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Title: A good title quickly communicates the contents of the brief in a memorable way.Executive Summary: This section is often one to two paragraphs long; it includes an overview of the problem and the proposed policy action.Context or Scope of Problem: This section communicates the importance of the problem and aims to convince the reader of the necessity of policy action.Policy Alternatives: This section discusses the current policy approach and explains proposed options. It should be fair and accurate while convincing the reader why the policy action proposed in the brief is the most desirable.Policy Recommendations: This section contains the most detailed explanation of the concrete steps to be taken to address the policy issue.Appendices: If some readers might need further support in order to accept your argument but doing so in the brief itself might derail the conversation for other readers, you might include the extra information in an appendix.Consulted or Recommended Sources: These should be reliable sources that you have used throughout your brief to guide your policy discussion and recommendations.
Write out your purpose before drafting a brief, refer to it often, and ensure that everything you write serves that purpose.The intention of policy briefs is to offer your readers advice on how to solve a specific problem, so stay focused on this target alone.
Do not exceed 1,500 words or two pages in length. Define the purpose of your policy brief up front.Include only essential information. Avoid tangents or being overly descriptive about methodology.Clearly identify the salient points that support your goal.Draft a new purpose-driven policy brief instead of summarizing or cutting down an existing report.Use plain language.
Some typical section headings are summary, context, analysis/discussion, considerations, conclusion/recommendation.
The executive summary should always appear on the cover of the brief or at the top of the first page so that it is the first thing a reader will see.It can be helpful to write the executive summary last because you will gain clarity on its content as you draft the other sections.
Research approach: explain how the study was conducted, who conducted it, how the data was collected, and any other relevant background information.Research results: paint a general picture of the research findings before moving on to the specifics.Avoid jargon and overly technical language.Focus on highlighting the benefits and opportunities stemming from the research.
Express research findings in terms of how they relate to concrete realities (instead of theoretical abstractions) so the reader will have a clear idea of the potential effects of policy initiatives.
Think of the conclusion as a mirror to your introduction: you are once again providing an overview of your argument, but this time you are underlining its strength rather than introducing it.
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Policy Briefs
What this handout is about
This handout will offer tips for writing effective policy briefs. Be sure to check with your instructor about their specific expectations for your assignment.
What are policy briefs?
Imagine that you’re an elected official serving on a committee that sets the standards cars must meet to pass a state inspection. You know that this is a complex issue, and you’d like to learn more about existing policies, the effects of emissions on the environment and on public health, the economic consequences of different possible approaches, and more–you want to make an informed decision. But you don’t have time to research all of these issues! You need a policy brief.
A policy brief presents a concise summary of information that can help readers understand, and likely make decisions about, government policies. Policy briefs may give objective summaries of relevant research, suggest possible policy options, or go even further and argue for particular courses of action.
How do policy briefs differ from other kinds of writing assignments?
You may encounter policy brief assignments in many different academic disciplines, from public health and environmental science to education and social work. If you’re reading this handout because you’re having your first encounter with such an assignment, don’t worry–many of your existing skills and strategies, like using , being , and , will help you succeed at this form of writing. However, policy briefs are distinctive in several ways.
Audience
In some of your college writing, you’ve addressed your peers, your professors, or other members of your academic field. Policy briefs are usually created for a more general reader or policy maker who has a stake in the issue that you’re discussing.
Tone and terminology
Many academic disciplines discourage using unnecessary jargon, but clear language is especially important in policy briefs. If you find yourself using jargon, try to replace it with more direct language that a non-specialist reader would be more likely to understand. When specialized terminology is necessary, explain it quickly and clearly to ensure that your reader doesn’t get confused.
Purpose
Policy briefs are distinctive in their focus on communicating the practical implications of research to a specific audience. Suppose that you and your roommate both write research-based papers about global warming. Your roommate is writing a research paper for an environmental science course, and you are writing a policy brief for a course on public policy. You might both use the exact same sources in writing your papers. So, how might those papers differ?
Your roommate’s research paper is likely to present the findings of previous studies and synthesize them in order to present an argument about what we know. It might also discuss the methods and processes used in the research.
Your policy brief might synthesize the same scientific findings, but it will deploy them for a very specific purpose: to help readers decide what they should do. It will relate the findings to current policy debates, with an emphasis on applying the research outcomes rather than assessing the research procedures. A research paper might also suggest practical actions, but a policy brief is likely to emphasize them more strongly and develop them more fully.
