A notice is a very short piece of writing which is usually formal in style. It is widely used by individuals and organizations to announce events and celebrations, births and deaths, occasions like inaugurations or sales, to issue public instructions, to make appeals and to extend invitations besides issue notices of termination to the employees or another way round ie notice of leaving the job from the employee to the employer. Most notices are meant to be pinned up or pasted on special boards meant for this specific purpose only. There must be one or more such notice board in the school and other organization. Whereas notices issued by the Government departments and other big organization also appear in various newspapers.
How to Write a Notice?
Writing an effective notice is a kind of art that can be acquired with practice with keeping some basic points in mind while writing them out. Your notice should give complete information and must be written in a clear and lucid style and easily understandable language.
Content that a good effective notice must include in it are:
Name of the Organization, Institution or Office issuing it.
Date of issuing of a particular notice.
The heading ‘Notice’ to make it very clear.
A suitable description/ eye-catching caption or heading to hold the immediate attention of the reader.
The purpose for which it has been written like calling a meeting, drawing attention, making an appeal or informing the general public about some issue of concern etc.
Details of schedule i.e. date, time, venue, programme, duration etc. in case the notice is about an event to be organized in the near future.
Format of Notice Writing
Notice circulated for some kind of official/non-official Meeting should definitely have:-
Date
Time
Venue
Agenda/ Purpose
Who is to attend
Specific instructions
Contact person/ Address
Format of Notice Writing (Official / Non-Official) for Example
Notice issued for informing about some Events
Name
Objective/ Purpose/ Occasion
Date
Time/ Duration
Place/ Venue
Essential qualifications/ Eligibility/ Conditions
Contact address
Specific instructions
Depending upon the occasion, one can use suitable background images, logos or any graphic representing the event.
Format of Notice Writing (Event Notification) with Example
Notice for Lost and Found of article or other valuables
Article Lost/ Found
Date
Time (approx)
Place
Identification marks (color, size, contents, material)
Contents
Whom to contact, When and Where
Notice issued for informing the masses/general public for change of Name
Drawing attention
Existing name
Address
New Name
Reason of Change
Notice informing about Tours/ Fairs/ Exhibitions/ Camps to be organized in near future.
Name and Nature
Occasion
Venue
Objective - information, awareness, appeal, invitation etc.
Dates/ Timing
Expenditure/ Entry fee etc.
Beginning/ Conclusion
Place (for Tours)
Duration: From ….. to …..
Contact address
Specific instructions (e.g. do’s & don’ts, visiting hours. etc.)
Important Points to Remember while writing a notice:
Notices can use capital letters for details such as names of organizations, captions, an important detail within the message itself.
The date of the notice can be placed at the top right or left, or bottom right or left hand corner.
The entire content of the notice is centered within a ‘box’.
The individual/s responsible for issuing the notice indicates the name below the signature in parenthesis, followed by their designation/s.
Complete sentences need not always be used in all types of notices. Abbreviations and symbols an also be used.
Usually, future time references predominate over other tense forms.
There is penalty for exceeding the prescribed word limit ( i.e. 50 words for the body of the notice)
Notice Writing Examples
It is not compulsory to follow the format in the same manner; one can place Date, Time, Place within the Description / Content (para), one can also highlight these with Bold Letters or Underlined or Differently coloured Alphabets).
Similarly, one can change the Placement of other Essentials as per ones’ Urgency . These can also be highlighted with Bold Letters, Underlined Letter or Differently coloured Alphabets).
One can also include Photos of Missing Person, Missing Dog, Lost Item depending upon the budget and other considerations, not required academically or grammatically.
