WRITTEN COMMUNICATION 1

hello everyone i hope you're doing good in continuation to what we had discussed in communication today we shall discuss about memorandum as to what exactly memorandums are what is the format that we have to follow what is the purpose of writing a memorandum characteristics of a good memorandum advantages of writing a memorandum and of course the components that a memorandum has let's continue let us first define and understand what a memorandum is a memorandum is a written message in business or diplomacy which would mean that it is a part of written communication we need to

write the message or the information that we wish to share with people and it is usually used in business or by the diplomats it is a note regarding something for future use so memorandums will never be written for something that has already occurred in case you're writing a memorandum for something that has already occurred it would want you to take action based on that now in future therefore it's a note that has an information related to something that has to happen in future and memorandum is abbreviated as memo so this memo word is a universally

accepted abbreviated form of memorandum so you can always instead of using memorandum as a whole you can always use memo as a short word having said that it is a written message it would mean that it is an intra office tool intro office tool would mean that as we've discussed earlier communication can be external or internal external is when the receiving party to whomsoever you're writing to that party is not from the same organization with which you are associated so this particular form of communication which is memorandum or a memo it is an internal communication

you will never be writing a memorandum for somebody who's outside your organization now what is the reason behind this this we shall discuss in a while so this is an intra office tool intra office means within the office you can use it and what how would you do it how would you use it in the office either you can share some information or message with a person who is a part of the organization or to a certain department so whenever you wish to exchange a certain information or pass on a certain information to a person

or to a department of the same organization with which you are associated you can go ahead with memorandum now because it is used only for the internal communication that is why we say that it is less formal because when you are giving such an information to people who are in the same organization even if you don't follow the seven principles of communication that is seven sees or the written communication principles in case suppose you haven't given enough clarity because it's a short document as compared to the other form of written communications used in business it

is one of the shortest forms you don't have to explain things you don't have to elaborate on things it has to be preferably written in bullets which would mean you don't have to explain in detail about things why is that so because it is again an internal communication so in case you're writing a memorandum to somebody and if that somebody has any kind of confusions related to the information he or she because you're from the same organization he or she can come to you and ask for the clarity and because of this very reason we

say that it is less formal than a letter or than any other means of written communication that i that is that can be used in inside a business could be external or internal but then specifically memorandum happens to be an internal communication tool you cannot use this for external communication and for this very reason while we're discussing while we'll be discussing the format we will see that we do not have any heading or the organization's name neither does it have any signatory because it is internal therefore that is not required as such an effective memo

clearly states the objective in the first sentence now first sentence of any paragraph that you're writing is known as a topic sentence so whenever you're writing this memorandum the very first statement that you write this statement has to state the objective of writing a memorandum the motive behind writing the memorandum or the reason or the purpose why are you writing the memorandum has to be very clearly specified and written in the first sentence it is not the first line but the first sentence and it could take one or two lines depending upon what kind of

message are you trying to float across we'll be now discussing the purposes of writing a memo or a memorandum a person writes a memo with some purposes in mind it could be a single purpose or it could be multiple and what can be the purposes for writing a memo to inform somebody about something for example there is somebody new who has joined the organization so you can float across a memo to n number of people who may want to have that information or for whom this information could be important and vital so you can inform

them as to this is the person who has joined you if there is somebody who has left the organization and maybe that somebody was at a position wherein even if you continue to share your information without knowing that the person is still there with you or not the there would be a leak of information so it could also be used to inform you about somebody leaving the organization to enquire something for example you are a part of one department and you want to take to you want to acquire something from the other department so you

can always opt for a memorandum to inquire something something that has already happened if you wish if somebody is asking you to give you a brief overview of whatever processes have been done or whatever has been finished or maybe you're asked to give a completion report or a partial completion report to somebody you can always choose a memo for doing this you can always give suggestions through a memo you can remind people of something for example suppose i have plan planned a meeting uh to be that was maybe i've scheduled it on 20th of february

so i will give you a reminder memo which will state that it's a gentle reminder for you to know that the meeting is scheduled on 20th of february so it could also be written to remind people of anything it could also be used to instruct so instruct could be for example suppose 20th of february you are required to come prepared with xyz things for the meeting so it i can always float the instructions that are to be followed while you are appearing for the meeting so that for that very purpose i can also use a