Format
To support these changes in audience, tone, and purpose, policy briefs have a distinctive format. You should consult your assignment prompt and/or your professor for instructions about the specific requirements of your assignment, but most policy briefs have several features in common. They tend to use lots of headings and have relatively short sections. This structure differs from many short papers in the humanities that may have a title but no further headings, and from reports in the sciences that may follow the “IMRAD” structure of introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Your brief might include that make it easier to digest the most important information within sections. Policy briefs often include some of these sections:
Depending on your specific topic and assignment, you might combine sections or break them down into several more specific ones.
How do I identify a problem for my policy brief?
An effective policy brief must propose a solution to a well-defined problem that can be addressed at the level of policy. This may sound easy, but it can take a lot of work to think of a problem in a way that is open to policy action.
For example, “bad spending habits in young adults” might be a problem that you feel strongly about, but you can’t simply implement a policy to “make better financial decisions.” In order to make it the subject of a policy brief, you’ll need to look for research on the topic and narrow it down. Is the problem a lack of financial education, predatory lending practices, dishonest advertising, or something else? Narrowing to one of these (and perhaps further) would allow you to write a brief that can propose concrete policy action.
For another example, let’s say that you wanted to address children’s health. This is a big issue, and too broad to serve as the focus of a policy brief, but it could serve as a starting point for research. As you begin to research studies on children’s health, you might decide to zoom in on the more specific issue of childhood obesity. You’ll need to consult the research further to decide what factors contribute to it in order to propose policy changes. Is it lack of exercise, nutritional deficiencies, a combination of these, or something else? Choosing one or another of these issues, your brief would zoom in even further to specific proposals that might include exercise initiatives, nutritional guidelines, or school lunch programs.
The key is that you define the problem and its contributing factors as specifically as possible so that some sort of concrete policy action (at the local, state, or national level) is feasible.
Framing the issue
Once you’ve identified the problem for yourself, you need to decide how you will present it to your reader. Your own process of identifying the problem likely had some stops, starts, and dead-ends, but your goal in framing the issue for your reader is to provide the most direct path to understanding the problem and the proposed policy change. It can be helpful to think of some of the most pressing questions your audience will have and attempt to preemptively answer those questions. Here are some questions you might want to consider:
What is the problem?
Understanding what the problem is, in the clearest terms possible, will give your reader a reference point. Later, when you’re discussing complex information, your reader can refer back to the initial problem. This will help to ‘anchor’ them throughout the course of your argument. Every piece of information in the brief should be clearly and easily connected to the problem.
What is the scope of the problem?
Knowing the extent of the problem helps to frame the policy issue for your reader. Is the problem statewide, national, or international? How many people does this issue affect? Daily? Annually? This is a great place for any statistical information you may have gathered through your research.
Who are the stakeholders?
Who does this issue affect? Adult women? College-educated men? Children from bilingual homes? The primary group being affected is important, and knowing who this group is allows the reader to assign a face to the policy issue.
Policy issues can include a complex network of stakeholders. Double check whether you have inadvertently excluded any of them from your analysis. For example, a policy about children’s nutrition obviously involves the children, but it might also include food producers, distributors, parents, and nutritionists (and other experts). Some stakeholders might be reluctant to accept your policy change or even acknowledge the existence of the problem, which is why your brief must be convincing in its use of evidence and clear in its communication.
Effective policy-writing
This handout has emphasized that good policy briefs are clear, concise, and focused on applying credible research to policy problems. Let’s take a look at two versions of the introduction to a policy brief to see how someone might write and revise to achieve these qualities:
A “not-so-good” policy brief
Adolescents’ Dermatologic Health in Outlandia: A Call to Action
The Report on Adolescents’ Dermatologic Health in Outlandia (2010), issued by Secretary of Health Dr. Polly Galver, served as a platform to increase public awareness on the importance of dermatologic health for adolescents. Among the major themes of the report are that dermatologic health is essential to general health and well-being and that profound and consequential dermatologic health disparities exist in the state of Outlandia. Dr. Galver stated that what amounts to a silent epidemic of acne is affecting some population groups–restricting activities as schools, work, and home–and often significantly diminishing the quality of life. Dr. Galver issued the Report on Adolescents’ Dermatologic Health as a wake-up call to policymakers and health professionals on issues regarding the state’s dermatologic health. (“,” Reproduced with permission of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.)
This paragraph introduces a relevant and credible source, but it fails to use that source to explain a problem and propose policy action. The reader is likely to be confused because the word “acne” does not appear until the middle of the paragraph, and the brief never states what action should be taken to address it. In addition to this lack of focus, the paragraph also includes unnecessary phrases like “among the major themes” that could be removed to make it more concise.
