Description
A policy brief is a short abbreviated document that presents findings of a specific issue to a specific
audience. It is a tool that government institutions use for providing policy advice on specific
issues. It is a concise document meant to help the public and government officials understand and make
decisions regarding certain policies. For this assignment, imagine you are advising a Canadian elected
government official (like a cabinet minister) on a current issue and write a policy brief. The policy
brief must be on one of the following Canadian issues:
-Pipelines,
-Racial Inequity,
-Immigration and Refugees
-Indigenous Affairs
-Housing
Not all governments deal with all of these issues in the same way, be sure to know which level of
government (federal, provincial or municipal) your policy brief is directed. You don’t want to provide
irrelevant policy advice.
Your policy brief should contain the following subsections:
1. Executive Summary (one paragraph) – A condensed version of the entire policy brief.
2. Introduction – Explain what the policy problem/issue is, including any existing policies and the significance of the issue.
3. Approaches – Outline several new options the government could pursue to address the policy problem.
4. Recommendation – Select one of the approaches, and explain why it is the best alternative.
5. References
You are required to use outside sources to support your analysis. Scholarly sources should be used.
Online encyclopedias and other online sources are not considered scholarly and should be used
sparingly. Make use of outside sources and evidence to support your claims in Sections 2 – 4. You
should use an accepted method of citation such as APA. Use HEADERS to organize
your paper. This will ensure that you include all of the subsections and strengthen the organization
of the paper.
Please include in-text citation and works cited page. Use as many sources as you would like (the more the better).
For more specific information on how to write a policy brief or examples of a policy brief, please
consult these websites:
IRDC | CRDI – How to write a policy brief (https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/idrcpolicybrieftoolkit.pdf)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Policy Briefs (https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/policy-briefs/)
These resources are merely for informational purposes.
Note:
Do not use first person pronouns for this assignment, this assignment should be written in an
academic friendly format including complete and grammatically correct English sentences.