memo it can also be used to promote goodwill how do you promote goodwill whatever achievement that the company has done whatever good thing that any of the employee of the company has done or the employer has achieved some achieve some important thing in his or her life you can always write that appreciate people for the things that they've done well for all those reasons if you're writing it will promote a good will of the company so in order to promote goodwill you can always choose to write a memo to a certain person or to a

department any way around and then of course if you have any ideas to communicate you can always do that because it is within the organization so if you wish to give your ideas or communicate your ideas to a number of people or a single person you can do that using a memorandum so for all these purposes you can very conveniently within the organization choose a memorandum a memorandum has a lot of advantages memorandum because we are saying that it's an internal means of communication therefore it is very quick because you need not go into the

detail of everything you can be very precise in writing things very concisely you can write down the things without paying much of attention to whether the things are self-explanatory or not because you know that anyways that memorandum is going to people from the same organization so in case they have any clarity they seek for any clarity they can come to you or they can contact you through any of the means through email or through memorandum or through a telephone or through your extension or any other means it is a convenient mode of communication why convenient

because it does not take a lot of time that is why it is convenient also things that are convenient to us what are the things that are convenient that are easy to work with or that are easy to formulate and draft and because memorandum is an internal piece of communication internal form of communication and you don't have to follow very rigidly all the principles therefore it is very convenient anybody who wishes to share some information can do that at his or her own and you don't want any signatory authorized signatory to sign it because it

again it's an internal communication therefore also it becomes convenient and quick it is inexpensive memos are used within an organization because it is an internal means so you can use low quality paper you can use the one side used papers also in case you wish to and it helps in maintaining written records this happens to be a benefit or advantage of every form of written communication that we'll be doing because this in general is a is is a merit of the written communication that whenever you are opting for a written way of communicating it it

in itself it is acting as a written record for future reference use or as a legal document components of a memo so components of a memo would mean what all parts does a memo have i said that it is a short is it is a very short kind of communication which would mean that whatever segments we have we will not be writing in detail about anything so in it in general a memorandum in general has six segments to it first is the heading segment wherein we are writing to that is to whomsoever are you writing

it the recipient of the memo it could be one person one department or multiple people then you write from who is writing a memo that has to be because we do not have any authorized signatory at the end we do not close it by writing our name whosoever is writing the person is not writing the name at the very end therefore it becomes important that in the heading segment that is in the very first few lines you write down these basic information that to whom it is intended to who is writing it from whose side

has it been shared the date date has to be written in a complete format what would be the format of the date the date will always be written as first the date that is say either you can choose the date first that is say suppose 16th of february 2020. so you will write it as 1 6. then a space and then entire spelling of february you will not be putting the feb as abbreviated form it has to be february that is f e b r u a ry comma a space and 2020 or you can

always write it as february space 1 6 comma 2020 this is a more preferred way of writing date when you write the month first the complete month first space the date and whenever you're writing the date make sure that you are not writing any suffix no t h r t r d s s d etc is to be written so it only has to have the numeric date with no rd sd etc as a suffix etc at the end of any of the digit or the number that you're writing and then you will have to

separate it using of a comma and then write the full year that is 2 0 to 0 this is how usually we write the date and then we need to write the subject now whenever you're writing the subject this would mean that you're writing the reason why you're writing a memo and it has to be very crisp crisp here would mean short very concise and precise and self-explanatory so that once the reader reads it he or she is clear that okay the content has information about this because we do not have much of we don't

have to include a lot of detail therefore it is required for you to write subject in a way that it is self-explanatory the second part of the memorandum is the opening segment wherein it the first line would include the reason for writing and brief overview of the things for what whichever reason you're writing it you need to write the brief overview now you will say that because subject also has the same thing reason for writing a memo and uh the the main purpose of writing an opening segment also is that you provide the reason of

writing now the difference here would be that while you're writing the opening segment you may use like for instance the the language that we usually use this is to inform you kind of phrase right so this can be used along with writing the reason and you can then explain the reason subject we are not explaining the reason in the opening statement in a line or two you need to explain or give a brief overview of the reason for which you are writing and then it will have a context context is it is an event or

a circumstance of the problem the writer is solving there has if there is a problem for which the writer is solving the writing the memo you need to give the context of that problem having stated quoted the reason of writing that i'm writing for uh maybe to invite you for a meeting now why is this meeting being conducted is the context so there you need to state clearly as to what is the reason behind me keeping that meeting that you're writing as the reason for writing a memorandum the third segment is the task segment that

