ABSTRACT
Professors spend a good deal of time attending committee meetings and writing memos, letters, reports, and proposals. It sometimes seems as though teaching is what professors do in spare moments when they aren't involved in endless meetings and occupied with writing memos and other such documents. Memos are the most common form of written communication in academic institutions. Often memos are written on prepared forms. Most memos serve more mundane purposes and are meant to convey information of interest and importance to others. Remember that memos you write reflect your professionalism, can be collected in your personnel file, and, if a dispute or legal suit arises, can be used as evidence. Send your memo to the person who can be the most helpful to you, but don't violate the chain-of-command rules for sending memos. Avoid sexist and other kinds of offensive language. It is inappropriate to use offensive language in academic writing or any kind of writing.
