{"id":49196,"date":"2014-06-23T12:15:36","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T16:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?page_id=49196"},"modified":"2023-12-13T16:06:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T21:06:22","slug":"policy-memo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/students\/on-campus-students\/academic-accommodations-and-support\/communication-resources\/policy-memo\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy Memos"},"content":{"rendered":"

A policy memo is a paper written to provide an analysis or recommendation of an issue to a specific audience (1). In public health, they are frequently used as a tool to inform and influence busy decision-makers (2). This section provides a brief overview of the organization and style of a policy memo.<\/p>\n

Organization<\/h3>\n

In contrast to an academic paper, the organization of a memo is an \u201cinverted pyramid\u201d\u2013 the essential information is emphasized first and is followed by the less important points in order of significance (1).\u00a0The organization of a memo is generally as follows (2\u20134):<\/p>\n

\"Policy<\/a><\/p>\n

Format and Style<\/h3>\n

Memos are known for a clear, professional format and style. Make your memo into a \u201cmini roadmap\u201d to guide your reader through it (3). Each section should have a heading that summarizes the main point of the section and keeps the reader\u2019s interest (3,5).\u00a0Likewise, paragraphs should have a topic sentence that summarizes the main point. Your reader should be able to skim the memo to understand your main ideas (3).<\/p>\n

Bullet points, tables, and figures can also simplify your message to the reader (3,5). When displaying data, explicitly link how the data fits into your argument (5). When writing about data, emphasize the claim rather than the source and methods (5,6):<\/p>\n