The making of policy briefs and how important they are
Analyzing policy problems can take a great deal of research and analyses. Policy reports or papers will have various discussions from the problem background to the conclusion chapter. They need to report the process before coming to the conclusions and recommendations. This whole process should be presented to ensure that the conclusions and recommendations are based on critical rigorous analyses. Therefore, when it comes to the writing, a policy paper can be pages long with many chapters covering all of the rigorous analytical processes.
Policy makers need to have a clear understanding of policy problems they face. However, they usually have no time to review a comprehensive policy paper. As a policy analyst, I personally witnessed this situation where decision makers have tight time frames for understanding each policy issue and the problems underpinning them regarding the vast policy problems and the demanding public they are dealing with. On the one hand, policy analysts are asked to help these decision makers understand well what the real problems are. Policy research, thus, is greatly necessary which mostly written in reports that are at least dozens of pages. Reading and understanding these kinds of reports would take heaps of time and careful interpretations. On the other hand, decision makers often require them to provide quick but appropriate information. Therefore, policy analysts are always challenged to present their long reports in just a-few-page long policy reports which are usually called policy briefs. The making of policy briefs In writing policy briefs, we focus on a few aspects that ensure the briefs are well presented and targeted. …show more content…
More importantly, they help policy makers expedite the policymaking process of appropriate public policies. Firstly, we focus on presenting the main policy problem and the targeted stakeholders. Secondly, regarding the vast given evident sources, we ensure that only selected and contextual research findings are presented alongside other important information and data. Thirdly, policy options are presented and supported by only short but sharp analysis. Also, the briefs should come with clear recommendations, if necessary, for the targeted stakeholders. Lastly, different from any academic reports/works, policy briefs are presented as a means of persuasive communication to decision makers so popular wording and succinct sentencing are highly necessary. The benefits Presenting policy recommendations in policy briefs benefits the policy and decision-making process in a few ways. The briefness of the policy brief helps decision makers understand the issue well without having too much pay attention to the detail information. Most importantly, unlike a comprehensive but complicated academic research report, the popular word selection helps decision makers easily and quickly absorb the presented information and understand the given recommendations. If well presented, the briefs expedite the decision-making process without losing grasp on the underlying contexts and situations underpinning the targeted policy problems. Presented with selected data and evident sources, policy briefs surely help policy makers understand the context of the policy problems they aspire to solve. The challenges Writing policy briefs are not free of challenges. Firstly, writing succinct policy briefs is totally harder than producing the comprehensive ones. Careful selection of words and sentences requires skills everybody does not have. To overcome this issue, often expert writers are hired to ensure the succinctness of the policy briefs. Secondly, straight forward words may end up making the policy briefs ‘tasteless’. The various types of information are mostly presented in pointers that make narrative stories have no space in policy briefs. This shortcoming …show more content…
Good policy briefs are the ones that are written based on some quintessential information from the comprehensive policy research reports. So, both research and communication skills are necessary during the analytical and writing process. Therefore, a great team work is highly necessary to create the high-end policy briefs before they come before policy makers. In that sense, some team members are expected to master and use their research and analytical skills to ensure that there are comprehensive research and analyses supporting the policy recommendations. Some other members are expected to use their communication and practical writing skills to produce brief but sharp policy briefs based on the research findings and
Analyzing policy problems can take a great deal of research and analyses. Policy reports or papers will have various discussions from the problem background to the conclusion chapter. They need to report the process before coming to the conclusions and recommendations. This whole process should be presented to ensure that the conclusions and recommendations are based on critical rigorous analyses. Therefore, when it comes to the writing, a policy paper can be pages long with many chapters covering all of the rigorous analytical processes.
Policy makers need to have a clear understanding of policy problems they face. However, they usually have no time to review a comprehensive policy paper. As a policy analyst, I personally witnessed this situation where decision makers have tight time frames for understanding each policy issue and the problems underpinning them regarding the vast policy problems and the demanding public they are dealing with. On the one hand, policy analysts are asked to help these decision makers understand well what the real problems are. Policy research, thus, is greatly necessary which mostly written in reports that are at least dozens of pages. Reading and understanding these kinds of reports would take heaps of time and careful interpretations. On the other hand, decision makers often require them to provide quick but appropriate information. Therefore, policy analysts are always challenged to present their long reports in just a-few-page long policy reports which are usually called policy briefs. The making of policy briefs In writing policy briefs, we focus on a few aspects that ensure the briefs are well presented and targeted. …show more content…
More importantly, they help policy makers expedite the policymaking process of appropriate public policies. Firstly, we focus on presenting the main policy problem and the targeted stakeholders. Secondly, regarding the vast given evident sources, we ensure that only selected and contextual research findings are presented alongside other important information and data. Thirdly, policy options are presented and supported by only short but sharp analysis. Also, the briefs should come with clear recommendations, if necessary, for the targeted stakeholders. Lastly, different from any academic reports/works, policy briefs are presented as a means of persuasive communication to decision makers so popular wording and succinct sentencing are highly necessary. The benefits Presenting policy recommendations in policy briefs benefits the policy and decision-making process in a few ways. The briefness of the policy brief helps decision makers understand the issue well without having too much pay attention to the detail information. Most importantly, unlike a comprehensive but complicated academic research report, the popular word selection helps decision makers easily and quickly absorb the presented information and understand the given recommendations. If well presented, the briefs expedite the decision-making process without losing grasp on the underlying contexts and situations underpinning the targeted policy problems. Presented with selected data and evident sources, policy briefs surely help policy makers understand the context of the policy problems they aspire to solve. The challenges Writing policy briefs are not free of challenges. Firstly, writing succinct policy briefs is totally harder than producing the comprehensive ones. Careful selection of words and sentences requires skills everybody does not have. To overcome this issue, often expert writers are hired to ensure the succinctness of the policy briefs. Secondly, straight forward words may end up making the policy briefs ‘tasteless’. The various types of information are mostly presented in pointers that make narrative stories have no space in policy briefs. This shortcoming …show more content…
Good policy briefs are the ones that are written based on some quintessential information from the comprehensive policy research reports. So, both research and communication skills are necessary during the analytical and writing process. Therefore, a great team work is highly necessary to create the high-end policy briefs before they come before policy makers. In that sense, some team members are expected to master and use their research and analytical skills to ensure that there are comprehensive research and analyses supporting the policy recommendations. Some other members are expected to use their communication and practical writing skills to produce brief but sharp policy briefs based on the research findings and