must include a mention of the steps for solving the problem whatever for whatever reason problem here does not mean a difficulty it means the reason for which you're writing a memorandum so for whatever reason you're writing it has to have the task segment if you want somebody to act upon it you need to include the steps what exactly do you want the person to do and because you have to write it in written that this is desired of the reader that means before writing the memorandum you need to plan accordingly what exactly do you want

the person to do for example suppose i say that graphist will be on say march 20th and you are any kind of uh performance is solicited suppose now this is the memorandum that i'm writing so my task statement would be i will have to give you what what exactly do i want you to do that would mean task statement would be i'll maybe write down the categories so we'll have singing in solo dual formats we'll have dances and solo solo dual and group formats and we can have different categories to it like as to the

regional dance the folk dance the rock or the or any kind of not rot exactly but then any kind of other dance that we may have the dance forms and this would be the task and how do you want the person to approach how do you want the person to approach you can give your entries by this date or any other piece of information that you want the person to know the important ones that can be written in the task segment and then you need to summarize in the next segment you summarize whatever things that

you already said so this is a summary segment and the summary segment is only written when you are using more than two sheets or two sheets for the memo memo usually is a short means of communication wherein you will have to write it in a way that it is restricted to a single page in case you have multiple agendas for which you're writing a memo therefore in that case you'll have to write the summary segment because then you have designated a lot of tasks in the task segment and now in the summary segment only when

you are not writing a short memo you're writing a lengthy kind of a memo in that case you need to provide a summary so if a memo is more than a paper one must include a separate summary segment which will help to the reader to understand the main idea also it will help to take the required steps so you need to just summarize so in case why are we doing this because you're writing a lengthy document and in case the the the reader does not have that kind of time he can very directly switch to

just read the subject directly switch to the summary segment and therefore from there he'll get to know that okay this is what is required and then we have a discussion segment discussion segment happens to be the longest part of a memo it includes all the details supporting the idea whatever you're proposing whatever you're writing the memo for all the detail related to that will be written in the discussion segment you need to start with the general information and then from the general you need to go to more specific ones and then it includes supporting ideas

facts and research so this is the discussion about the task this segment discussion segment is not a mandate only when you're writing a memo to instruct or only when you're writing a memo to report something only then will you be writing the discussion segment because only if you're writing to inform that you've already done that in the task segment you need not discuss it any in any detail any further so this particular segment say discussion segment will only be written one when you're writing a lengthy document to when you are choosing a certain kind of

memorandum format wherein you are you are required to make a discussion and then finally we switch to the closing statement wherein this particular segment always has to cater to how you end your memo because we are not signing it off we do not write thanks and regards or warm wishes etc or obedient feel your yours kind of thing or yours truly sincerely kind of things in the memorandum we do not write therefore the last line has to be a very courteous line for example thank you in anticipation that is it right so this kind of

ending has to be given in the closing segment make sure you make the completion of the task in an efficient and easy way because memorandum is a short document so if you choose some complex kind of vocabulary and jargons the purpose gets marred therefore choose the easiest way using which you can share the information and try to law the reader to make the positive action and how would you learn or gather or grab the attention of the reader by using different colors by using different form font by bolding it by highlighting things that are important

maybe you can bold it or center line it underline it etc so anything that you can do to and keeping in mind of course that it's an official document it's a business document so you can't be very flashy with things but yes in in the sober and sophisticated ways you can choose to be attention seeking and then if at all for whatever reason you were writing a memo for if at all that requires you for you to attach some attachments you will at the very end of it you will have to write that enclosed are

these documents and then you can attach a number of documents with a memo it could be any kind of list for example suppose you are inviting a lot of people from one department so you can give the list of the people there suppose in the two section you had only written the managers of the department xyz now in case you wish to explicitly write and mention that who all i require then at the very end you can write the list of the attendees you can have in case you're giving a report of something you can

attach the graphs tables etc to illustrate things in a better way because memo cannot be that lengthy therefore in case you need to write you need to provide all those things so that in case the reader wishes to have more information regarding it he or she can choose to go through the attachments and in case the person has understood all the things then it is not a requirement for him to go through the attachments that you're making make reference for your attachments and add a notation for them so this is what is required in case

