TOPIC 6: Written Communication

Introduction
Written communication is the development and expression of ideas in writing. Written
communication involves learning to work in many genres and styles. It can involve
working with many different writing technologies, and mixing texts, data, and images.
It’s a medium for communication that entails the written word. Letters, minutes,
memos, reports, emails, and manuals are forms of written com-munication.

6.1. Memos

A memo is intended to inform a group of people about a specific issue, such as an event,
policy, or resource, and encourages them to take action. The word “memo-randum”
means something that should be remembered or kept in mind.

6.1.1. How to Write a Memo

1. Write the heading segment. Specify who the memo is for and who sent it. The
heading segment should also include the complete and exact date the memo was
written, and the subject matter (what the memo is about). A sample heading
would look like:
To: Name and job title of the recipient
From: Your name and job title
Date: Complete date when the memo was written
Subject: (or RE:) What the memo is about (highlighted)

2. Consider who the audience should be. In order to get people to read and respond
to the memo, it’s important to tailor the tone, length, and level of formality of the
memo to the audience who will be reading it. Doing this effectively requires that
you have a good idea of who the memo is intended for.

(a) Think about your audience’s priorities and concerns are, and try to imagine
why the information you are presenting would be important to them.

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(b) Try to anticipate any questions your readers might have. Brainstorm some
content for the memo, such as examples, evidence, or other infor-mation
that will persuade them.
(c) Considering the audience also allows you to be sensitive to including any
information or sentiments that are inappropriate for your readers.

3. Introduce the problem or issue to your readers in the opening segment. Briefly
give them the context behind the action you wish them to take. This is somewhat
like a thesis statement, which introduces the topic and states why it matters.
Include only as much information as is needed, while still being convincing that a
real problem exists.

4. Suggest ways to address the issue in the summary segment. What you are
summarizing here are the key actions you would like your readers to take. This
can also include some evidence to back up your recommendations. In a very short
memo, it might not be necessary to include a separate summary segment.
Instead, this can be integrated into the next segment, the “discussion segment”.

5. Support your course of action in the discussion segment. Be persuasive. State

how the readers will benefit from taking the action you recommend, or be
disadvantaged through lack of action.
Give evidence and logical reasons for the solutions you propose. Feel free to
include graphics, lists, or charts, especially in longer memos. Just be sure they are
truly relevant and persuasive.
Start with the most important information, then move to specific or supporting
facts.

6. Review and edit your memo to make sure that it is clear, concise, persua-sive, and
free of errors. Check that you are consistent in the type of language that you use,
and eliminate unnecessary scholarly words or technical jargon.

(a) Review for spelling, grammar, and content errors. Pay particular atten-tion
to names, dates, or numbers.
(b) Check that it is not excessively long, and cut out any extraneous mate-rial.

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(c) Feel free to include lists, charts, and graphs at the end of the memo to help
the reader better understand the topic. Make sure to add a notation of how
the attachments are relevant.
(d) Don’t give too many whys. It’s important to explain why you want
something done, but don’t overdo it.

6.2. Minutes

Also known as protocols which are minutes or, informally, notes, are the instant written
record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting,
starting with a list of attendees, a statement of the issues considered by the
participants, and related responses or decisions for the issues.
Minutes may be created during the meeting by a typist, who may use shorthand
notation and then prepare the minutes and issue them to the participants afterwards.
Alternatively, the meeting can be audio recorded, video recorded, or a group’s ap-
pointed or informally assigned secretary may take notes, with minutes prepared later.
For private organizations, it is usually important for the minutes to be terse and only
include a summary of discussion and decisions. The minutes of certain groups, such as a
corporate board of directors, must be kept on file and are important legal documents.
Publicly held companies are generally required to keep minutes of the proceedings of:

1. general meetings,

2. meetings of the Board of Directors

3. meetings of committee of the Board of Directors.

Minutes become the official written record for an organization required to hold pub-lic
meetings and governmental hearings. Also, minutes usually follow an adopted set of
rules.

6.2.1. Importance of minutes

“They capture the essential information of a meeting.” It’s important to capture the

essence of the meeting, including details such as: decisions made (motions made,

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votes, etc.), next steps planned, identification and tracking of action items. Minutes are
a tangible record of the meeting for its participants and a source of in-formation for
members who were unable to attend. In some cases, meeting minutes can act as a
reference point, for example:

when a meeting’s outcomes impact other collaborative activities or projects

within the organization

minutes can serve to notify (or remind) individuals of tasks assigned to them
and/or timelines

What’s involved with meeting minutes?

