Policy Writing Guidelines.pdf - Global Debate and Public Policy ...

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impact (outcomes) and feasibility of the alternate policies in terms of effectiveness (the extent to which the policy solves the problem); efficiency (the contrasting of costs and benefits your government will face while attempting to realize the policy); equity of stakeholders (the identification of winners and losers as a result of implementing the policy); and the proposed time-frame. Your arguments should not be based solely on your opinion or unsubstantiated ideas. Offers viable recommendations: The goal of your memo should be to persuade a decision maker to implement the policy that you have devised. Your recommendations should take center stage, but you should also try to show your memo’s audience why those recommendations are better than alternatives. Your argument should drive the memo and all sections of the policy memo need to build the pieces of your case together to convince your target audience. Take the time to think about who will read your memo and what their priorities, prejudices and perspectives will be. You have to promote your ideas, especially considering this topic is controversial and you cannot assume readers will share your opinion or automatically agree with your proposed solution. Evidence-based: It is important to demonstrate that your claims are well-founded; that is, not just based on your opinion but rather based on evidence from multiple reputable sources. Wherever possible, review and cite evidence from a primary source. If a newspaper article quotes a particular scientific study, look up and cite the original source. We have provided you with a background reading and will also regularly update the list of sources covering the themes and controversies of Digital Freedom and Its Limits. These documents are the best place to begin the process of learning about the research and evidence that underlies the policies you will be creating. Please refer to the citation guide (below) to learn how to reference evidence in your policy memo. Well-structured and coherent: The policy memo attempts to describe a problem or a set of contestable issues, reviews the responses available and recommends a particular course of action - the policy itself. Ensuring a sensible structure to do so is an important part of the writing process. You need to guide your target audience through the paper by ensuring all sections and arguments are well-structured, logically developed and focused on the topic. To achieve this, your memo should contain six key elements[1]: ● Title: Try to keep your title concise, so as not to lose the attention of the reader: 10 words or less is a common rule of thumb. The title of your policy brief may seem like a minor point; however, the title is the first thing your audience will read of your brief, so it has to attract them and ensure they consider your paper. Try to make your title memorable by choosing a provocative or surprising title, so that it sticks in the reader’s mind. It is often best to communicate your key message and the need for change in the title. ● Description of the problem and proposition of the preferred policy: Describe the issues that your government must address at the very beginning of your memo. Here you need to state what you perceive as the problem (including the people and organizations affected by it), based on one of the four scenarios. Describe the government’s current stance on the issue and any previous attempt to resolve it. Propose a response to these issues – the policy itself. ● Comparative analysis of policy options and discussion of their impact: In writing the main part of your memo, look at alternative proposals and analyze them in a comparative fashion. Defend
your arguments against contradictory evidence where necessary and provide in-depth analysis aimed at identifying the strategically and practically most viable policy. Introduce strong, objective evidence alongside this information and evaluate its reliability and applicability. ● Justification of the proposed policy: Based on the analysis, describe the policy for your government to adopt. Explain both the broad, principled approach that the government should take, but also detail the practical aspects of the plan. Discuss the impact of the plan and describe how it would address the issues you set out at the start of the document. ● Concluding remarks: Finally, try to ensure that your memorandum feels complete. After completing each individual component of your policy memorandum, briefly summarize the document as whole. Re-introduce the problems or issues that you have explored in a concise way; re-state your policy; re-examine your key evidence and show your readers why it is relevant to your argument. Conclude your memorandum by demonstrating to your readers that your response is logical, relevant and complete. ● Reference list: At the end of the memo, include a list of full references to the materials, which you have cited. Understandable and Accessible: Because your audience may come from different backgrounds and may not be an expert in the field, an effective policy memo uses clear and simple language (i.e. not the jargon and concepts of an academic discipline in an attempt to impress). A policy memo displays clarity of ideas by providing a well explained, easy to follow and succinct argument. Do not assume that government officials will have read as widely on the subject as you have. Try to avoid sensationalising the descriptive content of your piece by over-using adjectives; rather, focus on explaining why the evidence you have selected proves that the government should adopt your policy. Lean lay-out: Policy memos are text heavy documents and do not feature pictures or other decorative elements. In the header, writers often employ a simple format to announce the memo to decision makers. Whether you use this format will not affect the score you receive for your submission but are encouraged to do so. Here is an example: From: (your registration code – not your name) To: (the country you are addressing) Re: (the scenario you are addressing) Date: (date of submission) III. CITATION GUIDE AND INFORMATION ON PLAGIARISM What is plagiarism? The Central European University’s Guidelines for the Implementation of Academic Dishonesty, Plagiarism and Other Offences (G-1009-1) explain that “Plagiarism occurs both when the words of another are reproduced without acknowledgment, or when the ideas or arguments of another are paraphrased in such a way as to lead the reader to believe that they originated with the writer.”
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