18 Jan • If you write a report on

WRTG394 Advanced Business Writing

Week 3 Assignment

Memo to Decision-Maker

For this assignment, you will compose an 800-1100 word memo—a specific kind of business writing. You will address your memo to someone whom you would have to persuade to take action on the problem you want to solve.

Writing Assignment #3

Proposal Memo to the Decision-maker

Summary of assignment

• Task: You will complete the following:

o Identify the decision-maker or group of decision-makers to whom you will write

this memo.

o Consider the secondary research you conducted on your topic for writing

assignment #2.

o Consider what primary research you will need to conduct for your research-based

report.

o Write a proposal memo to your decision-maker asking for permission to conduct

this research.

• Length: 800-1100 words

• Format: A template for the memo is provided on page 2.

How This Assignment Informs Writing Assignment #4

This proposal memo is a preliminary step you take prior to writing your final paper, which is the

research-based report (writing assignment #4). Your final paper in WRTG 394 will be a report

in which you:

• define a problem in your workplace or com

2 Template for Submitting Your Memo

Note: Please use the format outlined below, including the headers provided in bold, for the

memo.

To: [Decision Maker Name(s) and title(s)]

From: [Your Name and title]

Date: [Today’s Date]

Subject: Request to Conduct Research on […]

Summary

[Write one or two sentences in which you mention why you are writing this memo.]

What the Problem Is and Why It Needs to Be Investigated

[In a series of paragraphs, describe the problem to which you are going to propose a solution and

explain why you think this problem is important.]

What Secondary Research I Have Conducted about the Problem

[In one paragraph describe secondary research you have conducted on the problem and solution.]

What Primary Research I Will Conduct about the Problem

[In a series of paragraphs, describe primary research you will conduct on the problem and

solution.]

Why We Will Benefit from My Research and Recommendations

[In one or two paragraphs, describe your recommendations to the problem/situation you are

describing. Include a description of the potential benefits that your organization or community

will incur by authorizing your research and considering your recommendation.]

Conclusion

[In one or two sentences, conclude your memo by repeating the request for authorization and

reminding of the benefits of your conducting the research and considering your

recommendations.]

3

Advice on Conducting Primary Research

When considering primary research, consider the strategies outlined in the following material

from weeks 3 and 4:

• “Strategies for Qualitative Interviews – Harvard University” (from week 3)

• “Designing Effective Questions and Questionnaires” (from week 3)

• “Writing Interview Protocols and Conducting Interviews” (from week 4)

Consider the following examples:

• If you are proposing that email be used less frequently for communication and that another

application be used to improve communication, you might interview fellow employees on the

situation, and you might take screen captures of alternative communication tools to illustrate how

they work and would improve communication in your office.

• For a report on proposing a new traffic light, you might take pictures of the intersection where

such a traffic light could be built, and you might interview residents to get their perspective on the

traffic light idea.

• For a report to the program chair of your major at UMUC suggesting changes to the curriculum,

you might interview or survey fellow students, interview or survey hiring managers in the field,

and/or interview or survey students who are majoring in the same field at another institution.

• For a report on recycling facilities, you might take pictures of the office environment to show that

current recycling facilities are inadequate, and you might interview fellow workers about whether

they find it easy to recycle materials at your office.

Examples of How to Make Topics Specific for the Final Report in WRTG

394

• If you wish to write a report to your supervisor at work suggesting that email be used less

frequently for communication and that another application, such as texting, be used to improve

communication, you cannot simply prepare a report on the benefits of texting in the workplace.

You must establish that your specific office has problems in communicating by email and

indicate the benefits of using alternative communication systems, such as texting, for your

workplace environment.

• If you write a report to your neighborhood community association that a traffic light be posted at

a particular intersection, you cannot simply prepare a report on the benefits of traffic safety. You

must show that the specific intersection in your neighborhood needs a traffic light in order to

improve safety.

4

• If you write a report to the program chair of your major at UMUC recommending changes to the

curriculum, you cannot simply prepare a report on the benefits of a certain class. You must show

that the specific curriculum for your major at UMUC lacks something that your suggested

adjustment will provide.

• If you write a report on recycling facilities at your workplace, you cannot simply prepare a report

on the benefits of recycling. You must show that the recycling facilities at your specific

workplace are inadequate or need improving.

Submitting the assignment:

You will submit a draft of the memo to the assignment folder. The instructor will provide

comments to it and work with you on a second draft if necessary.