style
Audience, Purpose, & Style
Audience
Audience
Formal communication to people within the company you work or within the group of project participants.
Purpose
Purpose
Ask or answer questions
Call meetings
Create written records of actions, observations or events
Explain new policies
Give instruction
Remind people about upcoming tasks or events
Summarize decisions
Stake a position
Style
Style
Discusses one topic only or references one project only [for ease of filing]
Includes the word “Memo” or “Memorandum” at the top of the page
The following are needed before the body of the memo:
To:
From:
Date: [this may also include time]
Project: [this helps for filing, if needed]
Subject: [or written as Re:]
Possibly needed is cc: [stands for carbon copy or complimentary copy]. This could appear under To: or at the bottom of the memo
After all of the above is spelled-out, the body of the memo is written
Sources:
The tables created for “Audience and Purpose” were informed by Pamela Angell’s, Business Communication Design (2004)
Steven A. Rigolosi’s, Applied Communication Skills for the Construction Trades (2002).
Checklist
Checklist
I. Analysis
Before sending your memo, does it includes the information the reader should know after receiving it?
The purpose of the memo
The action the reader should take
II. Evaluation
Content
Is the content closed to multiple interpretations?
Is the memo logical in thought progression?
Is the memo correctly addressed and signed?
Tone
Is the memo courteous, professional, and tactful?
Style
Is the memo written in language the reader will understand? Clear?
Are sentences short and direct? Concise?
Are bullet points used and/or headered paragraphs short enough for easy reading or scanning?
Attitude
Does the memo encourage the reader to take action (if needed)?
Does the memo show the reader the benefits of taking the requested action (if action is needed)?
Does the memo build goodwill?
Appearance
Use 11 or 12 point font; Arial, Calibri, or Times Roman are typical business fonts.
Is the memo format correct? Limit memo's to one page if possible, two pages maximum. Use content headers and bullets to abbreviate long text sentences. See examples below.
Is the memo free of errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling? PROOFREAD! Tip: read the text backward to find errors. Read aloud to find awkward phrasing
OPTIONAL: Line at top of memo indicating "PLEASE RESPOND BY_______" so it calls attention to action needed by a certain date.
Source: Betty Ricks and Kay F. Gow’s Business Communication: Systems and Applications (1987).
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