A better policy brief
Seeing Spots: Addressing the Silent Epidemic of Acne in Outlandia’s Youth
Acne is the most common chronic disease among adolescents in Outlandia (Outlandia Department of Health, 2010). Long considered a benign rite of passage, acne actually has far-reaching effects on the health and well being of adolescents, significantly affecting success in school, social relationships, and general quality of life. Yet large portions of the state’s population are unable to access treatment for acne. The Secretary of Health’s Report on Adolescents’ Dermatologic Health in Outlandia (2010) is a call to action for policymakers and health professionals to improve the health and wellbeing of Outlandia’s youth by increasing access to dermatologic care (“, Reproduced with permission of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.)
This paragraph is far more focused and concise than the first version. The opening sentence is straightforward; instead of focusing on the source, it makes a clear and memorable point that is supported by the source. Additionally, though the first version was titled “a call to action,” it did not actually say what that action might be. In this version, it is clear that the call is for increased access to dermatologic care.
Keep in mind that clarity, conciseness, and consistent focus are rarely easy to achieve in a first draft. Careful and are key parts of writing policy briefs.
Works consulted
We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.
Smith, Catherine F. 2016. Writing Public Policy, 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Young, Eoin, and Lisa Quinn. n.d. “The Policy Brief.” University of Delaware. Accessed April 15, 2025. .
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Policy briefs are a key tool to present research and recommendations to a non-specialized audience. They serve as a vehicle for providing evidence-based policy advice to help readers make informed decisions.
A strong policy brief distills research findings in plain language and draws clear links to policy initiatives. The best policy briefs are clear and concise stand-alone documents that focus on a single topic.
Planning your policy brief
Purpose, audience, content, and structure are the vital elements of an influential policy brief.
Purpose
A policy brief should inform readers of a particular issue, suggest possible policy options, and make recommendations. Be upfront about your purpose from the start, maintain a laser focus on your direction, and link every paragraph back to your purpose. Given the conciseness of most policy briefs, do not discuss tangential information. A convincing policy brief should communicate the urgency of the issue and focus on the benefits and advantages of following your policy advice.
Tips:
Audience
Policy briefs should be accessible and targeted to a specific audience. Before you begin writing, establish whom your prospective readers are, their interest in and level of knowledge of the subject, the information they will need to make a decision, and how open they are to your recommendations.
Content
A policy brief should be clear, succinct, and focus on a single topic.
Tips:
Structure
The structure should lead the reader from problem to solution. Clearly structure your policy brief before you start writing and use section headings to guide your content. Be clear about your policy recommendations and how they are supported by evidence.
The structure should be audience-specific and reflect each audience’s interests. For example, a focus on evidence is relevant for researchers, but a government official may value brevity and clear analysis of policy impacts.
Tip:
Policy brief template
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to writing policy briefs because the topic and audience will shape each one. However, effective policy briefs tend to contain the same key elements and therefore have similar structures: an executive summary, an introduction, an overview of the research or problem, an examination of the findings, and a concluding section that explains the policy recommendations and implications of the research.
Review the elements of an effective structure (in detail below) before writing your policy brief. are included throughout to help you gain a better understanding of layout and the content requirements of each section.
Executive Summary
Every policy brief should open with a short summary. This overview should be engaging and help busy readers quickly understand your argument. Most summaries take the form of a short paragraph or two, but some authors prefer to structure theirs as a few bullet points. Regardless of which style you choose, an effective executive summary should condense the essence of the brief down to a few sentences.
Tips:
includes both a written overview and a bulleted list of key results (an executive summary does not need to include both, but each is effective). The overview provides a brief summary of the research while the key results present the findings at a glance.
Introduction
The introduction should set up the rest of the document and clearly convey your argument. In one or two paragraphs, define why you are writing the brief and express the urgency and importance of the topic to your audience. A good introduction should contain all of the relevant information for your argument. Describe the key questions of your analysis and your conclusions. The goal is to leave your readers with a clear sense of what your research is about while enticing them to continue reading.
”What’s at Stake?”, the introduction for , vividly presents the issues and relevance of the research in only a few short paragraphs. A succinct summary of the brief’s goals gives the reader a firm understanding of the shape of the rest of the paper.
Research overview
This is one of the most important sections of the brief because it explains the reasoning behind your policy recommendations. In effect, this section describes the problem that your policy recommendations intend to solve.
Provide a summary of the facts to describe the issues, contexts, and research methods. Focus on two main elements: the research approach and the research results.
