Professional Memos

Memos can be short, but they can also be longer, more detailed, and comprised of several pages (which may include figures, tables, and graphic organizers).

Like emails, memos should have informative, specific subject lines, and should use liberal paragraph breaks, graphic highlighting, headings/subheadings, and other formatting elements to facilitate organization and reading.

Like letters, memos should have one inch margins, single-spaced body text, extra spaces between paragraphs, and readable font/s.

However, beyond the shared conventions above, memos are formatted differently than letters.

• Memos should not include the writer’s or inside addresses (because memos are sent internally, between members of the same organization, addresses aren’t required)
• Memos should not include salutations, complementary closings, or signatures.
• Instead, memos should have a heading with the words “To,” “From,” “Date,” and “Subject” along with accompanying text.
• Additionally, memos are labeled with “Memo” or “Memorandum” at the top of the page. This label may be followed by a colon and some specific indication of the topic or content.

Types of Memos^*

Procedure and Information Memos

These memos are routine and usually flow downward from administration, supervisors, and management to employees. Procedure and Information Memos deliver official company information and describe procedures. In these memos, tone is particularly important because managers want to encourage employees’ participation, cooperation, and support.

Request and Reply Memos

Request Memos are requests for information and/or action and usually follow the “direct” organizational pattern (will be discussed in later course material). Replies to these memos (Reply Memos) are also organized directly with the most important information first.

Confirmation Memos

These memos are sometimes called “to-file” reports or “incident” reports. They document decisions, directives, and discussions, and often include the names and titles of people involved. Confirmation memos itemize major issues and sometimes request active confirmation from readers.

Memo Formatting & Organization

Read “Memos,” from Writing Commons, particularly for information on memo formatting and direct vs. indirect organization.

Yeah, but what should my memo look like?

Your memo should look like a memo. That’s it. I promise.

It doesn’t matter if you use 1″ margins or 1.25″ margins. It doesn’t matter whether you center the word “Memorandum” or not. It doesn’t matter whether you order the heading info To, From, Date, Subject or Date, From, To, Subject.

What matters is that your memo looks like a memo.

Genre Conventions: Your Memo Should

• have “memo” or “memorandum” written at the top
• have a heading that includes “to,” “from,” “date,” and “subject.” The subject should be last and highlighted in some way (in all caps or in bold), but the order of everything else doesn’t matter.
• be single spaced with an additional space between body paragraphs
• employ paragraph breaks liberally (in professional writing, sometimes a paragraph can be just one sentence)
• NOT be signed — since the name of the writer is in the “From” part of the heading, memos are not signed (Ever. Don’t even sign memos at the bottom.)

Both of these memos look like memos. Both have “memorandum” at the top; both have a heading with “to,” “from,” “date,” and “subject”; both are singled spaced with an additional space between paragraphs. Both are fine.

Avoid Redundancy

It’s almost always redundant to begin professional correspondence with “My name is…” or “I’m the [ role/title ] at [ organization ]…”

There’s no need to introduce yourself—your name, role, or organization at the beginning of your correspondence because that information (your name, role or title, and organization) should go in the signature block of letters and emails or in the heading of memos.