you do not mention in the main memo that you are attaching the documents and do not give any notation to it it will become very tricky for the person he or she will not even care to look at the sheets that are attached he or she will only be looking at the main content so it is important for you to write down or to mention in the memorandum that you are attaching the you are enclosing some attachments also so this is how we will be writing a memorandum let us discuss the format of a memorandum

now format is simple the very first thing that you do is in case you're writing a short memorandum you will have to make a box this box whenever you are writing anything within the box this shows the reader that it is a small document it's a short document so it is only for the visual understanding of the reader that because the data is confined in a box therefore it is a short document and the reader should not anticipate or expect you to give in detail explain give a detailed explanation to the things therefore first thing

that you do is make a box at the top center of the box you write memorandum now how do you write a memorandum either you can choose this way the way it is written in the slide using a normal running letter form of format wherein the first letter is capitalized and the rest are in the running form or you can choose all capital letters or you can always just write a just write memo and not the entire word so writing memo or memorandum and the way you're writing it is absolutely at your discretion you can

choose to write only memo in running or in all caps you can choose to write memorandum in all running in running or in all caps that is your wish but it has to be centralized without an underline will do in case you wish to underline you can but then in case you're not because anyways it is bolded therefore and when you're writing it manually you need not bold it just writing a memorandum or memo at the very center would mean that this gives this information to the to the reader that this is memorandum therefore the

a lot of detail will not be given it will be to the point precise then we write the heading segment wherein we were writing to from date and subject and then we fi finally start writing the body of the memorandum the thing that has to be noted here is there is no salutation neither is there any signing of salutation means the way we are writing an application you're writing respected sir or madam so that's salutation respected sir madam or dear sorrow madam that is not to be written while you're writing a memorandum again the reason

being that it's a internal communication and you can skip that because it's a short piece of information so you can skip writing the salutation and the signing off you don't need to sign off the document or write your name the name of the writer because you've already mentioned that in the from section so this is basically the format of the memorandum now we'll be discussing a few examples before we discuss the examples just a quick recap of the important point that you need to remember first you always have to use a very clear and specific

subject line it has to be crisp precise to the point and self-explanatory which is something that is very important you do not have to waste the time of the reader by using lengthy memos lengthy memos would not solve any purpose then you can always switch to writing letters in case you wish to because memo in general are short so and be clear and concise that happens to be the soul crux of the thing when you're writing a memorandum it has to be very short don't you because memorandum the word memorandum uh would indirectly mean that's

a short kind of message use active voice active voice means the doer of the action has to be given more importance how do you use active voice i am teaching you i is the doer of the action you are the receiver of the action action is teaching i am teaching you when i convert into passive voice it will be you are being taught by me so the doer of the action has taken the last place you don't have to do that whosoever is required to take the action has to be the doer of the action

has to be given the first place that means more priority has to be given to the to the person who has to do the work so active voice has to be always used use the first person i we kind of words are to be written you don't have to use the second person or the third person be formal in your approach because anyways even if it is an internal document it is still written in business therefore do not use slangs or friendly words stick to the official vocabulary one should use a careful and logical arrangement

of information in case you're writing a memo for multiple reasons prioritize the things put them in a logical sequence it should not be that the last part of the thing that you wish the person to do comes first and then you're going in a haphazard way it has to be very logically drafted if in case you're choosing to write multiple paragraphs keep the paragraphs very short every paragraph that you're writing because you're choosing paragraphs would mean that you're writing for multiple reasons if one paragraph will cater to one reason and whenever you're writing a paragraph

make sure that the first sentence which again is the topic sentence it gives an insight to the paragraph one can use solid capitals and center indentation for important details like memorandum has been given a center indentation you right you're writing it at a at the center place likewise for anything that you want to lay emphasis on that you want readers attention on you can either make it as solid or capitalize it or bold it or put it as a center indentation you can make it into italics or any other ways and means in which you

can highlight it so that the reader gives his or her attention to that particular thing use bullets to make points it is always for any other piece of information also that you're writing writing in bullets is always preferred because it brings that clarity to the mind of the reader right and when you're writing in bullets you will not of course explain things bullet would mean that the head the caption that you're giving to that bullet will be self-explanatory always end the memo in courteous words don't we don't ever be rude thoughtless memos are not to