There are essentially five steps involved with meeting minutes:

1. Pre-Planning

2. Record taking - at the meeting

3. Minutes writing or transcribing

4. Distributing or sharing of meeting minutes

5. Filing or storage of minutes for future reference

Pre-planning: At the very least, it’s important to get a copy of the meeting agenda and
use it as a guide or outline for taking notes and preparing the minutes with the order
and numbering of items on the minutes matching those of the agenda.
In addition, the agenda and/or meeting notice also provides information that will need
to be included in the minutes, such as: the names of all the meeting atten-dees,
including guests or speakers, documents that are sent out with the agenda or handed
out in the meeting copies (digital or hard copy) of handouts should be stored with the
meeting minutes for future reference and for sharing with those who were unable to
attend the meeting (and others as determined by the meeting’s Chair).
Record taking - what should be included?: Before you start taking notes, it’s important
to understand the type of information you need to record at the meeting. As noted
earlier, your organization may have required content and a specific for-mat that you’ll
need to follow, but generally, meeting minutes usually include the following:

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Date and time of the meeting

Names of the meeting participants and those unable to attend (e.g., “regrets”)

Acceptance or corrections/amendments to previous meeting minutes

Decisions made about each agenda item, for example:

– Actions taken or agreed to be taken

– Next steps

– Voting outcomes – e.g., (if necessary, details regarding who made mo-tions;
who seconded and approved or via show of hands, etc.)
– Motions taken or rejected

– Items to be held over

– New business

– Next meeting date and time

The Minutes Writing Process: Once the meeting is over, it’s time to pull together your
notes and write the minutes.

Try to write the minutes as soon after the meeting as possible while everything is
fresh in your mind.

Review your outline and if necessary, add additional notes or clarify points raised.
Also check to ensure all decisions, actions and motions are clearly noted.

Check for sufficient detail

Distributing or Sharing Meeting Minutes: As the official “minutes-taker” or Sec-retary,

your role may include dissemination of the minutes. However, before you share these,
be sure that the Chair has reviewed and either revised and/or approved the minutes for
circulation.
Online sharing
The method of sharing or distribution will depend on the tools that you and your

organization use. Since minutes and other documentation can create a pile of paper,

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it’s great if you can use a paperless sharing process. For example, if you are using a word
processing tool (e.g., Microsoft Word) that doesn’t offer online sharing, you might want
to create a PDF of the document and send this and the other attachments or meeting
documentation via email. Alternately, if you are all using Google docs for meeting
invitations, agenda and additional document sharing you can simply “share” the
document with that group once it has been finalized.
Filing/Storage of Meeting Minutes
Most committees and Boards review and either approve or amend the minutes at the
beginning of the subsequent meeting. Once you’ve made any required revisions, the
minutes will then need to be stored for future reference. Some organizations may store
these and also back these up on an external hard drive. You may also need to print and
store hard copies as well or provide these to a staff member or Chair for filing.

6.3. Reports

In a report, you give your audience am account of what you’ve learnt or done. Reports
come in an almost endless variety. Some are internal, given to audiences within an
organization. Others are external, delivered to outsiders such as clients, agencies or the
general public. Some reports are long and some are brief. Some are presented formally
and others informally. They can be delivered either in person or writing.

6.3.1. Common types of reports

Status/Progress reports

This is the most common type. They are a brief, clear summary of the situation.
The following format is usually used:

1. Review the project’s purpose

2. State the current status of the project. When relevant, include the people
involved (giving credit of their contributions) and the actions you’ve taken.

3. Identify any obstacles you have encountered and attempts you have made to
overcome those obstacles. If appropriate, ask for assistance.

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4. Describe your next milestone. Explain what steps you will take and when they’ll
happen

5. Forecast the future of the project. Focus on your ability to finish the job as
planned by the scheduled completion date.

Final reports

These are delivered upon completion of an undertaking. The length and formality of this
report will depend on the scope of the undertaking. If you are describing a weekend
conference to a colleague, it would most likely be short and informal. On the other
hand, a task force reporting to top management or the public on a year-long project
would most likely give a detailed and formal report. The following guidelines are
important:

1. Introduce the report. State your name and your role unless everyone in the au-
dience already knows you. Briefly describe the undertaking you are reporting on

2. Provide necessary background. Tell your listeners what they need to know to
understand why the project was undertaken, why you and others became
involved, and any other factors that affected your approach.

3. Describe what happened. Explain what happened during the undertaking. Aim
this discussion at the level of interest appropriate for your audience.

4. Describe the results. Report on the outcomes of the undertaking. Include a

discussion of successes and failures. Describe any future events related to your
topic.

5. Tell listeners how to get more information

Feasibility reports

This evaluates one or more potential action steps and recommends how the or-
ganization should proceed. Many feasibility reports should contain the following
elements.

1. Introduction

2. Criteria. Introduce the standards you used to evaluate courses of action.

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3. Methodology. Describe the process you used to identify and evaluate the plan(s)
under consideration.

