Introductory Memo

Academic Writing Assignment: Introductory Memo

Overview
Your first written assignment in this course will be a memo telling me something about yourself. My chief interests are 1) to find out more about you, so that I can tailor the course as much as possible to meet your needs; and 2) to get a sample of your writing (so make it a good one!).

Content
Be creative! You can tell me anything you want. Of course, certain things, such as your habit of smelling dirty socks, are better kept to yourself. Tell me things that relate to this class and to you as a student at GSU. I want to see how creative you are in designing this memo.

Of course, if you don’t want to waste all those brain cells in crafting a creative memo, here’re some prescriptive suggestions for you. You may include the following information:

  • Major and career goals, as well as your reason for them, and the expected writing activities going along with that career
  • Prior college-level writing classes (include course title, number, year, and school)
  • Other writing experience (job-related or otherwise)
  • Writing strengths and weaknesses
  • Expectations from this course, including the type(s) of documents you most want to learn to write
  • Anything interesting about your personal life you want to share with me
  • The best or worst teacher you’ve ever had and WHY

Format
I don’t have any requirement on the length of your memo except that it should be at least close to a page. It should follow the memo format (memo heading, single spacing within paragraphs, double spacing between paragraphs, bold or underlined headings, etc.). Letter quality typing/printing or laser printing is required. Hand-written memos will not be accepted. The format of this memo will be the standard format for all your memos in this course unless I specify otherwise.

Miscellaneous
Although this memo is worth only 5% of your final grade, it will serve as a means for me to know something about your academic, professional, and personal backgrounds. Since this will be the first piece of writing you will show me, you want to make a good impression! Do the best you can to make it informative and interesting.

How to Turn in
First save your document strictly as follows: “Intro(YourName).docx,” e.g., “Intro(SmithJohn).doc.” Then email it as a Word attachment to me at bgu@gsu.edu.