Opening lines would state what is being done, such as a policy on recording phone calls, monitoring emails, and so on. There is no minimum or maximum length here. Averages tend to be two or three paragraphs.

Controversies

Note the section heading. This helps to distinguish the text that you include to discuss controversies. As a hint, why is your topic controversial? What part of the opening paragraph stating the policies might someone find controversial and why? One may assume that stating “we are reading your email” is controversial, but why? Is it that the employees may expect such things to be private, but the company states otherwise? Best practice is to spell it out and not assume (even though in many cases the controversy may seem obvious). This is your chance to show critical thinking and analysis of why this is a controversy. Within the context of the memo, you can use writer’s prose to explain this to your employees if you want (not required, just a suggestion).

Legislation

Again, note the section title; this helps the reader distinguish your objective. Think of it in terms of you as an employee. If HR sends you a memo, you may not want to read an entire law word-for-word. Instead, consider mentioning a law by name, and giving a three- or four-sentence high-level overview in your own words of what the law is about, what the ruling was, or what impact this has on your company. It can be longer, of course, but the goal of the assignment is to stay high-level to some degree. All assignments should have supporting arguments (cited if external sources are used). This section is one that lends to accomplishing this task easily.

Future Direction

For this section, what is the future direction of the items mentioned so far in the memo? Will the laws get more lax, or stronger? Why? Will the laws stay the same, and if so, can you support that argument? How will this affect your company? Will your company enact more security and monitoring, such as blocking outbound emails containing social security numbers, credit and debit card numbers, bank account numbers, and so on? Why? (Hint: PCI DSS requirement)

References

In real life, a memo likely would not contain a references section, but as an academic exercise, we do have to ask that you cite any resources that you use as supporting arguments and information. The rubric requires use of scholarly resources.