Advanced Business Writing
Outline and Proposal Memo to a Decision-maker
Summary of assignment
1- Write a proposed formal outline for your final report. The outline should be a ½- to 1-page long. See Announcements for helpful handouts.
2- Compose about an 500-word memo a specific kind of business writing. Address your memo to someone whom you would have to persuade to take action on the problem you want to research and solve (in your later report).
Task: Complete the following:
Outline
Write a tentative proposed formal outline of your expected final report. (See Announcements about outlining.) Length: ½- to 1-page long. Read Assignment 4.
Here, all you have to do is SHOW the sections and subsections you intend to include.
Memo
Identify the decision-maker or group of decision-makers to whom you will write this memo.
Consider the secondary research you conducted on your topic for writing assignment .
Write a proposal memo to your decision-maker asking for permission to conduct this research (to end in a final research report).
Summary
[Write one or two sentences in which you mention why you are writing this memo.]
[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.]
[In one paragraph, list the secondary research you have conducted on the problem and solution.]
[In one or two paragraphs, describe your likely 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 subsequent recommendations.]
How This Assignment Informs Writing Assignment #4
The outline and proposal memo are preliminary steps you take prior to writing your final research-based report (writing assignment #4).
Broadly, your final report will:
Define a problem in your workplace or community persuasively and accurately.
propose a solution or solutions to the problem or issue.
In this assignment (#3), you are persuading a decision-maker or group of decision-makers to authorize you to begin conducting this research that will end up in your final report.
The main purposes of the research proposal memo are to accomplish the following:
Demonstrate that the problem you’ve identified (for Project #4) is significant enough to warrant investigation.
Present a feasible plan or blueprint for your research.
Set forth potential benefits to the organization or community from the research that justify the use of time and resources.
Examples of How to Make Topics Specific (w. Thesis) for the Final Report
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.
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.
Write a report to the program chair of your major at UMGC 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 UMGC lacks something that your suggested adjustment will provide.
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:
Submit a draft of the outline and memo to the assignment folder. The instructor will provide comments to your draft.
