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Memorandum
To: Wagner Students
From: The Writing Tutors
Date: August 19, 2010
Re: Memo-Writing Guidelines
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The purpose of this memorandum is to provide you with some guidelines for writing
effective memos. Writing a professional memo is very different from writing a research
paper. Although the details may vary somewhat depending on the memo’s purpose and
intended audience, these general guidelines should serve you well in virtually any context.
Begin by stating the purpose of your memo. The first sentence should identify the
problem you are trying to solve or remind the reader of your assigned task. Effective ways
to begin the first sentence include: “The purpose of this memo is…” or “In response to your
request, this memo provides recommendations on…”
Summarize your conclusions in the introductory paragraph. A memo is not a mystery
novel, nor is it a joke—do not wait until the end to deliver the punch-line! Since your reader
may be too busy to read the entire memo, you must get your main point across immediately.
Journalists refer to this style of writing as an “inverted pyramid”—the most important
information appears at the top and is followed by less important details, so that the reader
can leave the story at any time and still understand the main point.
State the basis for your conclusions in the introductory paragraph. Briefly summarize
the considerations you took into account or the methodologies you used to arrive at your
conclusions. For example, you might explain that your recommendations are “based on
analysis of leading theories on education policy as well as empirical evidence on student
performance in charter schools.”
Begin each subsequent paragraph with a thesis statement. If you would like to be
especially clear, write the thesis statement in bold text. The reader should be able to
understand the entire outline of your argument by simply scanning the thesis statement of
each paragraph. Ideally, the thesis statement should be concise enough to fit on a single line,
or at most two lines. It should be action-oriented and written in an authoritative voice. An
example of an effective thesis statement is: “Investing now in infrastructure improvements is
desirable for both economic and political reasons.”
Support the thesis statement in the body of the paragraph. Supporting information
might include more detailed arguments, statistics, citations, and so forth. After writing each
paragraph, read it over carefully, asking yourself if every part of that paragraph supports the
argument in the first sentence; if not, it does not belong there.