Abstract
Research on advance organizers demonstrates the importance of memoran dum subject lines for reader comprehension and, by implication, reinforces the notion that a relationship exists between writer choice and communica tion context. Yet, existing pedagogy presents memorandum subject lines with no regard for context. This article introduces a taxonomy for subject-line com position that takes context into account by classifying memorandum subject lines as either neutral or directed. Analysis of 483 memorandum subject lines led to the development of this taxonomy. Findings from this analysis, as well as findings from several follow-up exercises which tested the usefulness of the taxonomy, indicate that writers compose memorandum subject lines much as pedagogical materials recommend and that these subject lines are usually neutral. However, when given alternatives, writers actually prefer directed sub ject linesforsomesituations. While the study focuses on subject lines in mana gerial memorandums, the proposed taxonomy and findings on writer choice may be more broadly applied and have important implications for pedagogy and research on managerial writing.