To:

Professor Beth Livingston

From:

Awesomestudent Numberone

Date: June 17, 2013

RE:

Written Assignment 1: Answering questions about writing memos

In a professional business memo, you should be clear and concise. Consider that
your manager or boss will likely spend 30 seconds skimming what youve done
before they decide whether it has been done well or been done poorly. So your first
small paragraph should BRIEFLY introduce what you are planning to do.
In the paragraphs that follow, you can use bullet points, enumerated lists, tables or
charts to communicate your conclusions and answer the questions provided. Feel
free to restate the questions: either as headings or as a sentencebut dont be too
redundant. The key is to present your analysis clearly and concisely. Do not restate
yourself five times to take up space or sound smart. Choose your words carefully.
Some things to remember:
1. Answer every question.
2. Read carefullytry to think like your professor or your TA.
3. Cite everything! If from lectures, you can cite (Livingston, Law Lecture, 9-1213) and if from the text, cite it appropriately. Feel free to use outside sources:
just make sure you cite them1. If you do NOT cite your work, you will be
penalized.
You should also remember that concise does not mean surface. You can be
analytical and concise. If you say something creative or controversial, and it makes
the grader/reader say hmm, and you do not expound upon it, that is a waste of
your creative energies. You want our interest; but you want to keep our interest.
Finally, remember the key learning goals from the course that apply to the written
assignment assessment. The bolded words indicate what you should pay attention
to most.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Students should be able

terms and practices.
Students should be able
organizations.
Students should be able
for organizations.
Students should be able
diverse perspectives.

to identify basic human resource concepts,

to appraise the current HR policies of
to generate recommendations re: HR policies
to analyze and critique HR problems from

1 This is one way to cite something (Livingston, 2013. Inserting footnotes with the
references menu. Sample memo.)

References: Livingston (2013). An alternative way to cite things. Sample Memo.