4. Possible solutions. Provide a detailed explanation of each solution you con-

sidered.

5. Evaluation of the solutions. Measure the suitability of each solution against the
criteria you listed earlier.

6. Recommendations. Describe the solution that best fits the criteria provided
earlier. If you have done a good job evaluating solutions using the crite-ria already
introduced, the recommendation should be relatively brief and straightforward.

7. Conclusions. Briefly summarize your findings, showing how they can help solve
the problem at hand.

6.4. Letters

Even in an age of electronic communication, there is still a place for traditional letters.
They are used for formal occasions, when the correspondence may be dis-played, when
a signature on paper is a legal requirement, or when the recipient prefers to have a
paper version.
The most common layout for business letters is the block format. Some letters need to
contain additional information. This might include status e.g. Urgent, confiden-tial),
attention line, list of recipients receiving copies, a postscript, and second page headers.

6.4.1. Types of letters

1. Academic Recommendation Letters

2. Application Letters

3. Appreciation Letters

4. Business Letters

5. Business Thank You Letters

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6. Candidate Rejection Letters

7. Character Reference Letters

8. Congratulation Letters

9. Counter Offer Letters

10. Cover Letters

11. Complaint letters

12. Email Messages

13. Employee Letters

14. Follow Up Letters

15. Goodbye Letters

16. Inquiry Letters

How to write a letter

Decide how formal your letter needs to be. How you write the letter will depend
on your relationship with the recipient. Consider these guidelines:

– If you’re writing to a government official, prospective employer, digni-tary,

academic official or anyone else with whom you hope to have a professional
relationship, the letter should be formal.
If you’re writing to your current employer, a co-worker you don’t see
socially, a distant or elderly relative, or someone you don’t know very well,
the letter should probably be semi-formal.

Decide whether you’ll send a handwritten letter or an email. The way you choose
to send your letter also indicates a degree of formality.

– Most formal letters should be typed and sent through the post. The
exception is if your letter is extremely time-sensitive, or if you know the
recipient prefers email.
– For informal letters, an email or handwritten letter is acceptable.

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– For a semi-formal letter, you’ll have to make the call. If the other per-son has
chosen to communicate with you primarily through email, then email is
probably a safe bet.
– If you’re not sure, go with the handwritten letter.

Use letterhead, or write your address at the top of the letter (formal only). If
you’re writing a business letter and company letterhead is available, make use of
it. Or, if you simply want your letter to look more professional, you can design a
letterhead on a word processing program. Otherwise, simply write or type your
full home address at the top of the letter, justified to the left.

Write the date (all letters). If you’ve written your address first, leave a few spaces,
then write the date. Otherwise, start with the date first, justified to the left.

– Write out the full date. "9 September 2012" (British) or "September 9, 2012"
(American) are both preferable to “Sept. 9, 2012” and "9/9/12."
– If you’re sending a semi-formal or informal letter via email, there’s no need
to add the date the email will be time stamped.

Write the name, title and address of the person you’re writing to (formal
only).Make two hard returns after the date, or leave a few spaces, and write out
the full name and title of the person you’re writing to. On the second line, write
the name of the company or organization (if applicable). Write the street address
on the third line, and the town and postal code on the fourth line.

– There’s no need to do this on emails.

This also isn’t necessary on semi-formal or informal handwritten letters.
Writing the name and address on the envelope is sufficient.
If you’re writing the letter as an inquiry and you have no contact person,

simply name the company or organization and give its address.

Start with a salutation. The salutation you use will depend on your relation-ship
with the recipient of the letter, as well as the formality of the letter. Here are
some possibilities:

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– For formal letters that you aren’t writing to a specific contact person, you
can start with "To Whom It May Concern," with a colon (:) after "concern."
If you don’t have a specific contact person, but you do know the genders
(male female) of the group of recipients, you have a few more options. You
can write "Dear Sirs," "Dear Madams," or "Dear Sirs and Madams." Be
careful with this one, though you don’t want to offend someone before
(He/She) even reads or opens your letter.
– If you’re writing a formal letter and you do know a contact person, the safest
salutation to use is "Dear. If you think that seems a bit touchy-feely and
you’d rather not use it, you can simply write the recipient’s name with a
courtesy title, and end with a comma (Such as "Mrs. Ka-mau, ... ").
– If you’re writing a semiformal letter, you might use "Dear" or "Hello" as a
salutation.
– If you’re writing an informal letter, you can use "Dear" or "Hello," as well as
more informal greetings such as "Hi" or "Hey."

Write the recipient’s name after the salutation.

