final draft

Hello, 

Memo—issues in your field

This assignment is intended to give you so me insight into the issues in your professional field.  This knowledge will be useful to you in job interviews, in considering career options, and in other professional applications.  The work you do on this memo will prepare you for choosing a topic for your final proposal.  You will also gain insight into, and practice in, the planning, structuring, writing and editing of effective memos.

Task

Compose a memo of not more than two pages (single-spaced) in which you discuss at least three issues of importance to your professional field.  For each issue, you should (a) identify the issue and (b) discuss its context, implications and consequences.  As for all memos, the information provided should be substantive, but presented clearly and concisely.  You will also attach a list of your sources to your memo, for a total of three (3) pages altogether.

Audience

Consider me the audience for this memo; the safest strategy is to assume I don’t know much about your subject field, so bear this in mind as you explain the issue. That means you need to be as specific as possible and outline the who, what, where, when, why, and how for each of the three issues you identify.

Purpose

The purpose of this memo is to educate your audience on three important issues in your field—what they are, and why they are important. Again, for each of the three issues, answer the who, what, where, when, why, and how.

Organization

Your memo should follow the strategies for professional memos, as outlined in your Kolin text, and observe the usual conventions of memos.  Use graphic organizers and highlighting techniques to guide the reader through your points. 

Research

Begin your research by browsing the websites of professional organizations and publications related to your field. As you gather information, take note of the source for your list (see “Task,” above) so you don’t lose track.

Expect to take some time doing this.  The universal rule of research is that it always, always takes longer than you think.  Always.  Spend an hour browsing, take some notes, take a break.  Go back and do some more.

Genre considerations

As discussed in your text from your weekly reading, the professional audiences will expect writing to be concise and to the point—professional readers will not work to make sense of things, and they will lose patience with “filler” or unsupported statements like “this field is in a lot of trouble.”  Every word in a memo must be necessary.  Every word must mean something.

All of your points must be supported by actual facts, not speculation.  Do not underestimate the amount of time necessary to research and write and rewrite this document. To make writing this memo easier, and ultimately more successful, employ the following strategies:

Read, then discuss:

After you’ve read about an issue, talk to someone about it.  Doing so will help make it more concrete in your mind, and another person will raise issues and questions that will help you understand it more because you have to explain it to them.

Make friends with the ugly first draft:

Write something down, even if you don’t like it.  Go away and leave it for a while.  Come back and read one of your issues, and ask yourself what’s missing.  Write it down.  In every case, it’s better to start with a bunch of writing, even if it’s awful writing, and edit later, than to self-edit as you write and try to make your first draft your only draft.

Think persuasion