Section I – Background
Describe the issue and summarize the economic/political/scientific background clearly and succinctly (pretend you are writing for an intelligent layperson). Is this a new issue, or an ongoing problem? Why? What are the causes of the problem, environmental/social/political/economic? Use hard data and statistics to build a convincing argument.
Section II – Analysis
Describe why the issue you have selected is important to the wellbeing of the company, industry or the region? What are the current policies to address it (or the lack of such)? Why should the recipient of your memo address this issue as soon as possible? Provide hard facts, not vague generalizations or predictions of doom.
Section III – Options
What sorts of options does your person/agency/government have in dealing with this issue? (“Do Nothing” may be an option as well.) List the pros and cons of each option, scientific, environmental, economic, and political/social – again, be specific. How would they affect your selected company or industry?
Section IV – Recommendation
Which option do you recommend and why? How would you mitigate that option’s negatives?
You need to cite any fact or argument that is not original (footnotes are preferable to endnotes) and you should use academic references like journal articles, books, and newspaper articles.Make sure your information comes from a reliable source. Make sure you use at least 4 references that come from a variety of sources and are relatively up to date. Your paper should be about 5-6 pages,excluding bibliography. Include maps, charts, or graphs as appropriate – if they are large, you can attach them as appendices.
