Memorandum:
•Memoranda are brief, informal reports used to establish a
record.
•They generalize the communication process by transmitting
the message from one or more
authors to one or more recipients.
•E-mail messages typically take the form of memoranda.
Memorandum:
•• Memoranda are written for numerous internal purposes—for
example,
–to request information,
–to make announcements,
–to outline policies, and
–to transmit meeting minutes.
The Memorandum Body:
•Generally, organize the topics of the memorandum in order
of importance, with the key
statements first and the details further on.
•The memorandum should normally begin with a brief summary
statement, in one or
two sentences, identifying the key topic and the scope of
the memorandum.
Meeting Documents:
•Use meeting documents as tools to encourage productive and
efficient meetings.
•The two principal meeting documents are the
agenda,
which tells participants what topics
will be discussed at the meeting, and
minutes,
which record what actually occurred.
Example:
Development Team Agenda
1. Report by Mr. Hamid on investigation of possible security
software
2. Report by Miss Sara on development of database prototypes
3. Discussion of possible hardware platforms
4. Review of deadlines for project
5. Agenda for next meeting
Minutes:
•Minutes can be formal or informal.
•Formal minutes are often required by federal, state, or
local law, by-laws, charters, or
regulations.
•They are usually distributed to the members of the group
before the next meeting, and then
approved (sometimes after being amended).
Proposals:
•In a proposal, identify a specific problem and state how
you will solve that problem.
•Most organizations rely on successful proposal writing for
their continued existence.
•You will most likely spend a major part of your
professional life writing proposals.
General Structure:
•Learn the basic structure of a proposal.
•Proposals share a general document architecture, which is
usually modified to suit specific
circumstances.
•The overall structure of a proposal can be broken down into
four parts:
Proposal Structure:
•Front matter
•Body
–Introduction
–Technical approach
–Management requirements
–Work plan
•End matter
Front Matter:
The front matter of a proposal includes the following
components:
–Letter of transmittal
–Title page
–Summary
–Table of contents
–List of figures and tables
Body:
•In the introduction to a proposal, do the following:
•Identify the motivating need or problem.
•Develop the immediate context in which this problem has
been highlighted.
•In external proposals be sure you are responding to the
published need and motivation as
identified by the outside agency.
End Mater:
••End Matter
–Bibliography
–Résumés
–Appendixes
Revision:
•Memorandum
•Meeting Documents
–Agenda
–Minutes
•Proposals
–Proposal Structure
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