be written use text fonts and color to attract attention in case you are writing a memo that somewhere wants the reader's attention you can use some different ink for writing it if you're writing it manually if you're drafting it through a computer or laptop or any other device you can choose the fonts and color to attract the attention towards that particular point of word and then it does not need a complimentary closure close or a signature which is again very important no salutations and no complimentary closure or signatures to be done while you're writing a

memorandum and this last point which is proofread the content before sending this again has to be followed whenever you're writing any piece of written document you're preparing you always have to proofread before sharing the information now these are certain examples you can read these examples and reading these will give you an idea as to how are you supposed to do it i'm reading the first one for you and then the rest of the few you can always go through yourself so the very first thing that you do is write memorandum i have not drawn any

outline here you can always do that because one it looks attractive too it gives an idea that it's a short piece of document confined to a certain area so the first thing that we write is and and of course the other thing that i want to draw your attention to is whenever we are writing at the heading segment this two from date and subject these things they do not have any kind of sequence you can choose to write two first from from next and then date and subject you can always write the date first to

from and subject or any other sequence you can give so there is no strict sequence that has to be given to the heading segment you can choose any of these four to write at the first place and then second and third and fourth so the first thing that this memorandum writes is the date again the date has to be written in the same format uh first the entire month space the date comma space the complete year and then every heading every kind of segment that you do writing like date to from subject they have to

be ending with a colon so date colon space the content to colon space the content etc this this colon punctuation mark this means that there is a list that follows that is something that you're about to write so there is no design to be made a lot of people usually make designs they will make a colon and then in the middle of the two dots they will just make a hyphen as well so that is not to be done every punctuation mark has a certain meaning of its own like for instance this comma here means

that there is a pause that has to be taken a gap that has to be taken a full stop would mean that you need to end here you're starting something new therefore no designs to be made and that is to be strictly followed and because you're doing business communication that means the communication means that are used in official ways for communicating so you need to strictly stick to the format and the format says that every subheading or whatever you can call it the date do from subject every of these components have have to be every

of these components has to be ending with a colon and no other punctuation mark and then two to all employees so this particular memorandum will go out to all the employees of a certain organization nowhere will you see the name of the organization again because this is given to people within the same organization and you need not tell people that you're there from which organization therefore this memorandum or any other memorandum that you're writing will never be having any mention of the organization's name from you can write either your designation in case it is a

known designation you are a person of repute either you can choose to only write your designation or you can write down your name itself or you can choose both the things to mention here from the in the to from section and then subject facilities update very crisp and it lets you know that okay what is the memorandum all about and then we start the body remember no salutation no writing dear all kind of things directly come to the point i am writing to inform you that over the next few weeks our kitchen area will be

under construction as we remodel as a company continues to grow we feel it necessary to provide more communal dining space and we are grateful to our facilities team for their hard work in making that happen if you have questions or concerns regarding the remodel you can access the full report here and then here has been hyperlinked so the moment the person clicks on here there'll be a few attachments in the meantime we are sorry for the inconvenience in between the weeks of december 1 to december 31st please use the kitchen on the second floor if

you need a microwave we will also keep that kitchen stocked per usual with snacks and soda thank you for your cooperation so this is how you're writing it so very first segment is the heading segment and then you're writing the other segments wherein you're very explicitly writing each and everything you're changing the paragraphs because you're writing something different from the first paragraph and every set the lines that you're writing they're very short they do not you don't have to write in lengths about things this is how a memorandum is written and please notice that one

there is no organization's name two there is no salutation dslr respected sir ma'am etcetera things are not written three there is no signing off nobody is signing this document no no mention at all of the person who's writing it at the end you are you are only writing that information in the from section so this is another example wherein this is to inform people inform people as you can see the subject it says james james rich's retirement party so you're informing people of the party and inviting the people and this memo is an interesting memo

i found it on the internet and i thought it was very appealing and very informative as well so your your this memo is written and the subject says tips for writing memos if you can go through this you will know that what exactly is required while you're writing a memo and what is to be avoided and it gives you fair details of the things and clarity as well and this memorandum is about customer presentation so this this is about appreciating somebody for doing some good work so this is how the different kinds of memorandum skin

can be written and drafted with this we come to the topic memorandum in the lectures that follow we'll be discussing as to how to write notice and agenda and minutes of the meeting thank you so much hope you enjoyed it and wish you a happy learning