Present the results in a way that lends them to your analysis and argument, but do not interpret them yet. By the end of this section, the reader should have a firm understanding of the research and be primed for your argument. The goal is to take them on a journey that ends with them seeing the facts from your perspective.
Tips:
The research overview (entitled “Research approach”) in provides an explanation of the research methodology without becoming mired in too much detail. The author favours simple language and a straightforward overview of the numbers instead of using jargon or complex statistics. The research results are discussed in the following section, an effective choice for research that requires a good deal of data analysis to contextualize the findings.
Discussion/analysis of research findings
This section should interpret the data in a way that is accessible and clearly connected to your policy advice. Express ideas using active language and strong assertions. The goal is to be convincing, but ensure that your analysis is balanced and defensible. Explain the findings and limitations of the research clearly and comprehensively. For example, if the original hypothesis was abandoned, explain why.
Tip:
The “Key findings” section of provides a brief overview of the findings before breaking down the results. Each research finding is presented independently and with clear headings. Even if a reader only skims the document, the headings provide a general understanding of the research findings. The graphics in this section quickly convey information from the research findings and they help to visually break up the text on the page.
Conclusion or recommendation
This final section of the policy brief should detail the actions recommended by the research findings. Draw the link for your readers between the research findings and your recommendations. Use persuasive language to present your recommendations, but ensure that all arguments are rooted firmly and clearly in evidence produced by the research. You want your readers to be completely convinced that yours is the best advice.
Examine the implications and the recommendations produced by the research. Implications are the effects that the research could have in the future. They are a soft but persuasive approach to describe the potential consequences of particular policies. This is a good opportunity to provide an overview of policy alternatives by presenting your reader with the full range of policy options.
Follow up the implications with your recommendations. Beyond being descriptive, your recommendations should act as a call to action by stating precise, relevant, credible, and feasible next steps. It may strengthen your argument to demonstrate why other policies are not as effective as your recommendations.
Tip:
”Lessons for policy and practice”, the conclusion of , presents a series of broad policy recommendations that are clearly linked back to the research. Each recommendation has its own section and heading to make them easy to identify and understand.
Designing your policy brief
A policy brief should be convincing and interesting to read. The design and presentation of your brief are important considerations and can help keep the reader engaged. Use compelling titles and headings, sidebars featuring interesting details, bulleted lists to summarize your points, and graphics such as charts and images.
Titles and headings
A title should act as a reference point for readers and entice them to read the brief. A good policy brief should also include sub-titles or headings to break up the text and draw the reader’s attention to the main topic of each section. Using verbs can make headings more dynamic, while phrasing them as questions can spark a reader’s curiosity. The best titles contain relevant information without being too long or cumbersome.
Sidebars
Sidebars add greater depth to the main discussion and hook a reader’s attention. An effective sidebar should be short, descriptive, engaging, and action-oriented. The goal is to add extra detail and depth to help the reader understand and engage with the topic. Sidebars also visually break up the brief and make the document easier to read. Sidebars, like all other content in the policy brief, should advance the main argument.
Lists
Lists are an effective and visually interesting way to simplify dense content. They are useful for highlighting important information because they draw the reader’s eye. Lists should be no longer than five to seven bullet points (if lists are too short they may seem pointless, if they are too long they may be daunting). Each bullet point should express complete thoughts (avoid using bullet points that are only one or two words in length).
Graphics
Visuals are easily one of the best ways to make policy briefs more interesting for readers. Choose effective visuals for the type of information you would like to communicate. For example, pie charts and bar graphs are preferable to data tables to illustrate findings. Include captions for photos and other visuals that explain the content to the reader. Every visual should serve a purpose and help to illustrate your argument.
Revising your policy brief
Once the policy brief has been drafted, reflect once again on its purpose, audience, content, and structure. Will your brief help to achieve your goals? Test it by trying to explain it in a twenty-second elevator pitch and assessing what information stands out. Revise the brief to make it as user-friendly as possible by removing jargon and statistics that make it less approachable. Ask a colleague with no prior knowledge of the issue to read the brief and provide feedback. What points do they draw from it, and do they match your intentions?
Using your policy brief
A good policy brief can play double duty by standing on its own or as an effective accompaniment to a presentation. Tailor any accompanying visual presentation to your brief by focusing only on the key points and answering important questions. Your audience can refer to the document when needed, so avoid repeating all of the brief’s text in your presentation. When distributing your policy brief, it is often a good idea to develop a short question-and-answer package and a section for further reading.
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