If the letter is formal, use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Dr., or any military or
government titles, and then use the recipient’s last name. If the letter is
semiformal, you’ll have to decide whether you can call the recipient by his or her
first-name or not. The safer bet is going with a courtesy title if you’re unsure.
For an informal letter, you can generally assume that you’re allowed to call the
other person by his or her first name. One notable exception might be elderly
family members, who should be addressed with titles like Aunt or Grandpa,
followed by the first name.

Start the letter. Do two hard returns after the salutation if you’re typing the letter,
or simply move to the next line if you’re writing it by hand.
If you’re writing a personal letter, start by asking after the recipient’s well-being.
This can be as formal as "I hope you are well" or as informal as "How’s it going?”
If you’re writing a business or other formal letter, get straight to the point. Time is
money, and you don’t want to waste the recipient’s time.
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Ask yourself what needs to be communicated. The primary purpose of a letter is

communication. As you write, ask yourself what information the recipient should
have, and put that into the letter. Do you need to talk about the new rates on
your product, how much you miss the other person, or thank him or her for the
birthday gift? Whatever it is, sharing information should be the focus of the letter.

– Know what not to write. A letter written in anger or to solicit pity is probably
not a letter you should send. If you’ve already written such a letter and
you’re unsure about sending it, let it sit for a few days before you pop it into
the mailbox you might change your mind.

Proofread your letter. Before you send the letter, read over it a few times to make
sure it conveys what you wanted to say, and that it’s free of spelling or
grammatical errors. Use the spellcheck feature on your word processor or email
client, or have a friend read it over for you. Make any necessary changes.

Use a complimentary close. A complimentary close ends your letter on a good

note and establishes a connection with the recipient. Make two hard re-turns
after the last paragraph of the letter, then write the complimentary close. For
formal letters, stick to "Sincerely yours," "Kindest regards," or "Best wishes."
For a semiformal letter, you can shorten the above closes to "Sincerely," "Re-
gards," or "Best." You could also use "Very sincerely," "Very best," or "Cor-dially."
For informal letters, your close should reflect your relationship with the re-
cipient. If you’re writing to a spouse, dear friend, or close family member, you
could use "Affectionately," "Fondly" or "Love."
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can use an old-fashioned complimentary close on
a formal letter (or if you’re writing a close friend who will appreci-ate the effort).
Fit the close into a sentence. For instance, the last paragraph of your letter could
read "I remain, as ever, ..." Make two hard returns, then write "Sincerely yours."
In this way, the last line of the letter and the com-plimentary close read like a
sentence. You can get creative with this and find other ways to weave in the
complimentary close.
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Sign your name. How you sign your name will depend on the nature of your
letter.
For formal letters that have been typed, leave about four spaces between the
complimentary close and your typed full name. Then sign your name in blue or
black ink in the space between the two.
If you’re sending a formal email, type your full name after the complimentary
close.
If you wish, you can use a courtesy title for yourself when you put your name at
the end of a formal letter. For instance, a married woman might sign as "Mrs.
John Smith," if that’s how she wants to be known.
For semiformal letters, it’s your decision as to whether you use your first name or
your full name. You can also type and sign your name, as you would for a formal
letter, or simply sign it.
For an informal letter, there’s no need to type your full name at the bottom. Type
your first name at the bottom of an informal email, or simply sign your first name
at the end of a handwritten letter.

Fold the letter (optional). If you’re sending a letter through the post, fold it into
thirds. Bring the bottom of the sheet up so that it’s two-thirds of the way up the
page, and crease. Then fold down the top portion so that the crease matches up
with the bottom of the paper. Folding the letter this way ensures that it will fit
into most envelopes.

Address the envelope (optional). Find the center of the envelope, both lengthwise
and widthwise. This is where you’ll write the full address of the recipient, like so:

– Mr. John Smith

– 123 Nairobi St.

– Nairobi City, NBI 99999

Write your return address on the envelope (optional). If the US Postal Service
cannot deliver your letter for any reason, it will send the letter back to the return
address at no extra charge. Write it as you would the address of the recipient
(listed above); the only change is that you might wish to simply

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list your last name instead of your full name.

Additional tips that are helpful in letter writing include:

– - After Dear always add a comma.

– Try to keep the letter focused on what would interest the recipient.

– You can use letters to express gratitude, sympathy, love, humor, concern and
most other emotions.
– Be as reasonable and polite as possible when you’re writing a complaint
letter
– if you do, you’re a lot more likely to get a favorable response

– Try to avoid padding your letter with unnecessary information, espe-cially if

you’re writing a business letter.
– If you’re printing a formal letter, use a paper that’s heavier than copy paper.
– If you’re sending a formal or semiformal email, make sure your email
address sounds respectable. A letter from "sweetstar189" will be taken a lot
less seriously than a letter from "asmahan.mohamed."
– Write letters in blue or black ink.

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Revision Questions

1. Describe the common types of reports