Policy Brief

A Policy Brief is a paper that assists decision makers take appropriate courses of action in a current policy debate. In brief, all relevant dimensions of a policy are discussed providing the merits or demerits of options without personal prejudice and recommendations on the best option made by the writer based on his/her analysis.

The USI welcomes such research papers from scholars, academics and professionals for circulation and posting on its website. Draft papers should be submitted to DDR / Consultant (Research), USI-CS3 by email giving complete details of the author including a short bio-data.

The following points have to be borne in mind while framing a policy brief :-

• Focused : targeting a particular audience.
• It has to be professional not academic i.e., it should bring about writer’s perspective on a problem and potential solutions based on the new evidence rather than research/analysis.
• The arguments should be supported by adequate evidence.
• It should be limited in approach.
• The policy brief should not be too lengthy. An ideal length should be between 3000-4000 words. The brief should be succinct.
• The brief should be understandable and practical.

Common Structural framework of a Policy Brief.

1. Title of the Paper

   Policy brief should definitely contain a title.

2. Executive Summary

   This presents the summary of everything related to study from the scope to findings.

3. Context and importance of the problem

   The rational to study particular issue or aspect is very important.

4. Pre-existing Policies

   If some policy study has been conducted on the topic earlier, it is important to study them.

5. Policy Options

   More than one policy option needs to be discussed in the study.

6. Advantages and disadvantages of Each Policy Option

   The researcher is expected to go into details of merits and demerits of all policy options.

7. Policy Recommendation

   After studying the merits and demerits of policy options, one policy option what is considered best by the researcher should be presented.

8. Sources

   Whatever sources have been used for study should be presented for reference.